Making the best of the bad: SalmonState urges action on chum bycatch caps

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council is considering inadequate solutions to chum bycatch. Out of what is before them, here is the most effective action they could take.

Photo by Ian Johnson

At its February 2-11 meeting, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council will be considering several insufficient ways to address something long criticized by Alaskans: trawlers’ unlimited catching and discarding of chum salmon, which has for years continued to occur even as Alaskans face severe restrictions and outright bans on fishing intentionally for this same species. SalmonState and hundreds of Alaskans are urging the Council to choose a combination of alternatives that would be the most effective of several lackluster options:

• a hard cap of 100,000 chum salmon bycaught by trawlers (Alternative 2)

• with a corridor cap of 50,000 and closure upon hitting that cap (Alternative 5, Option 1).

• SalmonState also requests that theCouncil formalize chum salmon bycatch reduction measures in federal regulations as transparent, mandatory tools that the industry must use to stay below these limits (Alternative 4).

Taken together, these measures are a starting point for the Council to ensure that it’s not only Alaskans who are shouldering the burden of conservation. They would also serve as a start to addressing the wasteful practices the pollock trawl fleet has gotten away with for decades.

“Over the last decade, pollock trawlers have bycaught nearly 3 million chum salmon while Alaskans have suffered severe restrictions,” said SalmonState Executive Director Tim Bristol.  “It’s past time not only for a cap on chum salmon bycatch, but for a more fair and balanced system to address the needs of  Alaskan subsistence, small boat commercial, and sport fishermen.”