July 18, 2019 — Fisheries fared better than most in terms of Gov. Michael J. Dunleavy’s budget cuts.
Just less than $1 million was cut from the commercial fisheries division of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, leaving it with an $85 million budget, half from state general funds.
“To give the governor credit, he recognized the return on investment,” said ADFG Commissioner Doug Vincent-Lang. “It’s a theme I had all the way through the Legislature that we take a $200 million budget of which about $50 million is unrestricted general funds and we turn that into an $11 billion return to our state. And I think he got that.”
Vincent-Lang added that Dunleavy also did not veto the travel budget for the Board of Fisheries and its advisory committees.
It’s indefinite still how the budget cuts will play out, and Vincent-Lang said he is trying to avoid staff cuts to the 700 comfish positions.
“I suspect we may have some but we will try to do that through vacancies and a variety of other things as we have retirements,” he said.
Also set to get axed is funding for research projects, such as salmon in-season sampling and Tanner crab surveys at Prince William Sound, and five salmon weirs at Kodiak and Chignik. Salmon counting is likely to be reduced at the Yukon River’s Eagle and Pilot Station sonars, along with various stock assessment surveys for groundfish.
“I’ve asked my staff to look at their overall program, and not necessarily cut the projects, but take the ones that have the least impact on the management of our fisheries across our state in terms of economic value back and cut those,” he explained, acknowledging that the cutbacks could lead to more cautious management.