Which candidate is negative and attacks his opponent?

Which candidate urges voters to “Rank the Red” and stays positive in her ad?

Words and actions matter.

The “Negative Nick” moniker fits Mr. Begich snuggly.

The post Who’s negative and who’s not? appeared first on Alaska Politics and Elections.

Suzanne Downing reported about so-called ethics legislation coming out of young master Jason Grenn, HB 44, that would prohibit anyone with any sort of an oil patch job from voting on anything related to budget, oil, taxes, tax credits, exploration and development.  This includes anyone who works for an oil or an oil service company.  It is aimed directly at Senators Kevin Meyer and Peter Micciche.

If we follow that logic, a lot of interesting things begin to happen.  For instance, should we also prohibit anyone who has taken campaign donations from any union or union PAC from voting on anything related to unions including contracts, taxes and budgets?  This would wipe out the entire House majority, including one Jason Grenn.  But that we must do it because of ethics.

How about banning commercial fishermen from doing the same?  This would wipe out Paul Seaton, Louise Stutts and Gary Stevens.  A similar ban on those with any sort of connection to native corporations would prohibit the vast majority of Bush legislators from voting on the budget.  There are more examples, but this is a good start.

As much as I want to call Mr. Grenn a sniveling little weasel, I won’t.  At best, he has been set up by his majority agreeing to spearhead this outrage.  At worst, either he doesn’t know what he is carrying, or he is a true believer.  Either way, he is too foolish or too dangerous to remain in office.  One thing HB 44 does demonstrate is the absolute and fundamental hostility of the new House majority and the people who put them into office, the unions, democrats and greens, to the oil patch, the only part of the economy paying its way around here.  That hostility must be countered.

The second example comes from one Geran Tarr of Anchorage, who introduced the first Alaskan gun control legislation in decades.  This one allows law enforcement to take weapons from citizens.  Her excuse is that she wants family members to feel empowered to speak up to prevent gun violence.  Her legislation is aimed at preventing events that led up to the Ft. Lauderdale shooting.  Of course, when someone wanders into the local FBI office and tells them that voices in his head are telling him to fight for ISIS, they ought to do something other than pat him on his little head and send him on his way.  If law enforcement does its job, Ft. Lauderdale shootings do not happen.

Final example comes out of Andy Josephson, who wants hearings on manmade global warming due to CO2 emissions with the goal of imposing a carbon tax.  As with all things climate related, his announcement was quickly followed by a massive cold snap in Alaska, with interior temperatures colder than -70F.  This is called the Gore Effect.  Will these hearings solve anything?  Will anything that takes place in Juneau do anything to change the weather?  Will anyone on either side of the issue be persuaded to change their mind on the subject?  The answer to all three questions is a resounding “no.”  So why hold the hearings?  Other than Democrat self-gratification and virtue signaling, I can’t think of a thing.  Apparently neither can Rep. Josephson, who seems to be well out of his element.

It is going to be a long session, and every single day these people are in power is another day they remind us why they were not in power for decades.  Sadly, they are not silly at all.  They are dangerous and should be treated as such.  So should the people and organizations that put them into office – democrats, unions, media and greens.

Alex Gimarc lives in Anchorage since retiring from the military in 1997. His interests include science and technology, environment, energy, economics, military affairs, fishing and disabilities policies. His weekly column “Interesting Items” is a summary of news stories with substantive Alaska-themed topics. He is a small business owner and Information Technology professional.

image credit Aaron Saunders

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With the aftermath of the presidential campaign, the destruction of the Republican establishment and two political dynasties – the Bushs and the Clintons, and most importantly neutering or gelding the democrat cheerleading operation that masquerades as the formerly mainstream media, I am wondering if we are on the doorstep of the age of the Honey Badger Conservative.

Now this doesn’t mean we have won anything.  Rather it means that we conservatives no longer care what the left thinks of us, says about us, or accuses us of doing or being.  You can only be called a racist, homophobe or bigot so many times before those epithets dissolve into so much foul smelling smoke.

The Hillary campaign calls half of the country a basket of deplorables.  What do they do?  They turn out in sufficient numbers to flip states which have been comfortably in the democrat column for decades.

Hillary surrogate Jill Stein demands a recount in states precisely selected to flip the election back to Hillary after the fact.  What happens?  Trump picks up votes during the recount.

The cast of Hamilton, many of whom do not bother to vote or otherwise participate in the political process, deign to lecture the VP-elect from the stage following a performance in NYC?  A couple days later, a Trump supporting member of the audience returns the favor during a Hamilton performance in Chicago.

One Brad Avakian, commissioner of the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries, the guy who famously ordered the owners of Sweet Cakes to pay $135,000 damages to a gay couple for refusing to sell them a wedding cake, loses his election for Secretary of State.  This loss is the first statewide loss by a democrat in 20 years.  Honey Badger don’t care.

Kellogg’s pulls its advertising from Breitbart because of all the usual reasons.  Its customers respond with a loud, nasty boycott.  Target joins the bathroom wars on the side of the left and loses billions in stock value.  ESPN turns its content over to its left wing social justice warrior announcing crew and sees its subscribers running for the hills.  The NFL refuses to discipline Colin Kaepernick for kneeling during the National Anthem and wonders why its ratings are falling.

Honey Badger don’t care.  Honey Badger gonna do what it wants to do regardless of the pain inflicted on it.

The left has been dishing it out for a long, long time.  Appears they are going to receive a bit of return fire.  It is long past time for this to begin.  Fire for effect, guys.  Fire for effect.

Alex Gimarc lives in Anchorage since retiring from the military in 1997. His interests include science and technology, environment, energy, economics, military affairs, fishing and disabilities policies. His weekly column “Interesting Items” is a summary of news stories with substantive Alaska-themed topics. He is a small business owner and Information Technology professional.

The post Honey Badger Conservatives? appeared first on Alaska Politics and Elections.

“Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty.

This is known as “bad luck.”

Alice Rogoff’s fish wrapper reminded me of the quote a couple days ago, with a breathless story about the recession hitting Alaska and the surprise to the writer, Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development analyst interviewed, and a lot of the commenters that it was actually taking place.  It is one of the more hilarious articles I have seen in weeks.

How do we make our own bad luck?  By warring against the oil companies, by warring against mining, by warring against sport, personal use and subsistence fishermen, by warring against logging.  In this state, a combination of unions, democrats and greens war against literally every single way to employ more Alaskans.

When you elect a governor whose entire history is as a lawyer suing the producers, he will continue doing what he knows how to do best.  Perhaps it is the only thing he knows how to do, as he is certainly doing it well.  In a mere six months, over 5,500 jobs have been lost.  But at least we have Backbone and are putting Alaska First.  Working Alaskans?  Not so much.

When you allow the richest man in the state to conduct a virtual jihad against a mine that will put some 16,000 of our neighbors to work in one of the poorest parts of the state for the next 50 years, you end up making your own bad luck.

When you fight a coal mine across Cook Inlet from Anchorage to save roughly $9,000 worth of sport caught coho and reds yearly while trading 1,550 jobs making as much as $10 million yearly payroll, you make your own bad luck.

When you put the economic interests of some 1,200 Cook Inlet commercial fishermen above those of over 200,000 sport, subsistence and personal use fishermen, you make your own bad luck.

Worst of all, is the incessant cheerleading in support of this foolishness from the economic illiterates among us.  It is very easy to pit the economic interests of one against another.  It is much more difficult to figure out how to grow the economy without the benefit of state spending, at least for the usual suspects on the left – the unions, their elected officials, the greens, Backbone and the Alaska First crowd.

We are a resource development state.  Time to get out of the way, develop those resources and put our neighbors, ourselves, children and grandchildren to work.

Alex Gimarc lives in Anchorage since retiring from the military in 1997. His interests include science and technology, environment, energy, economics, military affairs, fishing and disabilities policies. His weekly column “Interesting Items” is a summary of news stories with substantive Alaska-themed topics. He is a small business owner and Information Technology professional.

The post Creating Our Own Alaskan Bad Luck appeared first on Alaska Politics and Elections.

The chart is misleading, because it only shows State spending from one “funding source”, the Unrestricted General Fund (UGF). In FY17, the total Budget is $10.4 billion (Operating: $8.8 billion, Capital: $1.6 billion). The UGF source makes up only $4.2 billion of the $8.8 billion Total Operating Budget.

The deception in the Hackenmueller’s chart is that it is used to create a perception that significant cuts have been made, which leads to the argument that it’s time to tax Alaskans and cap the Permanent Fund Dividend, both of which Hackenmueller is on record supporting in a March 2016 Legislative Finance Hearing. *

The more appropriate view of State government spending is the Operating Cost of State agencies, which is the lion’s share of the Total Operating Budget ($8.3B of $8.8B total), shown below. In the same 10 year period, State agency spending has increased by $3 billion dollars. Considering total Agency Operating Budgets, spending that will eat our savings every year, it’s a myth that significant cuts have been made.

Alaskan’s should not be fooled by these deceptive budget tactics that reference only one funding source. All government funds originate from the private sector. We must reduce the footprint of Big government, the real threat to Alaska’s savings. The quicker savings are depleted by Big government, the sooner it will look to the private sector for more revenue.

* Source: http://www.akleg.gov/basis/Meeting/Detail/?Meeting=SFIN%202016-03-09%2009:00:00&Bill=SB%20140

By Representative Lora Reinbold from Eagle River District 14

The post A Democrat’s (I’m sorry, an “Independent’s”) Deception on the State Budget appeared first on Alaska Politics and Elections.

J Christian Adams writing in PJ Media a few weeks ago described 10 ways the left (democrats) are hacking the election system.  These include but are not limited to the following:

• Block citizenship verification
• Early voting
• Out of precinct voting
• Felon re-enfranchisement
• Mandatory voter registration
• Dirty voter rolls
• Foreign language ballots
• Same day registration
• State qualification instructions on registration forms
• National popular vote

It is a sobering article.

How many of these have we seen here in Alaska over the last decade?  I can name at least three:  Early voting – via the Anchorage Assembly moving to an all-mail voting system.  We also open the polls here in Anchorage for early voting.  Foreign language ballots – done courtesy court order for Yupik and other Native language ballots.  This is backed up by former Lt Gov Mead Treadwell’s decision to flood the Bush with over 200 elections officers.

Final example is mandatory voter registration.  Next month we here in Alaska have the opportunity to vote for or against a ballot initiative called PFD Automatic Voter Registration.  This little nugget aims to automatically register new voters based on their PFD application.  Essentially, the democrats plan to use state funds to register people to vote who are unable to do so now.  So now state funds are going to be spent to make life easier to register new democrat voters.

Today roughly 57% of the state population over 736,000 are called active registered voters.  The ballot initiative is predictably hiding behind active duty military in their campaign ads as an excuse to support the initiative.  Generally the best way to support the troops would be to get absentee ballots to them in a timely manner, something beyond the competence or interest of most blue state elections officials.

The entire process will be managed by the Division of Elections (DOE), including protection of databases of personal data.  Given the absolute mess DOE turned voting in District 40 into last month, does anyone believe they even have the basic competence to handle something like this?  I don’t either.  But at least Byron Malott has his Yupik language ballots.  Whoop.

PFD Automatic Voter Registration is a bad idea.  It is backed by the usual suspects on the left.  These are proudly listed in their Coalition page on their web site.  They include Vince Beltrami’s AFL/CIO, Alaska Conservation Voters, AARP of Alaska, ACLU of Alaska, Alaska Federation of Natives, a variety of regional Native Corporations, NEA Alaska, Great Alaska Schools and the NAA(L)CP.  This is hardly a list of people and organizations interested in anything other than growing the size of state government and its budget at the expense of every single working Alaskan.  And they wouldn’t be supporting it unless it was going to politically benefit them in future years.

PFD Automatic Voter Registration?  Vote no.  Put it out of its and our misery.

Alex Gimarc lives in Anchorage since retiring from the military in 1997. His interests include science and technology, environment, energy, economics, military affairs, fishing and disabilities policies. His weekly column “Interesting Items” is a summary of news stories with substantive Alaska-themed topics. He is a small business owner and Information Technology professional.

The post Election Fraud Comes to Alaska appeared first on Alaska Politics and Elections.

In the same election, Dan Ortiz in Ketchikan ran as an independent, was elected and promptly threw in with the same democrats he had been supporting for years.  Jim Colver, switched party affiliations in January to Republican and won a 3-way split primary in 2014.  He then spent the next two years working with democrats to overturn the Republican majority in the House.  Colver was defeated for reelection last month.

This year, no less than 11 so-called independents are running for various legislative seats.  Most are running against Republican incumbents.  Most are getting significant monetary support from the usual suspects on the democrat side.  Most are getting significant ground game legwork from the unions, which fall all over themselves getting democrats elected.  I expect every single one of them will caucus with democrats in support of whatever Bill Walker wants should they win in November.

The two most prominent of these are Margaret Stock, running against Lisa Murkowski for US Senate, and union boss Vince Beltrami, attempting to take out State Senator Cathy Giessel.  Vince is not any more independent than Hillary is.  He has been playing kingmaker in democrat campaigns for over a decade.  He helped broker the deal that created the Walker – Mallott ticket in 2014.  Margaret Stock is little better, having spent all her time attending democrat functions and fundraisers.  While she flails away nicely at Lisa, she will Caucus with Chuckie Schumer in the US Senate, if elected.

Finally, we have our good friend, Joe Miller, who at the last minute tossed his principles aside and decided he wanted to be a Libertarian candidate for US Senate.  He publicly said he wanted to give Alaskan voters a conservative choice in November.  But he is not a conservative any more; he is a libertarian candidate.  Anyone read the Libertarian platform lately?  Especially the Millerite pro-lifers?  There are some very interesting pro-choice / pro-abortion positions in it.

All of these candidates – Stock, Beltrami, Ortiz , Walker, Colver, and Joe Miller are pretending to be something other than what they really are.  As such, they are committing a fraud upon the body politic by not having the stones to actually stand up and tell the voters what they actually believe in.  They are all promising one thing and like Walker, are all going to deliver something far, far different.

Some of the “independents” may actually be successful getting elected.  We hope that number approaches zero.  For if these people can’t actually look you in your eye and tell you what they are and what they actually believe, why do they deserve your votes?

Alex Gimarc lives in Anchorage since retiring from the military in 1997. His interests include science and technology, environment, energy, economics, military affairs, fishing and disabilities policies. His weekly column “Interesting Items” is a summary of news stories with substantive Alaska-themed topics. He is a small business owner and Information Technology professional.

The post The Gall of Independents appeared first on Alaska Politics and Elections.

Of course no such thing happened. For its part, a few scientists employed by Exxon did take a look at possible impact of their business on global temperatures in the 1970s.  But they found nothing.  They published their results and went on to the next event.

The plan by the democrat Attorneys General is to drag Exxon–Mobile through the state and federal courts system, using the legal process as punishment.  Punishment in this case is the cost of tens to hundreds of millions to billions of dollars to defend itself from what is essentially a fishing expedition.

Attorneys General from 13 red states, generally all oil producing states, wrote a letter to the democrat participants warning that the same technique could be used against the organizations, groups, and government employees that are running around claiming man-made global warming due to CO2 emissions.  They suggested that allowing the public debate to continue would be the best solution.  One of the signatories to that letter was Governor Bill Walker’s Attorney General Craig Richards.

Imagine my surprise (h/t Super Dave Stieren) when KTUU announced last week that Walker’s new Attorney General Jahna Lindemuth had filed an amicus brief in support of the Exxon Knew fishing expedition.  Lindemuth’s mealy-mouth explanation is that while the issue is not man-made global warming due to CO2 emissions, rather “… ensuring states have the ability to investigate consumer fraud.”  This is a complete reversal of Walker’s previous position.

A reasonable person would wonder why the change in course?  Why now?  What is Walker up to?

One explanation comes from Stieren who believes that Walker is going to do everything humanly possible to force the producers into court where they will be fighting for their corporate lives with the State of Alaska over providing natural gas for Walker’s white elephant, the natural gas pipeline that is not sufficiently grounded in economics for the experts (the producers) to want to build.

If you look around, he may be correct.

For instance, the State abruptly rejected this year’s production plan for the North Slope.  This is the plan that all well work and continuing maintenance is based upon.  This rejection was enough of a hammer to force British Petroleum to grudgingly agree to talk about supplying natural gas for a pipeline.  If you talk to people who work on the Slope, the entire field is being slowly shut down while the State dilly-dallies approving the plan.  If something breaks, it is simply being shut down rather than repaired.  Going to be difficult to get more (or continuing) oil in the pipeline doing this.

There is a very real possibility that the Commissioner of DNR is going to find the producers in default of their production leases if they don’t provide gas marketing details demanded by the State as part of BP’s development plan.  It is something the producers have refused to do, because they claim they would be breaking the law if they did.

It used to be that both political parties in this state believed that the Golden Goose of production out of Prudhoe was something to be cared for, cherished, and expanded.  That time is long gone.  We now have a coalition of democrats, greens, unions, and other rent seekers who put Bill Walker in office that looks at the producers as an enemy or a sheep to be fleeced rather than the economic partners they have been for over 40 years.

I fear that Walker’s attempt to strong-arm the producers into participating in the natural gas pipeline will invite them out of the State of Alaska.  When they go, where will the jobs for us, our children and grandchildren come from?  Resource development?  Hardly, as we can’t log, mine, or drill due to environmental, NIMBY, and BANANA concerns.  We can’t farm fish, because we are protecting commfish jobs.  Interesting isn’t it, that we are not so interested in protecting oilpatch jobs?

The democrats and unions will tell you that tapping into the Permanent Fund will solve the entire problem.  But it won’t, as Walker is going to use it to backstop his $65 billion white elephant.

Finally, consider the lesson we are teaching investors about Alaska.  We have a major industry that has worked well with politicians on both sides of the political divide for decades, which is now being targeted for destruction in a time of a worldwide glut of their product.  Even if we manage to reinstall sanity in Juneau next session, we will have taught the producers that it only takes a single election of a bat-guano crazy administration to send everything right down the toilet once again.

This is hardly a stable environment for their shareholders and I expect them to go elsewhere unless large, permanent changes are made in our regulatory and political environment.

Alex Gimarc lives in Anchorage since retiring from the military in 1997. His interests include science and technology, environment, energy, economics, military affairs, fishing and disabilities policies. His weekly column “Interesting Items” is a summary of news stories with substantive Alaska-themed topics. He is a small business owner and Information Technology professional.

The post Exxon Knew appeared first on Alaska Politics and Elections.

It is amazing reading and more importantly needs to be changed.  How so?

For instance, it starts off in Section (a) stating “The department shall manage the Kenai River late-run sockeye stocks primarily for commercial uses based on abundance.”

This needs to change, as it has the 1,200 drift fleet permit holders controlling the take of millions of fish, stomping all over the interests of tens of thousands of dip net / personal use / subsistence and several hundreds of thousands of sport fish users.  This verbiage needs to change so that the interests of all users are equally balanced.

Sections (b) (1), (c) (1), (c) (2) and (c) (3) establish in-river fish numbers based on forecast run strengths.  The in-river fish numbers are based on sonar counts 19 miles upriver.  But there is a problem, as the sonar system this regulation was based on was replaced three years ago with one that is 40% more accurate.  In other words, the new, more accurate system is counting 40% more fish upriver.  The basic user sees 40% fewer fish in the river than they did before the new system was deployed.

Solution is relatively easy, as ADF&G needs to modify the in river goals upward by 40%.

• (b) (1) Optimum escapement goal currently at 700,000 – 1,400,000 fish should become 980,000 – 1,960,000 fish
• (c) (1) Run strength goal at less than 2,300,000 reds in the river currently set at 900,000 – 1,100,000 fish should be increased to 1,260,000 – 1,540,000 fish
• (c) (2) Run strength goal with an estimated run between 2,300,000 – 4,600,000 reds currently set at 1,000,000 – 1,200,000 fish should be increased to 1,400,000 – 1,680,000 fish
• (c) (3) Run strength over 4,600,000 fish currently set at 1,100,000 – 1,350,000 fish needs to increase to 1,540,000 – 1,890,000 fish

For the last three years, fishermen the length of the Kenai system have complained about fewer fish in the river.  They are correct, there are 40% fewer fish in the river.  The argument we will hear from both ADF&G and the commercial fleet and setnetters will be overescapement, too many fish in the system.  Yet the entire system was managed for decades for 40% more fish in the river and the resource did quite well, that is until the new sonar system was installed giving managers an excuse to limit fish in the nets of people who are not commercial fishermen.

This is the biggest change I would make to the management plan.  There are many others, among them are the following:

• Prohibit any commercial opening or combination of commercial opening with emergency opening from having nets in the water longer than 12 hours out of any 24-hour period of time.  This will ensure sufficient fish get into the river for the other user groups.
• Remove the ability of the Commissioner to depart from the management plan so we will not see the abuse of the resource demonstrated by Commissioner Sam Cotton the first two weeks this August.
• Finally, the regulation needs to change so that the commercial catch of coho and chum is minimized.  Every single one of these caught by the drift fleet is a fish that a sport fisherman (or woman) in upper Cook Inlet, Anchorage, Turnagain Arm, the MatSu does not put in their freezer.  This year’s coho catch was nearly 128,000 coho and 125,000 chum.  http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=commercialbyareauci.salmon_harvest

These changes will go a long way to more equitably sharing the resource.  They need to be made.  Sooner would be better than later.  This is not the final word in the discussion.  Rather, it is a start.

==============================================================================

5 AAC 21.360. Kenai River Late-Run Sockeye Salmon Management Plan

(a) The department shall manage the Kenai River late-run sockeye salmon stocks primarily for commercial uses based on abundance. The department shall also manage the commercial fisheries to minimize the harvest of Northern District coho, late-run Kenai River king, and Kenai River coho salmon stocks to provide personal use, sport, and guided sport fishermen with a reasonable opportunity to harvest salmon resources.

(b) The Kenai River late-run sockeye salmon commercial, sport, and personal use fisheries shall be managed to

(1) meet an optimum escapement goal (OEG) range of 700,000 – 1,400,000 late-run sockeye salmon;

(2) achieve inriver goals as established by the board and measured at the Kenai River sonar counter located at river mile 19; and

(3) distribute the escapement of sockeye salmon evenly within the OEG range, in proportion to the size of the run.

(c) Based on preseason forecasts and inseason evaluations of the total Kenai River late-run sockeye salmon return during the fishing season, the run will be managed as follows:

(1) at run strengths of less than 2,300,000 sockeye salmon,

(A) the department shall manage for an inriver goal range of 900,000 – 1,100,000 sockeye salmon past the sonar counter at river mile 19; and

(B) subject to the provisions of other management plans, the Upper Subdistrict set gillnet fishery will fish regular weekly fishing periods, as specified in 5 AAC 21.320, through July 20, unless the department determines that the minimum inriver goal will not be met, at which time the fishery shall be closed or restricted as necessary; the commissioner may, by emergency order, allow extra fishing periods of no more than 24 hours per week, except as provided in 5 AAC 21.365;

(2) at run strengths of 2,300,000 – 4,600,000 sockeye salmon,

(A) the department shall manage for an inriver goal range of 1,000,000 – 1,200,000 sockeye salmon past the sonar counter at river mile 19;

(B) subject to the provisions of other management plans, the Upper Subdistrict set gillnet fishery will fish regular weekly fishing periods, as specified in 5 AAC 21.320, through July 20, or until the department makes a determination of run strength, whichever occurs first; if the department determines that the minimum inriver goal will not be met, the fishery shall be closed or restricted as necessary; the commissioner may, by emergency order, allow extra fishing periods of no more than 51 hours per week, except as provided in 5 AAC 21.365; and

(C) the Upper Subdistrict set gillnet fishery will be closed for one continuous 36-hour period per week beginning between 7:00 p.m. Thursday and 7:00 a.m. Friday and for one continuous 24-hour period per week beginning between7:00 p.m. Monday and 7:00 a.m. Wednesday;

(3) at run strengths greater than 4,600,000 sockeye salmon,

(A) the department shall manage for an inriver goal range of 1,100,000 – 1,350,000 sockeye salmon past the sonar counter at river mile 19;

(B) subject to the provisions of other management plans, the Upper Subdistrict set gillnet fishery will fish regular weekly fishing periods, as specified in 5 AAC 21.320, through July 20, or until the department makes a determination of run strength, whichever occurs first; if the department determines that the minimum inriver goal will not be met, the fishery shall be closed or restricted as necessary; the commissioner may, by emergency order, allow extra fishing periods of no more than 84 hours per week, except as provided in 5 AAC 21.365; and

(C) the Upper Subdistrict set gillnet fishery will be closed for one continuous 36-hour period per week, beginning between 7:00 p.m. Thursday and 7:00 a.m. Friday.

(d) The sonar count levels established in this section may be lowered by the board if noncommercial fishing, after consideration of mitigation efforts, results in a net loss of riparian habitat on the Kenai River. The department will, to the extent practicable, conduct habitat assessments on a schedule that conforms to the Board of Fisheries (board) triennial meeting cycle. If the assessments demonstrate a net loss of riparian habitat caused by noncommercial fishermen, the department is requested to report those findings to the board and submit proposals to the board for appropriate modification of the Kenai River late-run sockeye salmon inriver goal.

(e) Repealed 6/11/2005.

(f) Repealed 6/11/2005.

(g) Subject to the requirement of achieving the lower end of the optimal escapement goal, the department shall provide for a personal use dip net fishery in the lower Kenai River as specified in 5 AAC 77.540.

(h) Subject to the requirement of achieving the lower end of the optimal escapement goal, the department shall manage the sport fishery on the Kenai River, except that portion of the Kenai River from its confluence with the Russian River to an ADF&G regulatory marker located 1,800 yards downstream, as follows:

(1) fishing will occur seven days per week, 24 hours per day;

(2) the bag and possession limit for sockeye salmon is three per day, with six in possession, in the sport fishery, unless the department determines that the abundance of late-run sockeye salmon exceeds 2,300,000 fish, at which time the commissioner may, by emergency order, increase the bag and possession limit as the commissioner determines to be appropriate; and

(3) if the projected inriver run of sockeye salmon above the Kenai River sonar counter located at river mile 19 is less than 900,000 fish and the inriver sport fishery harvest is projected to result in an escapement below the lower end of the optimal escapement goal, the commissioner may, by emergency order, decrease the bag and possession limit, as the commissioner determines to be appropriate, for sockeye salmon in the sport fishery above the Kenai River sonar counter located at river mile 19.

(i) For the purposes of this section, “week” means a calendar week, a period of time beginning at 12:00:01 a.m. Sunday and ending at 12:00 midnight the following Saturday.

(j) The commissioner may depart from the provisions of the management plan under this section as provided in 5 AAC 21.363(e).

http://www.legis.state.ak.us/basis/aac.asp#5.21.360

Alex Gimarc lives in Anchorage since retiring from the military in 1997. His interests include science and technology, environment, energy, economics, military affairs, fishing and disabilities policies. His weekly column “Interesting Items” is a summary of news stories with substantive Alaska-themed topics. He is a small business owner and Information Technology professional.

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