Performance Details

Department of Fish and Game - Boards of Fisheries and Game

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Mission

The Boards Support Section facilitates an effective board and public process for the state's fish and wildlife regulatory system.

Core Services

• Ensure citizens participating in the fish and game regulatory process have clear and helpful information in advance to engage effectively.
• Provide and support an environment for board members to make effective decisions.

Mission Results

Core Services

A: The State"s fishing, hunting, and trapping regulations are developed through a high level of effective citizen participation. Details > TARGET #1: Increase the percentage of adopted proposals by the boards.

A1: Ensure citizens participating in the fish and game regulatory process have clear and helpful information in advance to engage effectively. Details > TARGET #1: Increase the number of public comments submitted during the regulatory meeting cycle. A2: Provide and support an environment for board members to make effective decisions. Details > TARGET #1: Provide a sufficient amount of time for board members to address proposals.

Performance Detail

Target #1: Increase the percentage of adopted proposals by the boards. Boards Proposals Fiscal Year BOF Total Proposals BOG Total Proposals BOF Adopted Proposals BOG Adopted Proposals FY 2025 330 180 111 67 FY 2024 276 212 59 94 FY 2023 193 211 66 68 FY 2022 294 244 95 88 FY 2021 276 195 1 20 FY 2020 284 171 95 76 FY 2019 182 150 61 75 FY 2018 242 166 096 96 FY 2017 282 204 102 68 FY 2016 225 143 84 39 Analysis of results and challenges: Boards Support Section monitors the rate of proposal adoption by both boards with a target set for increasing the rate. For FY2025, the Board of Fisheries adopted 34% of its proposals and the Board of Game adopted 37%. This includes proposals submitted by state and federal agencies, board generated proposals, agenda change requests, and annual reauthorization proposals for the Board of Game. The Board of Fisheries takes up the same region, species, and uses on a three-year cycle. The regulatory topics of Board of Fisheries meetings for FY2025 were finfish and shellfish in the management areas for Southeast, Prince William Sound, and Upper Copper/Upper Susitna Rivers; and all other shellfish statewide. The total number of proposals considered by the board in FY2025 was 330; 111 were adopted for a proposal adoption rate of 34%, a sharp increase from FY2024 which was 21% (59 of 276 proposals). In comparison to the last two cycles at which the same regulatory topics were considered, the adoption rate was slightly higher than FY2022 which was 32% (95 of 294 proposals adopted) and lower than the rate in FY2018 which was 40% (96 of 242 proposals adopted). The total number of proposals considered by the board during these three meeting cycles demonstrated an upward trend, increasing by nearly 100 proposals since FY2018. The Board of Game is also on a three-year cycle. The regulatory topics addressed by the board during FY2025 were hunting and trapping regulations for the Central/Southwest region and various statewide provisions. The proposal adoption rate for FY2025 was 37% (67 of 180 proposals adopted), a decrease from FY2024 which was 44% (94 of 212 proposals). In comparison to the last two cycles at which the same regulatory topics were considered, the adoption rate was close to the rate in FY22 at 36% (88 of 244 proposals adopted) and an increase from FY2018 which was 28% (46 of 166 proposals). The total number of proposals before the board in FY2025 is similar to the total in FY2018, but a significant decrease from FY2022. The higher number of proposals in FY2022 was the result of the Board of Game reissuing the Call for Proposals following the pandemic. While it is a target to increase the rate of proposal adoption, there are other important factors lending some uncertainty to an ideal “target” adoption rate. Agency proposals tend to be perfunctory in nature, ranging from clarifying management or enforcement language to improving the ability to manage within the plans. These proposals sustain a high adoption rate. Public proposals do not achieve nearly as high an adoption rate. Many proposals are duplicative or very similar. In these instances, board action on one proposal will lead to “no action” on other similar proposals. There are many other public proposals which express an opinion the board ultimately finds not in the best interest of the State. In these instances, although the proposal is not adopted, the individual or group had an important venue to further an idea and have it vetted in a public setting. Target Last Modified: 10/29/2025

Target #1: Increase the number of public comments submitted during the regulatory meeting cycle. Total Comments Submitted to Boards Fiscal Year BOF Total Comments BOG Total Comments BOF per Proposals BOG per Proposals FY 2025 2444 +53.52% 1893 +64.18% 6.3 +8.62% 9.8 +81.48% FY 2024 1592 -22.42% 1153 +33.91% 5.8 -45.28% 5.4 +31.71% FY 2023 2052 -13.01% 861 -11.24% 10.6 +32.50% 4.1 +20.59% FY 2022 2359 +2,006.25% 970 +701.65% 8 0% 3.4 0% FY 2021 112 -93.06% 121 -89.18% 0 -100.00% 0 -100.00% FY 2020 1613 +3.73% 1118 +117.09% 5.75 -32.35% 6.5 +91.18% FY 2019 1555 -7.72% 515 -60.84% 8.5 +21.43% 3.4 -56.96% FY 2018 1685 +60.48% 1315 +72.57% 7 +89.19% 7.9 +113.51% FY 2017 1050 -13.22% 762 -0.52% 3.7 -31.48% 3.7 -31.48% FY 2016 1210 +24.87% 766 -7.04% 5.4 +54.29% 5.4 +42.11% Analysis of results and challenges: A goal of Boards Support Section is to continue to improve the channels of communication by the public to the boards. This has been achieved to some degree by improvements in an on-line comment system that has seen rapid growth in usage in the last few years. With each meeting cycle, the number of public comments is dependent on the status of the resources and its value to users, and the more contentious issues that occur with certain subjects. The Board of Fisheries received a total of 2,444 comments (including public testimonies) in FY2025, considerably more than in FY2024 (1,592 comments). However, the number of comment submissions in FY2025 was similar to comment submissions in FY2022 (2,359 comments) which was the last time the same areas and topics were under consideration, and a significant increase from the number received for the same cycle in FY2018 (1,685 comments) The Board of Game received 1,893 total comments (including public testimonies) in FY2025, a significant increase over FY2024 (1,153 comments). The number of comment submissions also increased significantly from the past two meeting cycles during which the same topics were considered (970 comments received in FY2022 and 1,315 comments in FY2018). The target for increasing comment submissions was achieved for both boards compared to the previous fiscal year and the meeting cycles covering the same topics and areas (FY2025, 2022 and 2018). Target Last Modified: 10/29/2025

Target #1: Provide a sufficient amount of time for board members to address proposals. Methodology: * Includes two days for the BOF work session and one teleconference, which are excluded in the number of proposals per day and included in the number of comments per day. ** Includes one day for the BOG work session and one teleconference, which are excluded in the number of proposals per day and included in the number of comments per day. Number of Proposals and Comments per Board Meeting Day Fiscal Year BOF Meeting Days BOG Meeting Days BOF Comments/Mtg Day BOG Comments/Mtg Day BOF Proposals/Mtg Day BOG Proposals/Mtg Day FY 2025 26 +18.18% 16 +6.67% 94 +30.56% 118 +53.25% 13 -7.14% 11 -26.67% FY 2024 22 -15.38% 15 +25.00% 72 0% 77 +18.46% 14 0% 15 0% FY 2023 26 -7.14% 12 -25.00% 0 -100.00% 65 +6.56% 0 -100.00% 15 0% FY 2022 28 0% 16 0% 84 0% 61 0% 11 0% 15 0% FY 2021 0 -100.00% 0 -100.00% 0 -100.00% 0 -100.00% 0 -100.00% 0 -100.00% FY 2020 23 0% 18 +38.46% 70 +2.94% 62 +55.00% 14 +55.56% 10 -23.08% FY 2019 23 -11.54% 13 -31.58% 68 +4.62% 40 -42.03% 9 -10.00% 13 +18.18% FY 2018 26 -13.33% 19 +5.56% 65 +85.71% 69 +64.29% 10 0% 11 0% FY 2017 30 +11.11% 18 +63.64% 35 -22.22% 42 -40.00% 10 +11.11% 11 -21.43% FY 2016 27 +22.73% 11 -72.50% 45 +2.27% 70 +483.33% 9 -25.00% 14 +16.67% Analysis of results and challenges: A final goal for Boards Support is to create an environment where board members have adequate time to review proposals, public input, and staff reports, and make informed and reasoned decisions. Public comments are submitted by deadlines two weeks in advance of each meeting. However, processing and organizing large amounts of comments often takes considerable staff time. Compiled and organized documents containing public comments are typically not available for board members, or the public, to review until a few days following the deadline or a just few days prior to each meeting, depending on the volume of comments. In FY25, both the Board of Fisheries and the Board of Game experienced a notable increase in public comment submissions compared to previous years. The number of comments per meeting day increased by 30% for the Board of Fisheries and by 53% for the Board of Game. While Boards Support strives to provide easy access for the public to provide comment to the Board of Fisheries and Board of Game, we recognize that just increasing the number of comments isn`t necessarily helpful to the boards unless those comments bring valuable information for the investment of their time to read them. Both boards are occasionally “spammed” with form letters or variations of a comment-generating campaign by an interest group where the intent is to impress their message on the boards by the sheer volume of comment, rather than the quality of a single or <lesser> number of comments. The amount of work for board members to complete during a regulatory meeting is very demanding. Board members take careful consideration of all comments and proposals. Currently, the number of board meeting days seems to be adequate, although intense. As the number of proposals and comments steadily increase over time, more meeting days may be needed in the future in order for the boards to consider all information to make effective decisions. Target Last Modified: 10/29/2025

Last refreshed: 01/16/2026 05:00 pm