Cook Inlet’s commercial fisheries define region’s culture, traditions
Posted: May 9, 2013 – 12:54pm
By Emilie Springer
Summer is almost here and there is a very obvious tension on the Kenai Peninsula related to the role of salmon in local communities and how to qualify what that role is among different user groups.
Yes, we eat a lot of fish here and the availability of salmon to anglers is important. Salmon is a fabulous source of food, superb nutritional value. Everyone should eat it. However, to suggest that it is a real subsistence product for anglers is questionable.
The fight over who gets what and how to divide access between sport and commercial fisheries is complicated. There are all perspectives of voices and identities ramping up to fight it out. The conflict and bitter commentary on this is distressing. It is so convoluted by money and politics and the role of tourism on the Kenai from Anchorage and Mat-Su visitors.
Due to copyright law, the Alaska Salmon Alliance cannot repost full articles. You can read the rest of this editorial here.
Emilie Springer is a PhD candidate at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and is a member of the National Science Foundation’s Resilience and Adaptation Program. She studies culture and policy of various state and federal fisheries in Alaska.
As with all the articles we link to on the ASA website, this report does not necessarily reflect the views of the Alaska Salmon Alliance.