Published: February 19th, 2010 10:48 PM
Last Modified: February 19th, 2010 10:48 PM
Last Modified: February 19th, 2010 10:48 PM
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game is predicting a dismal sockeye salmon return this summer for the Kenai River. According to Jenny Neyman, writing in the Redoubt Reporter, this summer's 40-percent-below-average return looks so grim that the United Cook Inlet Drift Association is preparing to seek federal disaster relief should the biological predictions come true. The City of Kenai is also worried about a shutdown after making a considerable investment in personal-use fishery infrastructure at the river mouth, as are businesses that rely on salmon dollars. And the thousands who rely on fish for food may need to consider their options.
If the problem had been high-seas trawling, the Kasilof and other rivers should show a similar projected decline; they don't. Almost certainly the predicted weak Kenai River return is a product of over-escapement in 2004, 2005 and 2006 that produced this year's returning salmon. 2003 was also an.......... http://www.adn.com/opinion/comment/boraas/story/1148055.html
Alan Boraas is a professor of anthropology at Kenai Peninsula College.