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Why the Alaska-class ferries were the right decision

Suzanne Downing
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7
Why the Alaska-class ferries were the right decision

(3-minute read) NO NEED TO ADD CREW QUARTERS

BY WIN GRUENING
SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR

Recent news articles and opinion pieces suggest the new Alaska-class ferries are useless unless $30 million more is spent adding crew quarters – a modification that could have been made during construction.

Even a cursory review of the Department of Transportation Project Design Concept Report would tell you this isn’t true.

In fact, there’s no legitimate reason the vessels cannot be used as intended – as day boats without crew quarters.

Win Gruening

Contrary to media reports, Alaska-class ferries were designed to be used as day boats whether the Juneau Access road was built or not.  Planners were required to justify the use of Alaska-class ferries under a variety of alternative scenarios in Lynn Canal and Prince William Sound that are not much different than we face today.

The Alaska Marine Highway System commissioned several studies in 2013 re-validating the day boat design concept. As documented in the Department of Transportation’s Design Concept Report, Alaska-class ferries allow more efficient operation using 12-hour day boats on shorter routes between coastal communities.

As a result, former Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell directed AMHS to build two Alaska-class ferries vessels – constructed in the Ketchikan Shipyard at a cost of under $60 million each. This cost was dramatically lower than the $160 million cost of one larger ship with crew quarters considered previously.

Change is always difficult and forces resistant to change within our ferry system are deeply imbedded in state government, as well as with union leaders and rank-and-file employees.

But AMHS has finally reached a tipping point. After decades of ignoring common sense transportation planning, Alaskans are saddled with a system rife with inefficiency, runaway operating costs, maintenance issues with aging vessels, and state subsidies that are unsustainable.

AMHS’s annual general fund subsidy has grown from $50 million in 1990 to almost $90 million in FY2017. Even this number is misleading since regular annual overhaul costs are not included.  2017 overhaul costs of $12.5 million brings AMHS’s annual operating subsidy to over $100 million.

Despite fare increases, AMHS revenues barely cover 30% of system operating costs. Budgetary pressures have led to vessel layups, increasingly unaffordable vehicle fares, and service cutbacks.

Accordingly, AMHS has planned to retire several vessels including the “fast ferry” Fairweather.  Existing conventional vessels can require two crews of up to 44 crewmembers to operate them (half resting in crew quarters with the other half on duty). This allows the vessel to extend its operating day beyond the 12-hour limitation mandated when only one crew is aboard.

While this allows more flexibility in ferry scheduling – especially on round trips exceeding 12 hours, the costs associated with operating vessels with extra crews and rest quarters are astronomical.

Crew quarters trigger additional requirements like galleys, shower and laundry facilities, and the list goes on – exponentially increasing the size of the crew and required support services. And these costs will never go away. Instead, they will just perpetuate AMHS’s spiraling financial burden.

Contrast that situation with the new Alaska-class ferries (two vessels for one-third the total cost to build one Columbia-style mainliner). Crew requirements are reduced to 14 on each vessel – dramatically increasing efficiency and lowering operating costs.  Adding crew quarters now would negate most of these advantages.

What proponents of adding crew quarters won’t recognize is while some service frequency may necessarily be reduced, the Alaska-class ferries can be used on longer runs per the Department of Transportation’s published Concept Report by overnighting the vessel in a destination port similar to airline operations today.

Indeed, the long-term solution is to build more Alaska-class ferries – not make existing ones more inefficient and unaffordable. Why spend $30 million adding crew quarters when for less money, we could build a ferry terminal at Cascade Point – cutting roundtrip sailing times in Lynn Canal by half.

Some minor vessel modifications, such as adding a forward starboard loading door, would allow wider use of current ferry docks and mitigates the need to make major changes to existing ferry terminals.

With lower oil prices and reduced state revenues, AMHS cannot afford to ignore the significant cost savings realized in building and operating more efficient vessels.

The consternation we see from the “don’t want to change” advocates isn’t because of a “wrong decision”, it’s because Governor Parnell made the right decision.

Win Gruening retired as the senior vice president in charge of business banking for Key Bank in 2012. He was born and raised in Juneau and graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1970. He is active in community affairs as a 30-plus year member of Juneau Downtown Rotary Club and has been involved in various local and statewide organizations.

 

 

 

 

Disorganized House has a looming problem

Suzanne Downing
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2
Disorganized House has a looming problem

CAN’T HIRE LEGISLATIVE STAFF YET 

(4-minute read)

Although Republicans have a slim majority now, and a better chance of maintaining it than Democrats do in the Alaska House of Representatives, the Legislative Affairs Agency views it as unorganized. Without a group being in control, members cannot hire staff, the agency says.

Those planning to work for the House of Representatives will be out on a limb if they travel to Juneau only to find that they can’t work for perhaps days, can’t get paid, and have to set up a household in one of Alaska’s most expensive communities, where the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment is $1,215 a month. Each House member is assigned staff based on which group is in control — Republicans or Democrats.

It’s causing more than a few former staffers to rethink their winter plans. Some highly qualified legislative aides have already drifted off to more certain employment in the Senate or in the Dunleavy Administration.

But as they say in football, there’s lots of game left.

Behind the scenes, negotiations continue to determine who will control the Speaker’s gavel. The Republicans say Dave Talerico of Healy is the House Speaker, and they have the votes to prove it. Democrats have made no such claim over the gavel, at least publicly.

The Republican majority became imperiled when Rep. Gary Knopp of Kenai decided to go solo and be a caucus of one. He changed his mind about being part of the Republican-led caucus, and says that Republican-led majority cannot be achieved. Wasilla Rep. David Eastman has also kept on the sidelines in a game of chicken with fellow Republicans.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT

The lieutenant governor has the power to swear in members and preside while they vote on chamber leadership. He would gavel in the House and then work to get a majority vote for a Speaker Pro Tem.

Without a firm Speaker in place, it’s not possible to assign committees, and also impossible to assign legislative staff, because HR doesn’t know how many staff members each representative is entitled to have.

Legislative Affairs Agency Human Resources Manager Skiff Lobaugh issued a memo this week explaining the problem. He wrote that session staff for the House is not currently authorized beginning Jan. 16, 2019, and that last year’s Speaker Bryce Edgmon has temporarily approved using interim funding for approved staff until Jan. 15, the day session technically starts as legislators are sworn in.

After that, there’s no funding for staff. Uniform rules governing the Legislature allow the Legislative Council to hire administrative staff to assist Lt. Gov. Kevin Meyer if he has to convene the House until a Speaker ProTem is appointed, a process that could take hours or days.

“These staff have historically been defined as the Chief Clerk’s Office and the Floor Staff. Historically the Executive Director of the Legislative Affairs Agency, has approved retention of staff for the Chief Clerk’s office and the Floor Staff,” Lobaugh wrote.

Lobaugh explained that since session employees must be approved by the Rules Committee of each body, only a House Rules chair can authorize the staff to work for House members. Therefore, he’s advising that all House staff should not work past Jan. 15, due to liability and other issues. Health insurance benefits, depending on employee, will be affected, but any employee that has worked this month should be covered through the end of the month.

Corrections chief ends controversial ‘day pass’ program

Suzanne Downing
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5
Corrections chief ends controversial ‘day pass’ program

SHUTS DOWN ‘AMNESTY BOXES’ FOR CONTRABAND

Corrections Commissioner Nancy Dahlstrom has put an end to Gov. Walker-era programs that allowed inmates to be checked out of prison for a day on passes, and gave them the right to secretly deposit contraband into drop boxes before their cells were searched. She also ended a program that allowed “super volunteers” unlimited access to prisons and prisoners at nearly any time of day or night.

The day-pass program had been quietly adopted by former Corrections Commissioner Dean Williams a year ago. It had several safety problems identified by critics, the most significant being that there was no mandatory victim advance notification. Even police were not notified when a prisoner was checked out, and if an officer by chance had done a computer search, he or she would have found that inmate listed as still behind bars, not walking in the community.

Dahlstrom says that she looked for records to find out how many inmates were checked out under the program, but couldn’t find any documentation. But when inmates left the prison in “day clothes,” they were not searched upon their return, under order of the prior commissioner.

 

Dahlstrom also ended the use of property drop boxes, into which prisoners were allowed to secretly drop their contraband. If prisoners learned that cell searches were being done, they could declare “amnesty,” and the corrections officers would have to take them and their contraband to the “amnesty box.” There, the corrections officer would be required to turn his or her back, while the prisoner got rid of drugs, weapons, or other illegal items.

The amnesty box forced officers to ignore the infractions they knew were going on, and promoted smuggling in the prisons. Dahlstrom said there is evidently no written policy on the use of the boxes, but she’s ended the practice out of an abundance of caution and to support the corrections officers as they try to reduce crime inside the facilities.

Dahlstrom also ended a program that allowed some volunteers unlimited access to prisons, and this included women volunteers who had complete access to men’s prisons and men volunteers with unfettered access to women’s prisons.

In one instance, a woman volunteer had access to the prison where her husband was incarcerated. Such access can be disruptive to maintaining order in the facilities. Unlike volunteers from the faith-based programs, who are carefully vetted, the “super volunteers” required little screening.

“I fully support the governor’s mission to make Alaska much safer and protect our citizens, and it’s not right for the public’s money to pay for programs that cause citizens to feel unsafe,” Dahlstrom said. “I take that very seriously. We need to restore the people’s trust in government. I am continuing to review every single policy there is, and I anticipate other changes.”

On being non-essential

Suzanne Downing
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11
On being non-essential

BY ART CHANCE
SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR

My conservative/Republican friends have been having a chuckle during the current “partial shutdown” of the federal government about the notion of “non-essential” employees.

It usually goes something like, “if they’re not essential, why do we have them at all?”  It’s a valid question, but it does have a rational answer.

Since nobody in America under about 50 years of age who isn’t an autodidact knows anything about Civics, US Government, or US History – those used to be classes taught in schools and colleges – let’s do some elementary Civics so we’re all on the same page.   The power of the American People is invested in the Congress.

Before radio and television, the President was just a bureaucrat except in time of war.  Even in war, the President’s role is to execute the will of Congress; this is what that republican democracy stuff is all about; the Congress directs and the President executes that direction.

In today’s situation, the Congress has not directed since there is no appropriation of funds for some, only some, operations of the Federal government.

Those operations of government for which there is not an appropriation have no authority to operate.   The President cannot shut down the government; if the Congress has authorized a program and appropriated funds for that program’s operation, the President must operate that program, and the Supreme Court has directed Presidents to operate congressionally authorized programs despite the President’s objection to that program.

The same thing has happened under State law here in Alaska when a Governor has objected to a legislatively authorized program and refused to execute that program; in Kelly v. Hammond back in the ‘70s the Alaska Supreme Court ordered Governor Hammond to execute a Legislative program despite his objections to that program.

In the current standoff, the Congress has not authorized an appropriation for several Federal departments.   Without an appropriation, these departments cannot operate and consequently almost all of their operations have ceased and their employees have been furloughed.   The furloughed employees have been described as “non-essential,” so let’s discuss what the term “non-essential” means.

Unless it is hidden in some obscure Office of Personnel Management regulation, the Federal government doesn’t have a bright line definition distinguishing between essential and non-essential employees; it seems to be an ad hoc determination for the federal government.

The first threshold is whether the program continues to have a legal existence. Whether it is the US Army or the Bureau of Tea Tasting, yes there is one, or at least there used to be, if the authorization for the program has been repealed or allowed to expire, the program simply ceases to exist and along with it, its employees cease to be employed.

The second threshold is if the program still exists, is there an appropriation with which to operate it. This is where we are today; the programs at issue still have a statutory authorization but there is no money with which to operate them.

If there is no money to operate a program and pay its employees, the employees are furloughed. A furlough is a release from duty without pay but not a separation from employment like a dismissal or termination. If a program’s authorization were repealed or allowed to expire, its employees would be dismissed or laid off, both of which are separations of the employment relationship to a greater or lesser degree.

A furloughed employee remains an employee but they are relieved from duty and are not being paid. The most important distinction is that when an employee is dismissed or laid off, all of their accrued benefits such as paid leave or their retirement contributions are available to them if they desire to withdraw them; a furloughed employee has a limited or no right to access accrued benefits because it is assumed that a furloughed employee will return to work and pay status.

Now, we get to essential. The general definition of an essential government employee is one whose job is essential to protect public safety and health.

There is all sorts of room around the edges of such a definition. Currently, the federal government has declared some employees essential, ordered them to come to work, and promised them that while they’re not being paid, they will be paid when there is an appropriation from which to pay them.

I think it is a good question as to whether the federal government actually has the authority to order them to work only on the promise of being paid some time.

So far, the employees and their unions are going along with it but federal employees haven’t actually missed a payday yet; we’ll see how cooperative they are after Jan. 14. We seem to already be getting some “Blue Flu” with TSA employees, so when all the employees ordered to work don’t get paid on the next payday it might get interesting.

The non-essential employees are those determined to not be necessary to public safety and health, and they’ve simply been told to stay home and not perform any of their job duties. It is presumed that when there is an appropriation they will get back pay because they were able and available for work, the government had not separated them, and the government couldn’t offer them work.

Yes, the government could have separated them or laid them off when the appropriation expired, but it would have cost hundreds of millions of dollars to pay off their accrued benefits.  We’ve struggled with this under State law when we had lean times and needed to lay off employees, but confronted the fact that it was cheaper to continue paying them than it was to pay them off.

So, there are two big events on the horizon; Federal employees missing their paycheck on the 14th and the Department of Agriculture running out of money to recharge food stamp/EBT cards on, I think, February 1. There will be some union organized opposition to the government, and specifically to the Trump Administration since the unions are all Democrat lackeys, when there are no paychecks.

It will be made to look like the end of the World on the TV, but most federal employees, and especially those with badges and guns, will continue to work.

The real test is when the EBT cards don’t recharge; the Left may get their Helter-Skelter they’ve been wanting since the Sixties.

Art Chance is a retired Director of Labor Relations for the State of Alaska, formerly of Juneau and now living in Anchorage. He is the author of the book, “Red on Blue, Establishing a Republican Governance,” available at Amazon.

Sen. Sullivan: ‘I support president on securing border’

Suzanne Downing
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22
Sen. Sullivan: ‘I support president on securing border’

(3-minute read) – Sen. Dan Sullivan addressed Alaskans on Wednesday to talk about the question of border security and the function of government in securing the border. You can watch his remarks in the link at the bottom of this transcript.

Today I want to spend a few minutes talking about the partial federal government shutdown and on the broader debate we’re having here in D.C. on the issue of border security and how it relates to that shutdown.

First, I want to make it very clear: I support the president in his efforts and in his Administration’s efforts to secure our border.

This is something that every nation does to protect its sovereignty and in my view is not something that should be viewed as very controversial—securing the border of your nation. 

Over the past 25 years every president of the United States, Democrats and Republicans, has attempted to secure our Southern border. They’ve all said they would. Even this Congress over many years has said we should. 

This Administration is trying to keep the promise made by the President to do just that. And I support that.

The goal is for a functional immigration system that secures our border, enforces the law and importantly keeps families together.

We don’t have that now. I agree with the president, and the Customs and Border Protection commissioner, who has called the situation on the southern border a security crisis, but importantly, also a humanitarian crisis.

Two issues that I’m particularly concerned about and have focused on as your Senator and I know that most Alaskans are most concerned about are actually related to the porous border down south.

And that is human trafficking—evil people who are leading children from different parts of America and different parts of South America and Mexico into lives of hell—and also the drug and opioid crisis that’s decimating communities across our country and that is threatening many Alaska communities and families as well. 

Both of these issues are tied to a porous southern border.

Most people who come to this country we all believe are good people coming in good faith. But not all of them are.

It’s a fact that drug smugglers, and human traffickers are exploiting our border with Mexico.

And it’s also a fact that strong borders work.

Of the southern border’s 1,950 miles, a physical barrier today protects about 650 miles. Border Patrol areas with enhanced or expanded barriers have been successful. That’s a fact. They have seen a 90 percent decrease in illegal traffic.

Now, over the past month, Speaker Pelosi has called the so-called wall “immoral.”

I couldn’t disagree more. In my opinion what’s immoral is not addressing the humanitarian crisis that ruins lives on both sides of the border—some of the issues I’ve been talking about in terms of human trafficking and the horrible opioid and heroin epidemic that’s hitting our country and our state.

I wish I could tell you when this is going to end—the partial government shutdown. The good news is we actually last year funded the vast majority of the government through the appropriations process. But while this continues, I will continue to work with federal agencies to try to minimize the impact of the shutdown on Alaskans.

Let me give you a couple of examples. Throughout the holidays, I worked with senior officials at the Department of Commerce, including the head of NMFS, Alaskan Chris Oliver.

Working together, we made sure that the cod fishery opened on time and we will continue to work day and night to make sure future fisheries openings in Alaska, some of which are coming in the next week, also open on time with federal government support.

Earlier today, President Trump came to the Capitol to meet with Republican Senators.

I was able to commend his team to him for working with us to keep our fisheries open—that’s hundreds of millions of dollars for Alaska communities and hundreds if not thousands of people working in our fishing industry who are out there fishing now.

And I also personally encouraged him to continue to make sure that federal agencies are helping Alaskans and Americans. For example, I mentioned FEMA—as it continues to work on the recovery from the massive earthquake that hit our state on November 30—to make sure FEMA is helping Alaskans now to the extent allowed by law. And that was an issue I raised with the president today.

Finally, Alaskans should also know that I’ve introduced a bill that ensures that members of our Coast Guard continue to get paid through the shutdown. The Coast Guard is the only branch of the five branches of the military that isn’t getting paid. The Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines are.

I know it’s a difficult issue because other federal agency members are not getting paid. But I believe that the brave men and women of the Coast Guard throughout Alaska and our country—who do an amazing job and are risking their lives every day for us protecting the homeland, keeping our fisheries safe and secure—should be getting paid. 

I raised this issue with the president as well today.

I know this shutdown is tough for many federal workers and their families in Alaska. They do great work for us and our nation. 

Know that we are continuing to work on a solution that helps better secure our country and to create a better, stronger immigration system—one that works for those immigrating and seeking asylum, and one that works for the citizens of our own nation who live here.

We’re going to keep working hard on all of these issues, but I wanted to make sure that you heard directly from me in detail on some of the things we’re debating and discussing in the Congress right now.

Thank you for your attention on these issues and if there are other things related to the partial shutdown that you or anyone else in Alaska need help on, do not hesitate to call my office. Thank you.

 

‘You can’t fire me!’ Workers who resigned now sue governor

Suzanne Downing
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20
‘You can’t fire me!’ Workers who resigned now sue governor

CLAIMING THEY WERE NONPOLITICAL EMPLOYEES

In what could shape up to be a landmark case, three former at-will employees have filed lawsuits against Gov. Michael Dunleavy, his chief of staff, and the State of Alaska. It’s unclear if they want their jobs back, but they want to exact a price from the Dunleavy Administration for releasing them from their jobs.

The case could decide whether a governor really is in charge, or whether the deep state extends even to assistant attorney generals, who simply cannot be released from their posts.

Shortly after taking office, Dunleavy’s transition team asked for the resignation letters from all at-will employees. This is the normal course of action during a change in administrations and is happening across the country.

The requests for resignations didn’t cherry-pick employees in a targeted way, but were sent as a blanket notice to all who are in the politically appointed category called “exempt.” That means when they are hired they sign a form that says they will submit their letters of resignation when asked. They are not covered by union contracts.

The governor accepted some of the resignations, but retained most of the exempt employees.

One Dunleavy didn’t retain is a Juneau celebrity blogger, Libby Bakalar, whose stock in trade is writing saucy commentary on her life and politics.

A former assistant attorney general, she is a prolific writer and unabashed liberal provocateur, and most recently was known to travel to Washington to lobby against the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. The judge was ultimately confirmed, but without the support of Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who caved to the anti-Kavanaugh protests.

Others suing Dunleavy are two doctors of psychiatry at the troubled Alaska Psychiatric Institute. Dr. Anthony Blanford was the director of Psychiatry and Dr. John Bellville was a staff psychiatrist at the institute. Neither of them actually resigned, and thus were dismissed because they didn’t send in their letters saying they wanted to work for the new administration.

Blanford, in particular, took his complaints to the Anchorage Daily News, penning a bold rebuke of the new governor in an opinion that was published in December.

The three are saying their free speech rights have been violated and that their firing was retaliation.

BAKALAR, POLICY, AND PRIVILEGE

Libby Bakalar says she was never in a policy-making role as an assistant attorney general.

But she was involved with reviewing and advising decision makers on the Stand for Salmon petition in 2018, which led to a costly initiative on the recent November ballot.

The petition for the initiative, which was defeated by voters, was initially deemed to be unconstitutional, but rather than simply deny the petition, Bakalar and her boss, former Attorney General Jahna Lindemuth, allowed the group a “do over” and even coached them in rewriting the language so the petition could be deemed constitutional.

Eighteen days before former Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott had to make a decision on the petition, the Law Department sent the petitioners a detailed letter, describing the constitutional deficiencies of their petition, explaining that it was not likely to pass legal muster, and giving them ample time to remedy it.

[Read: Department of Law nixes petition but lets group have a do-over]

But the ACLU says the matter is all about political retaliation for Bakalar’s outspoken views on her blog, which is widely read throughout the Juneau liberal intelligentsia and government establishment, and which uses the F-bomb repeatedly, such as in this recent posting:

She also was a legal staffer to former Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott’s election policy task force.

That policy group was making and deliberating policy changes that extended far beyond the choice of voting machines. They discussed moving Alaska to a mail-in ballot, and forcing the Alaska Republican Party to pay for its own primary, since it has a semi-closed ballot available only to voters not registered with another party.

In other words, the election policy group was deliberating topics that could have broad consequences in elections.

The ACLU says that Bakalar submitted her resignation under protest and says the acceptance of her resignation was because of her blog, although it offers no evidence.

As for the psychiatrists, they refused to resign, and refused to say if they wanted to stay with the new administration, and so they were terminated. They are claiming that amounts to an oath of political loyalty.

The ACLU will have a tough case to make. When Bill Walker became governor, his firings reached far and wide, and included an assistant working in the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs. Why? She was married to a Republican lawmaker.

Ironically, the attorneys at the Department of Law who will have to defend the governor will be doing so against their former colleague.

Breaking: Joe Dubler voted new president of Alaska Gasline Development Corporation

Suzanne Downing
-
4
Breaking: Joe Dubler voted new president of Alaska Gasline Development Corporation

KEITH MEYER OUT, DUBLER BACK AS INTERIM

Joe Dubler has replaced Keith Meyer as president of the Alaska Gasline Development Corporation, effective immediately. The board of directors this morning unanimously chose Dubler as interim president, and he joined the board at the table at the first meeting of the year.

Dubler was a member of the original AGDC leadership team as the corporation’s vice president under the late Dan Fauske, who was president until being forced out by Gov. Bill Walker in 2015. Dubler worked for six years at AGDC.

Fauske had been chosen to lead the fledgling agency by the Alaska Legislature, and he had built trust with leaders because of his open and transparent communication style.

Doug Smith, who was appointed to the board earlier this week by Gov. Michael Dunleavy, took over the board chairmanship this morning from from Dave Cruz, who has been board chairman throughout most of Gov. Bill Walker’s tenure since Walker fired board chair John Burns in 2015.

Dubler left the gasline corporation halfway shortly after Fauske left, which was after Burns was fired.

Dubler most recently worked as finance vice president at Cook Inlet Housing Authority and was chief financial officer at Alaska Housing Finance Corporation under Fauske. He and Fauske were key to the establishment of the Alaska Gasline Development Corporation.

[Read: Dunleavy changes gasline board]

Meyer was not present, but frequently has not attended the board meetings.

Meyer has a contract that runs until June, 2019, but he can be terminated with six months pay, unless he is released “for cause,” which is tightly defined.

The board in December, with Cruz as chair, and Hugh Short as the previous vice chairman, agreed to pay Meyer a $300,000 bonus, which covered two years of performance. Meyer’s base salary is $550,000 so he may receive close to half of that as severance pay.

Current members of the board are Labor Commissioner Tamika Leadbetter, DEC Commissioner Jason Brune, Dan Coffey, Doug Smith, Dave Cruz, Warren Christian and David Wight.

Gasline board picks new chair: Doug Smith

 

 

Gasline board picks new chair: Doug Smith

Suzanne Downing
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2
Gasline board picks new chair: Doug Smith

The board of the Alaska Gasline Development Agency made leadership changes this morning.

Doug Smith was elected board chair as one of the first orders of business during the first meeting of the year.

Smith, who was appointed to the board earlier this week by Gov. Michael Dunleavy, takes over from Dave Cruz, who has been board chairman throughout most of Gov. Bill Walker’s tenure since Walker fired board chair John Burns in 2015. Burns was an appointee of former Gov. Sean Parnell.

Cruz made the nomination, and the vote was unanimous. The two men quickly changed places in the AGDC meeting room. Also, new board member Dan Coffey was named vice chair and Warren Christian is board secretary.

Smith is the former president of Little Red Services, an oil field “hot oil” services company that was acquired by Arctic Slope Native Corporation in 2014.

[Read: Dunleavy changes gasline board]

The board then immediately went into executive session to discuss personnel issues. Check back with Must Read Alaska for this developing story.

King salmon fishing curtailed for 2019 in Upper Cook Inlet

Suzanne Downing
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2

GIVING FISH A CHANCE

When it comes to the king salmon runs in Upper Cook Inlet, hope just hasn’t been a viable management strategy over the past four years.

Fish and Game Commissioner Doug Vincent-Lang wasted no time addressing the ailing runs. Instead of waiting until commercial fishermen already had their nets in the water in summer, the department has announced in January that  commercial and sport fishing for kings in upper Cook Inlet is off the table this year.

It’s bad news for commercial fishers and also for sports fishers, guides, and related tourism. But at least they can plan. Last year, commercial nets were in the water when dip netting was shut down on the Kenai. And few fish made it up into the rivers to spawn.

This year, management appears to be about putting the health of the fish runs first and rebuilding.

DETAILS

Units 1-6 of the Susitna River drainage will be closed for kings from May 1 through July 13. The prized salmon may not be targeted and accidentally caught kings must be kept in the water and released immediately.

The closure also has limits on sport fishing gear, which will be limited to one unbaited, single-hook, artificial lure when fishing in Units 1-6 of the Susitna River drainage in waters normally open to king salmon fishing.

Sport fishing for other species will be allowed seven days per week from 6 am to 11 pm. This includes the waters within Unit 2 that are normally closed on certain days during the king salmon season.

For a complete description of these waters, anglers should refer to pages 20-37 in the 2019 Southcentral Alaska Sport Fishing Regulations booklet.

“ADF&G staff understands the frustrations and tremendous impact closing this fishery down has on anglers, local businesses, and guides. Nonetheless, ADF&G has a duty to protect, maintain, and improve our sport fisheries, and even with these restrictions, we will likely not meet our escapement goals,” said Area Management Biologist Sam Ivey.

An additional sport fishing emergency order closes king salmon fishing and implements tackle restrictions in all waters of the Little Susitna River from its mouth upstream to the Parks Highway Bridge.

Commercial fishing for king salmon in the Northern District of Upper Cook Inlet will also be closed for the 2019 season (May 27, and June 3, 10, 17, and 24).

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