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#974474 - 03/07/17 02:47 PM Kenai Early Run king salmon rebuilding plan
eyeFISH Offline
Ornamental Rice Bowl

Registered: 11/24/03
Posts: 12766
Posted March 6, 2017 11:09 pm
By ELIZABETH EARL
Peninsula Clarion

Board passes sweeping change for early run kings







Early run Kenai River king salmon will now have more protection in the middle river and management will be more conservative after the Board of Fisheries unanimously approved a rewrite of the early run management plan.


It’s a paradigm shift for the fishery. Essentially, the new plan turns the Kenai River into a pass-through fishery on the lower 19 miles, and once early run kings have made their way into the middle river between Slikok Creek and Skilak Lake, they have far more protections than they have in the past. It also does away with the slot limit, a size restriction meant to protect larger fish but left some of the very largest available for harvest.
The new plan has multiple tiers based on projected escapements and separates the lower and middle river sections. In the lower river, if the run is projected to fall below the sustainable escapement goal of 2,800-5,600 big kings, the fishery is closed. If it is between the sustainable escapement goal and the optimum escapement goal of 3,900-6,600 salmon, the managers can close the fishery or allow catch-and-release. If it’s within or above the optimum escapement goal, managers can allow bait and retention of fish of a size the department deems appropriate.


In the middle river, restrictions are tighter and last through July 31, including the late run season. The fishery is closed if the projection is below the sustainable escapement goal; if it’s between the sustainable escapement goal and the optimum escapement goal, it can go to catch-and-release or remained closed; if it’s within or above the optimum escapement goal, the department can allow retention of fish up to 36 inches long, but no bait will be allowed.


“Our job as board members is to conserve and develop fisheries, and that language order is not by accident,” said board member Robert Ruffner, who led the charge on the proposal. “This work that we’re giong to undertake here is maybe some of the most critical work I’ve undertaken. The early run king salmon in my community has fallen down, and it’s fallen down seriously.”
The goal all along has been to rebuild the overall size, age class and gender ratio of the early run, which has been falling off for decades. Ruffner said some of that may be due to natural decline, but much is due to mismanagement.


The proposal was the amended and compromise-filled brainchild of three interest groups — the Kenai River Sportfishing Association, the Kenai Area Fishermen’s Coalition and the Kenai River Professional Guides Association. The three, which have not always seen eye-to-eye over the years on fisheries issues, worked together on a proposal redrafting many of the provisions of the early run king salmon management plan, including setting a size cap at 36 inches. They turned in a joint proposal Friday.
Tensions ran high in the breaks between board discussions Sunday, with the meeting starting nearly two and a half hours late after Fish and Game staff worked on the language for the new early run Kenai king salmon plan. Small groups met and ran anxiously through language, and “10-minute” breaks stretched out into double or triple that as board members tried to work out what the proposers wanted. When Fish and Game issued its first draft of language, it was not in line with what the groups wanted, they said in another submitted document.


They, Ruffner and Fish and Game staff spent the rest of the day rehashing the language to fit better with what they wanted. By Monday afternoon, they came together on a consolidated proposal that hit some of the high points from the individual groups’ proposals, with Ruffner championing it.
Fish and Game’s main objection was to the reduction in harvest potential. Setting the cap at 36 inches eliminated about 70 percent of the fish, said Southcentral regional management supervisor Matt Miller in answer to a question from the board. The proposed new management plan would create a primarily catch-and-release fishery and make it harder for the department to manage to its escapement goals, he said.
“This will increase the likelihood that we’ll exceed the (optimum escapement goal), which has already been set well above the upper bound of the (sustainable escapement goal),” he said.


Ruffner fired back that that was the least of the department’s worries. Preseason forecasts are for the total early run to be below average, falling within the optimum escapement goal, according to staff reports presented on the first day of the meeting Feb. 23.
“My response to that is if that’s the biggest thing you’re worried about, we have a problem,” he said. “I want you to maintain goals. … With the preseason forecast information we have right now, this is not going to be an issue.”


Though the vote was unanimous, some of the board members expressed concern during deliberations. Board members Israel Payton and Al Cain said they were concerned about extending the regulations into the last two weeks of July to apply to the late run. “My understanding is that the department is very comfortable that the tributary spawners are not there or they are in the tributaries,” Payton said. “… If we do this, it really affects late run fishing in the middle river.”


Members of the groups who helped author the proposal said they were proud of the measure’s success and hoped it would be a path to rebuild Kenai River early run stocks for the future. Dwight Kramer, a board member of the Kenai Area Fisherman’s Coalition, said in a statement that it was the highlight of his years attending Board of Fisheries meetings.
“We at KAFC are proud to have been a part of the groups that came together here today for the good of the Kenai River early run chinook salmon,” he said. “The fish have to come first.”


Kenai River Sportfishing Association Executive Director Ricky Gease said it was a great plan that would offer some opportunity but begin a process to rebuild the early run. Fish and Game had some hesitancies, but in the end they seemed to agree that they should give it a try to see how it works and return in three years to work out problems, he said. He also noted that it had been a transparent process with good conversation throughout. “It’s time for a new approach,” he said.

Reach Elizabeth Earl at elizabeth.earl@peninsulaclarion.com.

http://peninsulaclarion.com/news/local/2017-03-06/board-passes-sweeping-change-early-run-kings
_________________________
"Let every angler who loves to fish think what it would mean to him to find the fish were gone." (Zane Grey)

"If you don't kill them, they will spawn." (Carcassman)


The Keen Eye MD
Long Live the Kings!

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#974483 - 03/07/17 04:07 PM Re: Kenai Early Run king salmon rebuilding plan [Re: eyeFISH]
eyeFISH Offline
Ornamental Rice Bowl

Registered: 11/24/03
Posts: 12766
Been engaged in this effort for over 15 years and it sure feels good that we FINALLY got it right!

I've learned over the past 2 decades of direct involvement that ANY change for the better in fish management.... be it in Alaska or here in the PNW.... typically comes in SMALL incremental bites over a LONG period of time.

This was a hard-won bite that will benefit the fish for generations to come!
_________________________
"Let every angler who loves to fish think what it would mean to him to find the fish were gone." (Zane Grey)

"If you don't kill them, they will spawn." (Carcassman)


The Keen Eye MD
Long Live the Kings!

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#974484 - 03/07/17 04:08 PM Re: Kenai Early Run king salmon rebuilding plan [Re: eyeFISH]
eugene1 Offline
Spawner

Registered: 09/17/10
Posts: 885
Loc: out there...
So any fish > 36" get released?

If so, that's great for rebuilding the frequency of the "hog gene".

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#974486 - 03/07/17 04:30 PM Re: Kenai Early Run king salmon rebuilding plan [Re: eyeFISH]
eyeFISH Offline
Ornamental Rice Bowl

Registered: 11/24/03
Posts: 12766
Fish larger than 36 inches MAY be retained below the "pass thru" deadline at RM 19 only by in-season emergency order and only if the optimal escapement goal of large fish will be exceeded.

Once a large fish makes it past the deadline at the Slikok Sanctuary, it's basically home free.
_________________________
"Let every angler who loves to fish think what it would mean to him to find the fish were gone." (Zane Grey)

"If you don't kill them, they will spawn." (Carcassman)


The Keen Eye MD
Long Live the Kings!

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#974501 - 03/07/17 06:02 PM Re: Kenai Early Run king salmon rebuilding plan [Re: eyeFISH]
ColeyG Offline
Ranger Danger

Registered: 02/08/07
Posts: 3098
Loc: AK
Great news. Well done to you, Doc, and all of those who put blood, sweat, and tears into this effort.
_________________________
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#974519 - 03/07/17 09:15 PM Re: Kenai Early Run king salmon rebuilding plan [Re: eyeFISH]
gulliver Offline
Alevin

Registered: 02/15/17
Posts: 18
Great effort for you guys! Congratulations

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#974659 - 03/08/17 10:06 PM Re: Kenai Early Run king salmon rebuilding plan [Re: eyeFISH]
eyeFISH Offline
Ornamental Rice Bowl

Registered: 11/24/03
Posts: 12766
Kudos to the cooperative efforts of recreation, industry, and conservation interests in crafting this recovery plan. My hat's off to Kenai River Sportfishing Assoc, Kenai River Professional Guide's Assoc, and Kenai Area Fisherman's Coalition. Living proof that by working together, GREAT things can be done for the fish!

Tremendous thanks to BOF Member Robert Ruffner for navigating the difficult path to guide the collaborative proposal forward to final passage... with a UNANIMOUS vote of approval by the full Board! It would have been impossible without him.

beer
_________________________
"Let every angler who loves to fish think what it would mean to him to find the fish were gone." (Zane Grey)

"If you don't kill them, they will spawn." (Carcassman)


The Keen Eye MD
Long Live the Kings!

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#974709 - 03/10/17 12:13 AM Re: Kenai Early Run king salmon rebuilding plan [Re: eyeFISH]
eyeFISH Offline
Ornamental Rice Bowl

Registered: 11/24/03
Posts: 12766
_________________________
"Let every angler who loves to fish think what it would mean to him to find the fish were gone." (Zane Grey)

"If you don't kill them, they will spawn." (Carcassman)


The Keen Eye MD
Long Live the Kings!

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#974714 - 03/10/17 06:55 AM Re: Kenai Early Run king salmon rebuilding plan [Re: eyeFISH]
Carcassman Offline
River Nutrients

Registered: 11/21/07
Posts: 7410
Loc: Olema,California,Planet Earth
Did I read the article right Doc that ADFG (staff) opposed the action? Still believes that one fish over "goal" is a major crime???

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#974718 - 03/10/17 11:23 AM Re: Kenai Early Run king salmon rebuilding plan [Re: eyeFISH]
eyeFISH Offline
Ornamental Rice Bowl

Registered: 11/24/03
Posts: 12766
Yeah... they were a bit obstructionist on the whole plan. ADFG leadership was a bit upset about unnecessarily giving up harvest opportunity even when the stakeholders wanted MORE protection.
_________________________
"Let every angler who loves to fish think what it would mean to him to find the fish were gone." (Zane Grey)

"If you don't kill them, they will spawn." (Carcassman)


The Keen Eye MD
Long Live the Kings!

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#974719 - 03/10/17 11:25 AM Re: Kenai Early Run king salmon rebuilding plan [Re: eyeFISH]
eyeFISH Offline
Ornamental Rice Bowl

Registered: 11/24/03
Posts: 12766
This video gives some perspective of how far we've come (or not) in the past 33 years!

_________________________
"Let every angler who loves to fish think what it would mean to him to find the fish were gone." (Zane Grey)

"If you don't kill them, they will spawn." (Carcassman)


The Keen Eye MD
Long Live the Kings!

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#974720 - 03/10/17 11:36 AM Re: Kenai Early Run king salmon rebuilding plan [Re: eyeFISH]
Carcassman Offline
River Nutrients

Registered: 11/21/07
Posts: 7410
Loc: Olema,California,Planet Earth
I have glimpsed the Kenai once, and seen lots of pictures of it. In my (warped??) view of salmon escapement, I'd look at something north of 100K for a river that size.

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#974724 - 03/10/17 12:11 PM Re: Kenai Early Run king salmon rebuilding plan [Re: eyeFISH]
eyeFISH Offline
Ornamental Rice Bowl

Registered: 11/24/03
Posts: 12766
The Kenai River Drainage at 2010 square miles is comparable in size to the Chehalis Basin at 2660 square miles.

Flow is glacial and varies seasonally from 1000CFS or less in the dead of winter, rising steadily to 5000-10000CFS thru May and June and peaking in the neighborhood of 14000-18000CFS in Aug-Sept.

Your guess of 100K is pretty astute, CM.

At one time the Kenai hosted runs of ER kings numbering up to 25-30K and LR kings up to 90K. It was once thought that the system on average was capable of producing consistent adult recruitment of 3:1. The early run piece was managed for a goal of 9K to produce returns of about 27K, and the late run piece was managed for as much as 30K spawners.

The keyword is WAS... as in past tense.

The lower bound of the current "large fish goals" calculated by ADFG are now 2800 and 13500 respectively ... where a large fish is roughly 20# or better.
_________________________
"Let every angler who loves to fish think what it would mean to him to find the fish were gone." (Zane Grey)

"If you don't kill them, they will spawn." (Carcassman)


The Keen Eye MD
Long Live the Kings!

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#974725 - 03/10/17 12:51 PM Re: Kenai Early Run king salmon rebuilding plan [Re: eyeFISH]
Carcassman Offline
River Nutrients

Registered: 11/21/07
Posts: 7410
Loc: Olema,California,Planet Earth
You also can't (mis)manage the Chinook in a vacuum. They need the other species, and they need the Chinook.

Right now, while we have seen pinks coastwide are booming. That seems know knock down Chinook. And, while more pinks have been a boon for coho and steelhead in FW the pinks seem to outcompete the coho in the salt chuck.

So, if we jack up (say) pink and chum, because they are low value fish, 10-20x (which is what they need) but keep the coho and Chinook low we may exacerbate problems out in the Big Blue. Couple that fishing the [Bleeeeep!] out of everything else that might be eaten by growing salmon we get a really unbalanced system out there.

For ease of calculating an ecologically based escapement goal aim for at least 1 kg of spawner per square metre of stream as measured at summer low flow. Right now, 2 seems to the inflection point where benefits really fall off. They don't go negative but rise slower. Plus, it looks like a stream may have an instantaneous capacity of about 2 but can cumulatively take 8-10 if the spawning times are spread out over 5 or 6 months.

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#974837 - 03/14/17 12:49 AM Re: Kenai Early Run king salmon rebuilding plan [Re: eyeFISH]
eyeFISH Offline
Ornamental Rice Bowl

Registered: 11/24/03
Posts: 12766
The Kenai is a motherlode of natural salmon production.

In terms of sheer anadromous biomass in descending order, there's an escapement of 1-2 million pinks every even year (2 orders of magnitude less on odd years), 0.75-1.5 million sockeye every year, perhaps 50-100K coho (they can't/won't count'em), 30-40K chinook, a tiny population of chum, and an even smaller population of steelhead.

Sub-yearling juveniles likely benefit from the alternate year influx of pink carcasses.... as do the resident trout scarfing up all those eggs post-spawn.

I still marvel that after over a century of TAKE TAKE TAKE that the river can still continue to GIVE GIVE GIVE.

http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=wildlifenews.view_article&articles_id=639
_________________________
"Let every angler who loves to fish think what it would mean to him to find the fish were gone." (Zane Grey)

"If you don't kill them, they will spawn." (Carcassman)


The Keen Eye MD
Long Live the Kings!

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#974839 - 03/14/17 07:12 AM Re: Kenai Early Run king salmon rebuilding plan [Re: eyeFISH]
Carcassman Offline
River Nutrients

Registered: 11/21/07
Posts: 7410
Loc: Olema,California,Planet Earth
The key, though, is biomass per square metre. S Prairie Creek has hosted at least 200K pinks, maybe more. In a 15 mile anadromous zone (more or less) and 20-30 feet wide. What is that? 5% (1/20) of the Skagit ? If so, it would take 4 million to be equal. The MSY goal on Skagit is/was less than 400K. A manager looks simply at numbers and says a million is a lot. Even so, Skagit coho showed a strong response to pinks.

Not to say that those aren't great numbers for the Kenai, but the IPSFC had suggested that, if the Cedar had been a Fraser trib-so they could manage it- that they would have put a million sockeye into it and I don't think the Kenai and Cedar are similar sized.

All that said, on motored streams the salmonids rearing in a stream show and immediate positive response to any increase in deposition with a very steep ascending line from 0 to about 2 kilos, where it then flattens.

In the Shushwap Lake system of the Fraser the resident trout population was sustained by the dominant year sockeye run. The sub-dominant and off years were insufficient to support the trout. They essentially had one good year in four.

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#974899 - 03/14/17 09:38 PM Re: Kenai Early Run king salmon rebuilding plan [Re: eyeFISH]
Speyguy Offline
Returning Adult

Registered: 07/09/01
Posts: 277
Loc: Bellingham
Originally Posted By: eyeFISH
This video gives some perspective of how far we've come (or not) in the past 33 years!



Ouch....1984 sounds way better than 33 yrs! Thank you for posting that vid. I was there in 80's(missed king run), and again in early 90's(missed king run), but huge biomass of everything else. Caught the largest rainbow of life on russian @ 11:30pm(still light) on the biggest bug in my flybox. Have a great Kodachrome of the #$%^show below Russian River during sockeye(mullets/big hair/sidearms.....looks like a Scorpions concert got out and everyone went fishing).....Ha. 5 king limit at the time makes you wonder how many huge fish REALLY got killed that year. Congrats on the final regs after all that great work. Sincerely, Tom

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#974903 - 03/14/17 10:50 PM Re: Kenai Early Run king salmon rebuilding plan [Re: eyeFISH]
eyeFISH Offline
Ornamental Rice Bowl

Registered: 11/24/03
Posts: 12766
Originally Posted By: eyeFISH

Fish and Game’s main objection was to the reduction in harvest potential. Setting the cap at 36 inches eliminated about 70 percent of the fish, said Southcentral regional management supervisor Matt Miller in answer to a question from the board.


This was pure and utter BS.

In recent years, more than 70% of the ER fish were UNDER 36 inches.

Moreover, if the run comes in particularly strong, there are provisions to relax the rules to retain fish >36". The idea here is that we only do this when we know IN-SEASON that the run is 'over-the-top' strong.

This rebuilding plan is hands down the best package we've passed in two decades. The first five years of that time period was basically window dressing. We started getting serious in 2002, but locals up-ended the move to basically make the entire early run C&R. In 2003 we passed the slot limit... a monumental task for its time. But that ended up being a total bust as the slot limit would sunset each year right when the fish were at their most vulnerable. Failure by design.

This new plan is iron-clad protection for the fish that need it most, early-timed large mainstem spawners, especially once a decent-sized fish makes it into/past the Slikok sanctuary at RM 19.

Unlike previous attempts to conserve large fish in the middle river, the beauty of this plan is that the protections in that reach NEVER go away.

_________________________
"Let every angler who loves to fish think what it would mean to him to find the fish were gone." (Zane Grey)

"If you don't kill them, they will spawn." (Carcassman)


The Keen Eye MD
Long Live the Kings!

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#974908 - 03/15/17 07:30 AM Re: Kenai Early Run king salmon rebuilding plan [Re: eyeFISH]
Bucket/Good Sport Offline
Kitsap's Crankiest Contractor

Registered: 11/24/03
Posts: 2318
Loc: Poulsbo
Thanks Doc, for all your involvement in AK and here at home!
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Have you ever listened to someone for a while and wondered..."who ties your shoelaces for you?"

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#975198 - 03/18/17 09:45 PM Re: Kenai Early Run king salmon rebuilding plan [Re: eyeFISH]
Sol Duc Offline
April Fool

Registered: 06/18/01
Posts: 16138
Those photos of your Kings never get old. thumbs
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He who joyfully marches in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would suffice.

- Albert Einstein.

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