Alaska Supreme Court upholds dismissal of lawsuit challenging Yukon-Kuskokwim salmon management

Lawsuit by Juneau resident accused state of violating requirement that fish be managed for sustained yield

A Chinook salmon is seen in an undated photo. (Photo by Ryan Hagerty/USFWS)

By James Brooks

Alaska Beacon

Alaska judges will not hear a lawsuit alleging that the Alaska Department of Fish and Game has mishandled the state’s valuable salmon returns.

On Friday, the Alaska Supreme Court upheld a lower-court decision that dismissed a case brought by Juneau resident Eric Forrer in 2022.

Forrer had argued that years of declining salmon returns in the Yukon and Kuskokwim Rivers clearly showed that the department was violating a section of the Alaska Constitution that requires fish be managed for sustained yield. 

Forrer, a long-time Alaska resident, has a history of personal-use and commercial fishing, including on the Yukon River. 

In his suit, he sought a declaration confirming that the Fish and Game was violating the constitution and sought an injunction directing the department “to fulfill the sustained yield mandate.”

Bethel Superior Court Judge Nathaniel Peters dismissed the case in 2023, but Forrer appealed to the Alaska Supreme Court.

In an 18-page order published Friday, the five-member court said unanimously that because Forrer didn’t challenge a specific policy, law or regulation, Peters was correct and the case should be dismissed.

If the court had allowed the suit, wrote Justice Dario Borghesan, it would have amounted to “judicial management of the fisheries at issue” and “would be contrary to constitutional design and practically untenable.”

Borghesan wrote that if the court were to eventually issue an injunction, Fish and Game would almost be required to guess what solution would be acceptable to the court.

Forrer was represented by attorney Joe Geldhof, who frequently participates in public-interest lawsuits in front of the Alaska Supreme Court.

By phone, Geldhof said he was disappointed by the decision and begs the question of what Alaskans are supposed to do when a state agency isn’t fulfilling its mandate.

“Where do you go when there’s a systemic failure?” he asked.

Friday’s Supreme Court order implies that if that’s the case, elected officials need to fix the issue.

The Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers have seen severe declines in salmon returns despite restrictions on fishing that are intended to increase the number of fish that return to local rivers to breed.

“The separation of powers doctrine prohibits Alaska courts from reviewing nonjusticiable political questions,” Borghesan wrote on behalf of the court. “A claim is not justiciable if ‘deciding the claim would require us to answer questions that are better directed to the legislative or executive branches of government.’”

• James Brooks is a longtime Alaska reporter, having previously worked at the Anchorage Daily News, Juneau Empire, Kodiak Mirror and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. Alaska Beacon is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.