Wrangell’s advisory committee to the state’s fish and game department is backing a proposal to allow gillnetting near Burnett Inlet Hatchery.
Proposal 157, sponsored by one of the region’s largest hatchery operators, the Southern Southeast Regional Aquaculture Association (SSRAA), would allow more fishing when there is an excess amount of chum salmon.
Currently, SSRAA has a special harvest area for Burnett Inlet to do cost recovery. It’s an area that allows trolling but no gillnetting.
If the proposal passes, it would add gillnetting to the mix at times.
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game has concerns about the area’s small size for gillnetters. The proposal would limit nets to 200 fathoms.
“If you’re going there and make a scoop and clean it up, I just heard that’s just not an area, a place that a lot of seiners can work, or gill netters can work,” committee member Alan Reeves said.
Chris Guggenbickler, the committee’s chair, said it’s definitely small but the only time SSRAA would enact fishing is if they met their financial needs.
“As we saw last year, there was a big salmon year and we had a hard time getting some of these places cleaned up. We couldn’t use this tool in the event that we needed to get some fish out of the water,” he said. “It’s just a tool that we would use in the rare case.”
The committee voted unanimously in favor of the proposal.
The next advisory meeting is Tuesday, Dec. 10, at 5:30 at the Nolan Center.
The Alaska Board of Fisheries will meet to discuss all Southeast proposals Jan. 28 – Feb. 9 in Ketchikan. They will take in consideration all the recommendations from advisory committees throughout the region.
