Petersburg residents got a chance to weigh in on the planned closure of a king salmon sport fishery at a meeting last week. The hatchery-based sport fishery at Blind River Rapids won’t open this summer because of low projected returns. Those returning salmon, or broodstock, are used to raise new fish.
Jeff Rice is the state’s sport fish biologist for Petersburg and Wrangell. He told KFSK that it was clear at the meeting that people are unhappy.
“They don’t like to see a closure, they would like to certainly have access to that blind slough freshwater area,” he said. “And yet they also understand the need for the broodstock to get back. So what I get from the public is trying to find that balance between allowing the fish to return and still having access.”
The king salmon swim two miles up Blind Slough through Blind River Rapids to return to Crystal Lake Hatchery. Each year the hatchery needs a specific number of returning salmon in order to raise fish for future salmon runs.
The meeting was put on by Petersburg’s Fish and Game Advisory Committee following an announcement by the State Department of Fish and Game February 20th that the freshwater sport fishery won’t open for its usual season, June 1st to July 31st.
The hatchery is operated by the Southern Southeast Regional Aquaculture Association. Susan Doherty is the General Manager. She said that freshwater sportfishing needs to be cut back so that more kings can get to the hatchery.
“It needs to change. It’s too many. It’s too much pressure every day,” she said. “Could it be you do it every – I don’t know – Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, to give them a break? I mean, I don’t know. I’m looking for answers. What I know is that we can’t do what we’re doing. It doesn’t work. And this is our opportunity to change it. And for you guys to have input. All I know is we need more fish.”
Although the freshwater sport fishery won’t open, sport fishing in the salt water, at the mouth of the slough, will.
The public and members of the Advisory Committee repeatedly voiced frustration with what they saw as an unfair distribution of fishing rights. They pointed out that fishing for kings in the freshwater doesn’t require a boat, making it more accessible to the public. And multiple people said that the management plan favors tourists from out of state who stay at lodges in the area and fish for kings in the saltwater.
Max Worhatch is president of the Advisory Committee. He was one of many who wanted the closure to be more evenly distributed.
“Everybody should share the burden,” he said. “And that is not going on right now, as far as I can see.”
The State Department of Fish and Game doesn’t have the authority to change the management plan for the area. That’s determined by the state Board of Fisheries. They *can issue an emergency order if they get new data about how many king salmon are returning. But they’re not able to make the nuanced changes many called for last week.
The only way to make those changes is to alter the management plan, which is decided by the Board of Fisheries. The Board accepts proposed changes to Southeast fishing regulations once every three years. It is currently accepting proposals for its 2025 meeting in Ketchikan. Anyone can submit a proposal but the deadline is April 10.
Petersburg’s Fish and Game Advisory Committee is holding another meeting April 8th to draft a proposal for a new management plan.
