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DNR begins public meetings on draft Kachemak Bay State Park plan

Courtesy of Cook Inlet Aquaculture Association

The first public hearings concerning the Kachemak Bay State Park plan were held Monday, online, by the Alaska Department of Natural Resources. Among other items, the plan calls for the phasing out of the Tutka Bay Salmon Hatchery.
DNR’s Monica Alvarez said the plan finds that a hatchery is an incompatible use in the park, and that the legal reasons to remove the Tutka Bay Hatchery outweighs all the reasons to have a salmon hatchery in Kachemak Bay.
“The plan doesn’t make financial predictions. The plan just addresses appropriate management for state parks. We understand the financial concerns, but there are just several legal concerns that exist.”
Alvarez listed some of the reasons Parks has deemed the hatchery undesirable. 
“The fact that it’s kind of authorized through a 20-year operating agreement; that is very long term, and the only thing that can be authorized in state parks are short term permits. So a 20-year term is a concern. The fact that the hatchery is operated using primarily under cost-recovery is a concern. There’s some issue with the way the agreement is written that suggest that the hatchery can purchase some of the improvements there, or portions of the land, and of course that’s not allowed in state parks.”
Alvarez incorrectly stated that the hatchery fish in the China Poot Dipnet fishery are taken from elsewhere, something that fisherman and Cook Inlet Aquaculture Association board member Malcolm Milne was quick to correct her on.
“The eggs that we do use for the release in China Poot Lake, are taken at Tutka Bay Lagoon. They return there and we take the eggs there and they’re transported to trail lakes hatchery where they’re reared and then they’re flown to China Poot Lake and released.”
He said if the Tutka Bay Hatchery were shut down as the plan calls for, the Cook Inlet Aquaculture Association would no longer be able to stock the directed commercial fishery, or the personal use dipnet fishery that has sprung from it.
Alvarez said fishermen and residents shouldn't be concerned about any conflict of interest from the head of Alaska State Parks, Ricky Gease of Kenai, who in a previous role as a lobbyist for Kenai River sportsfishing interests, advocated strongly for the removal of hatcheries, including Tutka Bay.
“I will say that the concerns related to the hatchery have nothing to do with Ricky Gease. They’re largely legal in nature. They're concerns we've had for quite some time. Additionally, Ricky Gease is kind of recused from this process. And so he has not been part of any of the meetings associated with this management plan, both internally and externally, because of his past commenting on the plan in his former role during the public review draft. So he really has nothing to do with this effort.”
The comment period for the draft Kachemak Bay State Park plan revisions are open until Jan. 22, and then they will be reviewed by staff before being incorporated into the draft and forwarded to the commissioner of the Department of Natural Resources.

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Local News Kachemak Bay State ParkTutka Bay Lagoon HatcheryAlaska Department of Natural ResourcesChina Poot BayMonica AlvarezRicky Gease
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