The Kenai Peninsula Fish Habitat Partnership (KPFHP) exists to create and foster effective collaboration to maintain healthy fish, healthy people, healthy habitat and healthy economies in the Kenai Peninsula Borough. The KPFHP exists alongside 20 other similar partnerships, developed concurrently with the National Fish Habitat Plan to raise awareness of fish initiatives, assign priorities, and generate annual congressional support to improve aquatic habitat. KPFHP became the 15th regional fish habitat partnership in the U. S. in 2010 and represents the 3rd such partnership in Alaska.
Mission
To protect, maintain, restore and enhance fish habitat.
Vision
To have healthy, sustainable fish and aquatic ecosystems now and in the future.
Our Values
• Long-term stewardship of the Kenai Peninsula’s diverse and abundant aquatic resources managed in trust for the public
• Respect for local communities, contemporary and traditional cultures, and the relationships they have with aquatic resources
• Integrity achieved through honesty and transparency, inclusion, sound financial management and oversight, and professional and ethical behavior
• Excellence through science-based management, outstanding service, volunteer safety, and continuous improvement
• Teamwork and partnerships fostered by listening to and respecting the views of stakeholders
• Innovation that proactively meets challenges and promotes a culture of finding solutions
• Professionalism through learning from the past to plan for the future and cultivating partnerships, collaboration, and community
Why a Kenai Peninsula Fish Habitat Partnership?
On the Kenai Peninsula, fish are important to us. The Kenai Peninsula has over 30 species of fish including freshwater residents, anadromous (sea-run) fish, estuarine fish, and non-natives (Northern pike). All five species of wild Pacific salmon live here including sockeye, coho, chum, pink, and king salmon. The area also supports rainbow trout and Dolly Varden. The fish populations on the Peninsula are generally healthy, however the condition of fish habitat is largely unknown and unmonitored. Wild fish are thought to have sufficient intact habitat to sustain historical populations despite habitat loss, but this loss is assumed to have reduced the resiliency of fish populations to withstand future natural and human-caused disturbances.
The Kenai Peninsula relies upon fish as a subsistence resource for rural and Alaska Native residents, and as an important economic engine.
- Collectively, salmon provides over $300 million the local economy
- Other freshwater and marine fish provide over an estimated $100 million
- Commercial value of halibut for the Cook Inlet region was estimated at over $52 million. About one third is processed in the Cook Inlet region.
- Shellfish have a value of $8 million to KPB docks
- The Kenai Peninsula Borough is a world-class destination for sport fishing
- Fish are an important food source for brown and black bear, bald eagles, marine mammals, and other animals. These animals draw tourists to the Kenai Peninsula.
- Tourism in the Borough generated $161 million in taxable sales in 2010
Where We Work
