The six year battle between three subsistence fishermen and the state of Alaska made its way to Alaska’s highest court Tuesday morning.
Nearly 50 people, including Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott, stood outside the courtroom waiting to hear oral arguments in the case of Rocky L. Estrada, Sr., Stanley Johnson, and Albert Kookesh v. State of Alaska. Four Supreme Court justices heard arguments from attorneys regarding a case that began in 2009 after the fishermen took more sockeye salmon than allowed in the Kanalku fishery.
John Sky Starkey, an attorney representing the fishermen, said his clients want the court to order the state Board of Fisheries to follow the rule-making process.
Attorneys argued whether the Board of Fisheries was right to allow the state Department of Fish and Game to lower the bag limit of sockeyes from 25 to 15.
Starkey said the problem is the department changed the harvest maximum without public input. “How is it legal for one of the most essential decisions — how many sockeye a family can take for traditional fishing area — to be made by a single biologist behind closed doors with absolutely no single record for this court to review?” Starkey asked.
Seth Beausang, Assistant Attorney General for the state of Alaska, said the fishermen and the public had opportunities to weigh in but didn’t do so. Beausang said there’s no telling when the Supreme Court will issue its decision.
Via ktuu.com
image credit KTUU
