A11 controller reported descending an aircraft below the MVA to resolve an airborne conflict.

Attributes
ACN	1710116
Time
Date	201912
Local Time Of Day	0001-0600
Place
Locale Reference	A11.TRACON
State Reference	AK
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Military Transport
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Initial Climb
Route In Use	Vectors
Flight Plan	IFR
Aircraft 2
Make Model Name	Military
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Final Approach
Flight Plan	VFR
Person 1
Function	Approach
Qualification	Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Experience	Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 3
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Conflict Airborne Conflict Conflict Ground Conflict Less Severe Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Inflight Event / Encounter CFTT / CFIT

Narrative:

I was working north radar and was vectoring aircraft Y for a practice ILS RWY6 into edf. I made anc red which shut off automatic releases. Anc asked for 2 releases and I approved them. I turned around and looked at the asde display and thought I saw the 2nd release rolling down the runway so I turned aircraft Y in for the approach. When I realized it was going to be tight I called traffic on the departing aircraft X to aircraft Y who did not call him in sight. I called anc to turn aircraft X but as I was calling aircraft X checked in on my frequency. I then instructed aircraft Y to turn right to a heading of 360. I then went back to aircraft X and told him to descend to 1000'. The MVA in that area is 1600' but it's over water and knew there were no obstructions in front of him that posed an immediate threat. I then instructed aircraft Y to climb to 3000. I felt climbing aircraft Y would create separation faster because he was indicating 230 knots and the climb would both slow him and create more vertical and lateral separation. After I observed that aircraft X had passed aircraft Y I immediately climbed him to 2000 to be compliant with the MVA's. My phraseology was lacking because the situation rattled me and I was just trying to get out the control instruction to separate the aircraft. As soon as I recognized the situation I should have broken out aircraft Y instead of trying to salvage the situation.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A11 Controller reported descending an aircraft below the MVA to resolve an airborne conflict.

Narrative: I was working North Radar and was vectoring Aircraft Y for a practice ILS RWY6 into EDF. I made ANC red which shut off automatic releases. ANC asked for 2 releases and I approved them. I turned around and looked at the ASDE display and thought I saw the 2nd release rolling down the runway so I turned Aircraft Y in for the approach. When I realized it was going to be tight I called traffic on the departing Aircraft X to Aircraft Y who did not call him in sight. I called ANC to turn Aircraft X but as I was calling Aircraft X checked in on my frequency. I then instructed Aircraft Y to turn right to a heading of 360. I then went back to Aircraft X and told him to descend to 1000'. The MVA in that area is 1600' but it's over water and knew there were no obstructions in front of him that posed an immediate threat. I then instructed Aircraft Y to climb to 3000. I felt climbing Aircraft Y would create separation faster because he was indicating 230 knots and the climb would both slow him and create more vertical and lateral separation. After I observed that Aircraft X had passed Aircraft Y I immediately climbed him to 2000 to be compliant with the MVA's. My phraseology was lacking because the situation rattled me and I was just trying to get out the control instruction to separate the aircraft. As soon as I recognized the situation I should have broken out Aircraft Y instead of trying to salvage the situation.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.