Keep an eye on the fish board

Congratulations to Robert Ruffner on his fish board appointment. Talk about a reversal of fortune compared to all the flap a year ago. Alan Cain, from Anchorage, made a comment about “evenly distributing fish,” whatever that means. Israel Payton, former Mat-Su AC member, wrote specifically antagonistic proposals against the commercial fishery in the past. Mr. Ruffner will be one of seven, but hopefully he can carry on with some stewardship actions on the Kenai River and elsewhere. When it comes to the board of fish, it was the board that authored the language in the allocation criteria, the verbiage in the form of a disqualifier on economic impact of a proposal, and it was the board of fish that wrote two board generated proposals the last two hours of the 2014 meeting in Anchorage, exclusive of the public process. The board of fish adheres to a process and then deviates from public process. I wish Mr. Ruffner good luck on the board of fish however must remind Kenai Peninsula residents that in spite of the absence of Judge Johnstone, this is a rogue board that voted not to meet and deliberate here, not here since 1999 and a letter from KRSA, and not building trust in the community.