The Federal Subsistence Board voted down a proposal to set up a subsistence dipnet and rod-and-reel fishery from shore at the Moose Range Meadows section of the Kenai River. The board cited habitat concerns and limited public access as two of the primary reasons the proposal was voted down.
The Ninilchik Traditional Council submitted Proposal FP08-08 to Federal Subsistence Board in order to provide easy access to the Moose Range Meadows subsistence fishery for Ninilchik residents who don't have boats. Currently, residents of Ninilchik, Hope and Cooper Landing are allowed to harvest salmon at the Moose Range Meadows area, between River Mile 26 and River Mile 29, using dipnets or rods-and-reels from boats. The subsistence board voted down the proposal by a 3-3 vote.
"We were thinking we could do it very conservation-minded," said Greg Encelewski, president of the Ninilchik Traditional Council. "If you look at the whole river, what we were asking for was a pretty minute drop on the river system."
Encelewski said he didn't think the subsistence board gave the council's proposal enough consideration. The council was willing to work with the board's concerns, he said, and was even looking to obtain private land as another option for an on-shore subsistence fishery, but it didn't get that far.
"It's pretty obvious that a lot of (residents) don't have boats it would make it an easier way to get your fish," Encelewski said. "That's why we were hoping to get a little piece of federal ground."
Despite Ninilchik's request for more subsistence access to the Kenai River, only a handful of residents who participated in the dipnet fishery at Moose Range Meadows and Russian River Falls last season turned their permits in. Doug Palmer, in-season federal subsistence manager for the Cook Inlet area, said he couldn't be sure where the fishermen came from, but only 12 sockeye salmon were dipnetted at Moose Range Meadows and four were caught by rod-and-reel. One permit holder reported no success at Moose Range Meadows, he said.
Cooper Landing represented the lion's share of the sockeye salmon harvest at Russian River Falls, Palmer said. Fishermen harvested a total of 610 fish, dipnetters caught 450 and rod-and-reel fishermen caught 160. Only four residents from Ninilchik and four residents from Hope turned their permits in, compared to 35 permit holders from Cooper Landing, he said.
"There could have been 200 people out there and dipnetted," Palmer said. "Only the people that harvested reported. I don't have an idea of the effort, but I don't think it was substantial."
Palmer said the primary reason Ninilchik's proposal wasn't passed was because of concerns regarding habitat damage and erosion. The Moose Range Meadows area is identified as high quality rearing habitat for chinook salmon and the emphasis is to protect the integrity of the habitat.
"A lot of that shoreline habitat is not open to anglers so why would you allow a bunch of people with dipnets to do the same type of damage?" Palmer said. Even though he couldn't predict just how successful an on-shore fishery at the Moose Range Meadows would be, he said such a fishery wouldn't be as successful as the personal-use fishery in the lower portion of the river. "The personal-use fishery is much more successful because turbidity of the water is much greater. When you get up stream of the intertidal area, the river is more clear. Fish (can) see the dipnets and avoid them," he said.
Encelewski said the council wants a productive fishery where people could make one trip to get their fish. Even though the board gave the council permission to set up a fish wheel on the Kasilof River, he said the tribe really wants to be able to get all its fish without making many trips for just a few.
"It's more convenient to fish off a bank than to have a boat," he said. "We're really sad (the subsistence board) didn't see it our way to at least give us a good try."
Jessica Cejnar can be reached at jessica.cejnar@peninsulaclarion.com.
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