ADFG Pushes Back Alaska Shellfish Meeting To March 26 Opening

The following is courtesy of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game:

RESCHEDULED: Alaska Board of Fisheries to Meet in Anchorage, March 26-April 2, 2022 on Cook Inlet, Kodiak, Westward, Arctic Shellfish and Shellfish General Provisions, and Prince William Sound Shrimp and Supplemental Issues

The Board’s Hatchery Committee also rescheduled to March 23, 2022

With the postponement and rescheduling of the Alaska Board of Fisheries (board) Southeast and Yakutat Finfish and Shellfish meeting to Anchorage, March 10-22, the board is rescheduling its statewide shellfish meeting to March 26-April 2, 2022. The meeting location remains the Egan Civic and Convention Center, 555 W 5^th Avenue, Anchorage, Alaska. During this eight-day public meeting, the board will meet to consider 45 proposals regarding all statewide shellfish proposals submitted by the general public, fishing organizations, local fish and game advisory committees, and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. This includes three agenda change requests accepted by the board at its October 2021 work session.

In an effort to fully conduct this meeting the department is enacting a number of temporary COVID-19 mitigation measures including requiring registration. Registration is taken mainly to ask for contact information which is used to communicate meeting updates to attendees and, in the event of a COVID-19 outbreak at the meeting, made available to contact tracers. The registration also allows attendees to indicate their intention to provide oral public testimony, selecting from multiple time slots on a first-come, first-serve basis. To register, go to the meeting website at http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=fisheriesboard.meetinginfo&date=03-26-2022&meeting=anchorage. Registration will be available by January 21, 2022. Other mitigation measures will be enacted and provided in a meeting specific plan currently under development.

The board invites the public to give oral public testimony during the meeting beginning March 26. Persons intending to testify are strongly encouraged to use the registration platform prior to the meeting. Individuals who register at the meeting may sign up for public testimony at the Egan Center. The tentative deadline for signing up is 2:00pm on Saturday, March 26. Public testimony will continue until members of the public who signed up before the deadline and are present have been given an opportunity to testify.  

All portions of the meeting are open to the public and a live audio stream is intended to be available on the Board of Fisheries website at www.boardoffisheries.adfg.alaska.gov. Documents submitted to the board are intended to be posted online throughout the meeting. Copies of advanced meeting materials, including the agenda and roadmap, are available from Boards Support Section, 907-465-4110, or online at: http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=fisheriesboard.meetinginfo.

The board encourages the public to submit written comments on specific proposals. See http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=process.comments for details on public comment. Public comments submitted by March 10 will be included in the board’s workbook before the meeting. After March 10, written public comments are limited to 10 single-sided or 5 double-sided pages in length from any one individual or group. These comments are recorded as record copies and inserted in board member workbooks at the beginning of the meeting, and accepted throughout the board meeting.

During the meeting, written public comments from any one individual or group may be submitted through email at dfg.bof.comments@alaska.gov. Once proposal deliberations begin, the board will ONLY accept written public comments not more than five single-sided pages, or the equivalent double-sided pages. The board may relax this requirement if specific information is requested by the board requiring more pages than allowed under this standard.

Individuals not in attendance can submit written comments by fax to (907) 465-6094 or email dfg.bof.comments@alaska.gov.

Training opportunity: The Boards Support Section is hosting a training course, How to Navigate the Board Process, roughly ten minutes following the noon adjournment on Day 1, March 26, in the main meeting area. While the training is designed for those new to the board process, all are welcome to join.

Hatchery Committee: The board’s standing Hatchery Committee will meet at 9:00 a.m. on March 23, 2022, at the Egan Civic and Convention Center, 555 W. 5th Avenue, Anchorage, Alaska. The meeting will occur in the Summit Hall, downstairs at the Egan Center.

Committee meetings are open to the public. A meeting agenda and other meeting materials will be available on the Board of Fisheries meeting information website at http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=fisheriesboard.meetinginfo. Written comments for either committee are welcome by the board. Individuals wishing to submit comments for the committee may do so until March 8. Please refer to instructions earlier in this meeting announcement on how to submit comments.