Five incumbent members of Alaska’s Board of Fisheries and Board of Game have been reappointed by Gov. Sean Parnell — though the announcement came a day later than state law requires the appointments to be made.
State statute governing Board of Fisheries and Game — Sec. 16.05.221 — requires that the governor submit his appointments by April 1. A spokesperson from the Senate Secretary’s office said they were delivered on time but were not read across the floor, the point at which members of the state’s Senate can act on the information — until Wednesday morning.
Reed Morisky, of Fairbanks, Sue Jeffrey, of Kodiak, and John Jensen, of Petersburg, were reappointed to the Board of Fisheries while David Brown, of Wrangell was appointed to the Board of Game alongside Stanley Hoffman, of Bethel, and Ted Spraker, of Soldotna.
Members of both seven-member boards serve staggered three-year terms that begin on July 1, however, the appointments require confirmation by a majority of the legislature. A joint session has been scheduled for 11 a.m. April 11, to confirm the appointees.
If confirmed, Morisky, a sportfishing guide and project manager for the University of Alaska Fairbanks, will be serving his first full term on the Board of Fisheries — he replaced Bill Brown, of Juneau, in February of 2013.
Morisky and fellow board member Tom Kluberton were confirmed in April 2013 during the last round of Board of Fisheries confirmation hearings —though longtime board member and commercial fisher Claude “Vince” Webster narrowly lost his seat in a 29-30 vote after legislators were barraged with information from sportfishing groups who opposed his reappointment.
Sue Jeffrey, a former journalist, borough assembly member and commercial setnet fisher from Kodiak, has been on the Board of Fisheries since 2011 while John Jensen, a commercial fisher, has been on the board since 2003.
David Brown is a commercial crab captain and retired high school teachers, while Hoffman has served on the Board of Game since 2008 and Spraker, a retired Alaska Department of Fish and Game biologist, was first appointed to the Board of Game in 2003.
Reach Rashah McChesney at rashah.mcchesney@peninsulaclarion.com.
