Okay, now, can anyone foresee that there might be a problem in winter 2010? Something similar to this past winter? Maybe, uh, start planning now? Hello? Anyone in state government at home?
The Lower Yukon villages that have relied on commercial fishing for kings for their income (pay the bills, buy gas to go hunting, buy gas to go fishing for other stuff, take care of the winter's bills) may end up hurting again. Top it off with with subsistence restrictions and ... wow.
Of course, many of the upriver folks haven't even had a commercial fishery for kings to rely on to this point. Subsistence fishing restrictions are going to hit the Yukon hard this year.
But hey, don't worry, priorities are in order here on the Last Frontier. At least we're going to be growing more fish to stock lakes in the Fairbanks region. Per yesterday's FDNM:
"The goal is to double the number of fish that are stocked in Interior lakes and ponds to meet increasing demand from Alaska anglers."
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Coming after this year, it's going to hammer some families. And there won't be the larger PFD to cushion the blow. Calista said it will pay out some cash to shareholders, but it's 1.75 a share, which isn't that much. I don't have much hope that anything will get done.
But I wouldn't knock the hatchery too much. It'll help keep fish at even-keel levels in the interior. We don't get hit as hard as the Kenai, but we also don't have as large fish stocks to begin with...
Or that's what the guys across the way in the IMS tell me. I sort of trust that they know what they're talking about, though.
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