As the latest Alaska Board of Fisheries meeting continues through Saturday, one of the committee’s agenda items is giving awards for excellence in service. Nome’s Charlie Lean, of the Northern Norton Sound Fish and Game Advisory Committee (AC), has been selected as one of the recipients.

According to the excellence in service award description, this honor is given to no more than five AC members each year. Lean was chosen for being a “responsible chair who devotes considerable time bringing in the interests of nearby and surrounding villages into the committee.”

Lean has held a seat on the Northern Norton Sound AC for more than 17 years and is currently the Chairman. He is also part of the Western Arctic Caribou Herd Working Group.

Also on the agenda for the Arctic, Yukon, and Kuskokwim Finfish Board of Fisheries meeting are five proposals regarding subsistence and commercial regulations in Norton Sound waters. The Board is scheduled to deliberate on the Tier 2 subsistence chum salmon fishery, the chum salmon management plan, and details of the commercial salmon fishing season before the conclusion of their meeting tomorrow (Saturday).

When the Northern Norton Sound AC met last week, they recommended that the Board continue using the Tier 2 regulations rather than repeal them.

According to the meeting schedule, the Board of Fisheries will make their final decisions on these proposals sometime Saturday morning.

Image at top: file photo: Nome resident and NSEDC fisheries advisor Charlie Lean addresses the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council scientific committee during a 2014 meeting in Nome. Photo: Matthew F. Smith, KNOM.