By Margaret Bauman
Alaska Journal of Commerce

KODIAK -- Weeks before Earl Krygier's planned retirement from a top management position with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, the agency was already scurrying to find a replacement.

It's not going to be easy, and Krygier's forthcoming departure is just the tip of the iceberg.

Over the next five years, about 50 percent of the state's area fisheries biologists and those in higher management positions will be eligible for retirement.

In a town meeting during Kodiak's annual ComFish event March 21, Fish and Game Commissioner Denby Lloyd and John Hilsinger, director of commercial fisheries, warned that the state pay level was a big issue. The pay scale for lower-level federal fisheries jobs was as much as 35 percent higher and up to 80 percent higher for upper management-level positions, they said.

“Sometimes we give up trying to fill a position after a year or two,” Hilsinger told fishermen packed into the town meeting at Kodiak High School. “It will take a fairly significant pay increase to turn it around.”

“There is concern for the industry itself,” Lloyd said. “If we don't have sufficient expertise, the natural tendency would be to be more conservative in (management of) the fisheries.”

There was a time when the state paid quite a bit better than the federal government for qualified fisheries biologists and managers, but over the past seven years the disparity has grown, Hilsinger said.

By 2001, the overall average pay for federal biologists was 35 percent higher than compensation offered by the state, and for regional supervisors, it was 60 percent to 80 percent higher, he said.

To compensate for the lower salary offerings, the state has become more flexible in where the jobs are located.

“Some jobs that were in Juneau are now in Anchorage and Sitka,” Hilsinger said.

Still, the department faces the challenge of finding enough applicants trained in fish management, rather than ecology and conservation biology.

“Commercial fisheries have gotten a bad rap (over the past few years),” he said. “And it's a demanding job. You have to make decisions that affect people's livelihoods. Right now we have 300 permanent full-time staff and 14 vacancies. Some of these jobs will be filled, but that's a pretty high vacancy rate.”

Hilsinger himself had retired from the agency and was sport fishing on Cape Cod when he was convinced to return.

“I came back because I hoped I could help counter some of these problems,” he said. “We've attracted some people because the governor and Denby are very supportive.”

It is the camaraderie of the department, in fact, that is one of its big attractions, said Krygier, who has held the post of extended jurisdiction program manager for 19 years.

“Working for the state has been a real joy,” said Krygier, in an interview from his office in Anchorage. “The type of teamwork we have in the state is terrific. Always shorthanded, those in the department depend on other team members to contribute their expertise.”

As a college student, Krygier studied fisheries and marine biology. As the extended jurisdiction program manager, he had to also become an economist.

“I've had staff economists and different universities working under contracts for me over the years, so I have a wonderful understanding (now) of the impact of fishery regulations on reliant coastal communities,” he said.

Over the years, Krygier has served on the North Pacific Fishery Management Council as an alternate for the commissioner of Fish and Game. He has also been involved in dealing with international fisheries issues that involve U.S. negotiations with Russia, Japan, Korea, China and Poland, and served as the state's representative on the North Pacific Research Board.

Early on in his state career, Krygier and former NPFMC chairman Dave Benton got involved in putting an end to high seas driftnet fishing, an issue ultimately resolved by the United Nations.

Krygier also got involved in the early stages of the community development fishing quota (CDQ) groups, individual fishing quotas for halibut and sablefish, essential fish habitat, and programs to lower the volume of fish caught incidentally in directed fisheries. All these programs took years to develop.

“You have to have a different mindset on than having a program done within six months to a year,” he said. By working to fine-tune regulations with the industry, coastal communities, and environmentalists and support industries, one hopefully ends up with a much better result, he said.

After nearly two decades, Krygier has spent hundreds of hours talking with processors, fishermen, environmentalists and others concerned about the fishing industry.

While he's mindful of the fact that a similar position with the federal government would pay about 40 percent more at this point, Krygier said the state job has been worth it.