Three named to Board of Fish

Of the three nominees, only Wood is an active commercial fisherman. He fishes for salmon at Upper Cook Inlet and is chair of the Mat-Su Borough Fish and Wildlife Commission. Wood also is vice chair of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game Upper Susitna Advisory Committee and co-founder of the Susitna Salmon Co.

Svendsen is a sports angler who has advocated for a shift of salmon allocation from commercial to recreational in Cook Inlet. He is a third-generation Alaskan, according to Dunleavy’s press release. Svendsen also is a member of the Barker Ranch board of directors and leads sponsored duck hunts for combat veterans.

Godfrey is a reappointment to the Board of Fisheries, having served a three year term starting in 2019. He is an Alaska Native from Kodiak Island and is chairman of the FirstNet Tribal Working Group. Godfrey also is on the board of Kizhuyak Oil Sales, an officer of Native Public Media and director for the Connecting Alaska Consortium.

All members must be confirmed by the Alaska Legislature. If approved, Godfrey, Svendsen and Wood will replace outgoing members John Jensen from Petersburg, McKenzie Mitchell of Fairbanks and Mike Heimbuch of Homer. Their terms end June 30. 

Other Fish Board members include Marit Carlson-Van Dort of Anchorage, John Wood of Willow, Tom Carpenter of Cordova and Stan Zuray of Tanana.

The Board of Fisheries sets policy and direction for the management of Alaska’s subsistence, commercial sport and personal use fisheries.

In March, Dunleavy nominated Ryuichi “Rudy” Tsukada of Anchorage as his preferred nominee to fill a seat on the North Pacific Fishery Management Council.

Tsukada has been the chief operating officer of the Coastal Villages Region Fund for the past 2 ½ years. Before that he was the director of programs for the same entity. The Coastal Villages Region Fund is one of six Community Development Quota programs that receives shares of Bering Sea crab and groundfish “to provide economic and social benefits to support the subsistence fishery lifestyle of the group’s 20-member communities,” Dunleavy stated.