Chinook salmon bycatch. (Photo: akmarine.org)
Salmon bycatch limit set in Alaskan Gulf
(UNITED STATES, 6/15/2011)
The North Pacific Fishery Management Council (NPFMC) this weekend voted to cap the accidental harvest of chinook salmon that Gulf of Alaska pollock fishers can net at 25,000 fish. This is the first time the Council has voted to limit salmon bycatch.
Fishers will be shut down by federal regulators after hitting that figure.
Jon Warrenchuk of Oceana, a conservation group that pushed for the cap, said 25,000 chinook is roughly the average caught over the last six years.
About 54,000 chinook salmon were caught by the Gulf trawlers in 2010. This all-time peak refreshed the wish of coastal Alaskans and members of the NPFMC to establish a limit.
Such a limit on chinook bycatch was set for the Bering Sea pollock fishery in 2009, but the new one comprises the first salmon bycatch restriction for the Gulf of Alaska pollock fishery, reports The Bristol Bay Times.
"This is a critical time for getting king salmon bycatch under control," said Theresa Peterson, Kodiak Island salmon fisher and community coordinator for Alaska Marine Conservation Council.
"Central Gulf chinook runs are hurting and salmon fishermen are restricted. This is a time for the groundfish trawl fleet to be part of the solution," she asserted.
More than 60 trawlers fish for Gulf pollock and ensnare chinook as bycatch in the process. The chinook at sea have not yet made it back to fresh water for spawning.
Although trawl fishers are prohibited from selling these salmon, some of the fish is donated to food banks. The Council’s new approved rule would cause all these salmon to be transferred to processing facilities to be tallied by federal observers who oversee the harvest, reports Seattle Times.
Warrenchuk said limited sampling of that chinook bycatch shows that roughly 7 per cent of those fish would have returned to spawn in Washington waters.
Related article:
- New rules to curb salmon bycatch to launch in 2011
By Natalia Real
[email protected]
www.seafood.media
Information of the company:
Address:
|
605 West 4th Avenue, Suite 306
|
City:
|
Anchorage
|
State/ZIP:
|
Alaska (99501-2252)
|
Country:
|
United States
|
Phone:
|
+1 907 271 2809
|
Fax:
|
+1 907 271 2817
|
E-Mail:
|
[email protected]
|
More about:
|
|