Featured Press Release
Board of Fisheries could stop trawl bycatch in little-known Prince William Sound trawl fishery
CORDOVA, ALASKA—The Alaska State Board of Fisheries is this week set to consider four proposals that would reduce or eliminate bycatch in Alaska’s only state-managed pollock pelagic trawl fishery, which takes place from January 20 through March 31 in Prince William Sound. The fishery has zero observer coverage and while supposedly “midwater,” trawlers regularly bycatch bottom-dwelling species like shortraker and rougheye rockfish, halibut, black cod, lumpsuckers, skates, sole, flounder, octopus and prowfish, as well as non-bottom species like Chinook salmon, chum salmon, and squid.
SalmonState: Disappointment with Council’s decision to punt, again, and allow trawlers to continue to drag bottom in protected areas supposedly closed to bottom trawling for at least three more years
“Once again, the Council has failed to take a common-sense step to close a trawl-sized loophole in the fishery it manages,” said Tim Bristol.
NMFS Closes Gulf of Alaska Trawl Season Early Due to Alarming Chinook Bycatch
ANCHORAGE, AK— The National Marine Fisheries Service was forced to close most of the Gulf of Alaska to pollock trawling last week after two “midwater” trawlers accidentally netted 2,000 Chinook salmon in one day bringing the estimated season total of Chinook bycatch to near or over their allowable number. While pelagic or midwater gear is supposed to be off the seafloor, recent studies found that trawl nets contact the bottom on average 40% to 80% of the time, with rates up to 100% on factory ships, also called catcher/processors. Last week's closure halts fishing for 20 boats ahead of their scheduled Nov. 1 closure. The North Pacific Council will meet this week in Anchorage to discuss whether or not to clarify if midwater nets should be allowed to drag the bottom.
“Enormous Win for Alaska:” Statewide federal protections finalized
ANCHORAGE, ALASKA — SalmonState and the Wild Salmon Center applaud the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for its announcement today that it is listening to Alaskans, Tribes, businesses and communities and finalizing protections for 28 million acres of D-1 lands across Alaska, from the Yukon-Kuskokwim, to Bristol Bay, to Eastern Alaska.
“Deep disappointment” from Alaskans at Biden Administration's trawl appointee
JUNEAU—The Biden Administration’s rejection today of Washington Governor Jay Inslee’s top appointees for a seat on the North Pacific Fishery Management Council is a source of deep disappointment for a broad cross-section of Alaskans.
Wild salmon nonprofits applaud BLM for listening to Alaskans, Tribes, communities, protecting D-1 lands
“With this decision, the Biden Administration is prioritizing protections for fish, wildlife and the people who depend on them,” said SalmonState Public Lands and Waters Lead Rachel James.
AK fishing groups, Tribes applaud Rep. Peltola’s bycatch bills
Rep. Mary Peltola, D-Alaska, on May 22 introduced a pair of bills responding to Alaskans’ deep concerns about the impacts of federally managed industrial trawl fisheries on the lives, cultures and livelihoods of Alaskans. The Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, Bering Sea Fishermen’s Association, Native Peoples Action, SalmonState, Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association, The Boat Company, Bear Trail Lodge, B&J Sporting Goods and DeepStrike Sportfishing all applaud Rep. Peltola’s leadership and action and look forward to working with Congress to pass these bills into law. Immediate action is imperative in order to turn the tide on dwindling numbers of Alaska’s most valuable and iconic fish species.
Forest Service to rezone nation’s largest forest: the Tongass
JUNEAU—SalmonState commends the U.S. Department of Agriculture for today announcing that it is beginning, for the first time in almost three decades, a first full rewrite of the Land Management Plan for the Tongass National Forest in Southeast Alaska.
New economic reports show AIDEA fails at creating jobs, succeeds at eluding legislative oversight
JUNEAU, ALASKA — Three new independent reports from respected long-time Alaska economists Gregg Erickson and Milt Barker show that the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA) largely fails at creating jobs or generating new economic opportunity, engages in wasteful loan practices, and has become “in many respects an autonomous organization, exempted from the most important laws that protect the public.”
As Biden Administration Weighs Future of Alaska BLM Lands, Massive Wave of Support for Protections
Anchorage, AK — A massive wave of public support turned out over the last two months in favor of protections from mining and oil and gas development across 28 million acres in Alaska managed by the Bureau of Land Management. Over half of Alaska’s 227 federally recognized Tribal governments have voiced strong support for protection across these public lands. This includes three of the largest Tribal consortia in the state – Tanana Chiefs Conference, Association of Village Council Presidents, and Kawerak.
SalmonState responds to petition to list Gulf of Alaska king salmon as endangered
“This petition is an extreme attempt to reallocate wild salmon that, once again, fails to consider or address the actual threats to Chinook.”
Conservation groups, subsistence users, sportsmen and businesses welcome opportunity to prioritize climate resilience, subsistence, outdoor recreation, public use on Alaska BLM lands
ANCHORAGE, ALASKA—SalmonState, Mother Kuskokwim Tribal Coalition, Norton Bay Watershed Council, Brooks Range Council, Wild Salmon Center, Alaska Sportsman’s Lodge and United Tribes of Bristol Bay applaud the Bureau of Land Management for today’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement analyzing the impact that eliminating long-standing protections for 28 million acres of “D-1” lands in Alaska would have on communities, renewable resource-based businesses, and fish and wildlife.
Alaska Native, fishing, and conservation groups support Western Alaska Tribes’ lawsuit, call for changes to federal fisheries management
ANCHORAGE, ALASKA—Alaska Native and fisheries conservation organizations have filed an amicus curiae “friend of the court” brief supporting the lawsuit brought by the Association of Village Council Presidents, Tanana Chiefs Conference, and city of Bethel against federal fisheries managers. The lawsuit alleges the National Marine Fisheries Service (NFMS) violated the National Environmental Policy Act by authorizing large-scale industrial fishing companies to catch billions of pounds of fish without appropriately considering the impacts in light of rapid environmental changes, ongoing species collapses, and closures on in-river salmon fisheries.
Tribal representation & comanagement, comprehensive habitat protection in the face of climate change, need for trawl bycatch reduction take center stage during Senate testimony
BETHEL, ALASKA—On Friday the Yukon Kuskokwim Health Corporation hosted more than one hundred Alaska Native leaders and community members in the main meeting hall of the Bethel campus for a field hearing held by the U.S. Senate Indian Affairs Committee. Senator Lisa Murkowski chaired the meeting as invited expert witnesses and community members spoke on the record about the deeply felt impact of wild salmon declines along Arctic, Yukon, Kuskokwim Rivers. They emphasized the importance of giving salmon every chance possible to rebound, Tribal representation and comanagement in all fisheries management regimes, and the need for immediate action to address declines.
Council Discards Testimony, Punts Action on Bycatch
ANCHORAGE, ALASKA—Despite continued impassioned testimony from Alaskans, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council this week again postponed setting any kind of limit for chum salmon bycatch and for reducing seafloor damage caused by “midwater” trawl gear. It also failed to address the deep and growing inequities in federal fishery management off Alaska’s coast. More than 50 people, the majority of them rural Alaskans and tribal government representatives, testified before the Council.
NOAA’s next steps could start to rebalance the scales between factory trawlers and Alaskan communities
JUNEAU, ALASKA— Thousands of Alaskans and Americans, as well as the Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, Bering Sea Fishermen’s Association, Native Peoples Action, SalmonState, Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association (ALFA), The Boat Company, Bear Trail Lodge, and DeepStrike Sportfishing, have formally urged federal fisheries managers to institute new, desperately needed updates to their management guidelines.
Update to guidelines for federal fisheries could give AK Tribes, small boat fishermen, sport fishermen & charter operators a voice on trawl bycatch, fisheries access & climate resilience
JUNEAU, ALASKA—Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, Bering Sea Fishermen’s Association, SalmonState, Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association (ALFA), The Boat Company, and DeepStrike Sportfishing applaud the start of a federal process that gives Alaskans an opportunity to weigh in on potential new guidelines for federal fisheries management — including trawl bycatch, support for community-based fisheries, and much-needed consideration of climate change in management decisions.
SalmonState condemns Wild Fish Conservancy’s fatally flawed approach to environmentalism and judge’s decision on Alaska’s troll fishery
JUNEAU, ALASKA—SalmonState condemns, in the strongest possible terms, the Wild Fish Conservancy’s misguided, destructive lawsuit against commercial salmon trollers in Southeast Alaska — and Seattle-based federal district judge Richard Jones’ decision today upholding a magistrate’s recommended order that would close the fleet’s winter and summer Chinook salmon fishery.
Council fails to heed urgent call as communities face another salmon season marked by subsistence and small boat closures
ANCHORAGE—After days of powerful testimony and comments from hundreds of Alaskans over the course of its week-long April meeting, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council once again failed to meaningfully address the issue of the pollock trawl fleet’s prolific bycatch of chum salmon, king salmon, herring, halibut, snow crab, Bristol Bay red king crab, and many other species. Instead of recognizing the need to manage Alaska’s oceans as an ecosystem and accepting its own Salmon Bycatch Committee (SBC) and Advisory Panel’s (AP) recommendations for a range of measures to reduce chum salmon bycatch, the Council threw out the guidance of the advisory boards they charged with developing this very proposal and assigned the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to start again from square one in proposing a cap. This decision postpones any meaningful action for this fishing season at the very least.
Alaskans to Council: The Bering Sea is an ecosystem, not a pollock factory
ANCHORAGE—As the North Pacific Fishery Management Council convenes in Anchorage for its April meeting, SalmonState delivered more than 700 comments from Alaskans and concerned citizens urging the council to take meaningful action to address the pollock trawl fleet’s catching and wasting of chum salmon, Chinook salmon, halibut, crab and other species. While nearly every other sector of Bering Sea-reliant fisheries suffers — traditional fishing has been shut down; small boat fisheries are closed; crab fisheries are closed — the council’s inaction means trawling, the largest, most wasteful fishery, continues full steam ahead with the catching and wasting of those same species.