April 25, 2014 – 9:59am
Resources for All Alaskans, a group formed to combat an proposed initiative to ban commercial setnet fishing in certain parts of the state, met in Kenai to talk strategy with several local fishing groups after being dealt a blow when an Alaska Superior Court judge ruled that it could not intervene in a lawsuit over the initiative.
The group submitted an amicus brief, or friend of the court brief, in support of the State of Alaska’s position opposing the proposed setnet ban initiative, and while the judge accepted that brief, she denied the group’s request to gain intervener status in an April 18 motion.
Had the group been able to intervene, it would have been able to participate in oral arguments that took place Tuesday in Anchorage. It is unclear if Resources for All Alaskans will choose to appeal the judge’s ruling.
The proposed ballot initiative, filed by another fledgling group, the Alaska Fisheries Conservation Alliance, would ban setnetting in areas of the state defined as “urban.”
Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell rejected the proposed initiative in January and the conservation alliance filed an appeal of Treadwell’s decision in Alaska Superior court in late January.
Resources for All Alaskans was formed by several local and statewide commercial fishing representatives including Jim Butler, a longtime Cook Inlet setnetter and lawyer, Jim Garner, Executive Vice President of Trident Seafood, and Jerry McCune, president of United Fishermen of Alaska and Cordova District Fishermen United.
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