The Alaska Board of Fisheries is meeting this week in Anchorage to take on Bristol Bay issues, including some that have stirred controversy.

As expected, one proposal is directed at curtailing the Pebble Mine project, asking the board to submit a resolution establishing a fish refuge in Bristol Bay watersheds to the Alaska Legislature.

Proposed by a group that includes fish buyers, lodge owners, Bristol Bay families and tribal councils, the resolution takes direct aim at Pebble, although not by name, by stating, "The important fishery resources within these watersheds could suffer negative environmental consequences from potential large scale sulfide mine development, including effects on fish habitat, acid mine drainage and other water quality issues resulting from mine tailings and exposed rock that may require ongoing remediation efforts for an indefinite period of time."

In asking the board to submit the resolution to the Legislature, the group notes that "the existing mainstays of the economy in this region subsistence use, commercial fishing, sport fishing and hunting are highly dependent upon these productive watersheds."

Another proposal that is making waves is the one that would eliminate the 32-foot vessel size limit, a proposal that was first made at the 2006 meetings, but was tabled for further study.

Proposed this time around by Erick Sabo, a Tacoma-area lawyer and Bristol Bay drift fisherman, the proposal claims that at issue is "vessel safety, quality of salmon caught and the arbitrary 32-foot limit on the length of vessels allowed to fish in Bristol Bay's driftnet fishery."

Proponents argue bigger boats have more room to install some form of refrigeration to increase fish quality, are generally safer and may give owners more opportunity to participate in other fisheries, such as halibut.

Opponents say bigger boats favor non-resident fishermen with more access to capital, many of whom will undoubtedly stack permits, fishing two on one boat, giving them a larger share of the harvest, and will drive even more Bristol Bay residents out of the fishery.

Proponents point out smaller boats will always have an advantage in shallow water, where much of the Bristol Bay fishery takes place and are generally less expensive to operate.

Permit stacking also is on the agenda. The board agreed to allow permit stacking at the last round of Bristol Bay meetings three years ago, but the permits had to belong to separate parties. The extra permit allowed for an extra 50-fathom shackle of gear. This time around, there are several proposals to allow one person to own two permits and fish them on the same boat. Setnetters have similar proposals to allow one person to own and fish two permits at once. The 2006 permit-stacking regulation did not apply to setnetters.

One proposal takes up eight pages of the 49-page proposal book and makes the argument that two permits being fished on one boat should legally allow 300 fathoms of net, twice what is allowed for one permit.

Proposed by Todd Granger, it argues the board does not have the power to allocate "within a fishery," which Granger says it does by limiting two permit holders on one boat to 200 fathoms of net.

To make his point, Granger cites numerous legal cases, including the case that eliminated the co-op that had been formed in the Chignik salmon fishery, where a portion of the catch was allocated to the co-op within the fishery, and also one from 1896 dealing with slavery and interfering with constitutional rights.

The full proposal book can be found on the board's Web site, www.boards.adfg.state.ak.us/.

The Kenai Peninsula Borough, city of Kenai and city of Soldotna have signed a joint resolution asking the Board of Fisheries to reconsider its decision not to hold the 2011 meetings dealing with Cook Inlet issues in the Kenai-Soldotna area. The meetings are scheduled to take place in Anchorage.

The board decided in an October work session not to hold the 2011 meetings on the Kenai Peninsula, although no board members stated a reason. However, in an op-ed piece in the Frontiersman, a Mat-Su newspaper, board member Howard Delo wrote, "The reason the board has not held a meeting in either Kenai or Soldotna for the past several cycles was because the last meeting held in that area resulted in physical threats against board members."

Delo writes that Alaska State Troopers were called in and essentially ended up having to maintain a heavy presence to keep the remaining portions of the meeting civil.

Not so, says the Kenai Area Fisherman's Coalition in a letter to Gov. Sean Parnell. They write, "The allegation of physical threats to BOF members is wrong. A single instance of one fisherman getting mad at another fishing group representative resulted in a brief, out of the room confrontation. The situation was quickly put to rest, without any physical contact. The troopers were called; however, they did not issue any citations nor did they stay for most of the meeting with a 'heavy presence to keep remaining portions of the meeting civil.'"

The fisherman's coalition is calling for Parnell to remove Delo from the board when his term is up in 2010.

Cristy Fry has commercial fished in Homer since 1978. She also designs and builds gear for the industry. She currently longlines for halibut and gillnets salmon in upper Cook Inlet aboard the F/V Realist. She can be reached at realist468@gmail.com.