The Upper Lynn Canal Fish and Game Advisory Council will elect three new members at 5 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 4, in the assembly chambers.
Two, three-year seats, currently held by council chair Tim McDonough and Randy Jackson, are up for grabs. A one-year term is also available to replace former member Julia Heinz.
According to Alaska Department of Fish and Game regulations, anyone present at the meeting can nominate a potential candidate and vote.
The council will also meet at 5 p.m. Monday, Dec. 8, to discuss Board of Fisheries and Board of Game proposals, including several from Haines residents.
Resident Al Gilliam submitted a proposal to the Board of Game to delay the use of black bear bait stations in subunit 1D, the hunting area surrounding Haines, until after the spring brown bear hunt.
Brown bear hunting season ends May 31, but black bear hunting continues through June.
“Black bear bait stations have been historically problematic in subunit 1D because they are all located where intense spring brown bear hunting takes place by both locals and guides. Black bear bait stations near Haines have historically been abused by some locals and some disreputable guides, and it is well documented by wildlife troopers that many brown bears have been illegally taken over local bait stations for a very long time,” Gilliam said.
The overlap of the seasons creates problems for both independent hunters and commercial guiding companies, Gilliam said, as the brown bears are drawn toward the baiting sites where they cannot be shot.
“When bait stations exist, either legal or illegally, dominant brown bears will naturally gravitate to the bait stations where a legal hunter cannot hunt them,” Gilliam said.
“That situation then becomes even more problematic for a legitimate commercial guiding company to legally conduct business, because of the question regarding if a brown bear was accidentally or purposefully killed over bait, or how close the brown bear was to a bait station, no matter who the bait station was registered to,” he added.
Gilliam said his proposal isn’t in opposition to baiting. “It should not be lumped together with, or confused with, any anti-bear baiting sentiments or any anti-bear baiting proposals.”
The council submitted two of its own game proposals concerning mountain goats. One asks the board to establish a goat hunt for young hunters; the other proposes to extend the goat hunting season in two areas north of Haines.
Several Haines residents also submitted proposals to the Board of Fisheries concerning Dungeness crab harvests in the Upper Lynn Canal.
Marine biologist and former commercial fisherman John Norton submitted four proposals, including one calling for elimination of the existing management system. The current system manages the commercial Dungeness crab fishery in Southeast as a region instead of as various sections with distinct populations and trends.
One of Norton’s proposals calls for a new system that would more closely monitor individual areas, like the Chilkat and Lutak Inlets, which Norton believes are on the brink of collapse.
“What I’m establishing is a management plan that allows them to say this inlet or this area has an impacted population, and Fish and Game would then be able to manage for the needs of that specific population,” Norton said.
The plan calls for closure of the commercial Dungeness crab fishery in the Chilkat and Lutak inlets until Fish and Game conducts a test fishery and sustainable population levels are re-established in the areas.
Though Dungeness harvests were good in the 2014 season, the previous season saw a dip in catch rates, an index that measures the abundance of a species.
“What I am hoping to do is establish a procedure so we don’t take the good news and allow ourselves to believe the management plan we used in the past is a good one, because it’s not,” Norton said.
The advisory council also submitted a proposal asking the fishery be managed based on catch rates. Norton is skeptical of the proposal because the rate, called “catch-per-unit-effort,” is based on fishermen’s reports.
“Why would you truthfully report you have a (low catch rate) when you know it is going to close the fishery?” Norton said.
Jim and Randa Szymanski submitted identical comments asking no changes be made to the commercial Dungeness crab fishery. “The Upper Lynn Canal Advisory Committee recommendations to limit commercial crab fishing do not reflect the view of the majority of residents in Haines,” they wrote.
The Board of Game will meet Jan. 9-13 to discuss proposals from Southeast. Comments on the proposals must be submitted by Dec. 26.
The Board of Fisheries will meet Jan. 21-27 to discuss shellfish proposals from Southeast and Yakutat. Comments on the proposals must be submitted by Jan. 7.
Council members include McDonough, Jackson, Kip Kermoian, Jamie King, Johnnie Gamble, Dean Risley, John Katzeek, Luke Rauscher and John Tronrud.