From Ketchikan to Congress, voices are raising against laws that require wanton waste of AK resources taken as bycatch, primarily by out of state trawlers.

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From Ketchikan to Congress, voices are raising against laws that require wanton waste of AK resources taken as bycatch, primarily by out of state trawlers.
Focus now is on bycatch of salmon, crab and halibut; herring and other species also will soon be reviewed.
APA’s Madsen: Adding local knowledge “could further slow the council’s decision-making process” and…”will have to be balanced with the needs of stakeholders seeking expeditious action.” (As in 10+ years of talk and no action about crab protections?)
Over-emphasis on climate change distracts from near-term actions to save the crab and the fleet, ABSC says.
“There is no chum salmon stock assessment done in the Bering Sea, so little is known about origins or migration patterns of the chum caught as bycatch.”…So where does the data on the NPFMC/Industry charts on chum origins come from?
Alaskans along the Yukon and Kuskokwim Rivers don’t care where the salmon taken as trawl bycatch originate; they just want to be able to catch some!
Most of the Bering Sea crab goes into the holds of WA boats. And as stocks plummet, NPFMC increases crab bycatch for Seattle-based trawlers.
The project will contribute to decarbonization and provide economic benefits to fishermen and mariculturists.
“The loss of the salmon is not just a food security problem; it is a cultural security problem.”
As “The State recommends no action to revise bycatch guidelines,” three lawmakers demand change.