Federal fisheries managers meeting in Anchorage in early February heard testimony from more than 150 people regarding minimizing chum salmon bycatch in commercial fisheries.
In addition, some 260 written comments were submitted on the topic by pollock fishery participants, Community Development Quota groups, communities, tribal leaders and subsistence harvesters.
All suggested modifications in several proposed alternatives aimed at bycatch minimization, with the suggested modifications were based on information from the preliminary draft Environmental Impact Statement and recommendations from the council’s advisory panel, Scientific and Statistical Committee and public testimony.
Along with changes to existing alternatives, the council added new options for further evaluation. These included modifying an alternative to provide an in-season corridor closure to focus on minimizing bycatch on western Alaska chum salmon stocks.
The new options for evaluation include a larger overall area as well as more discrete closures than the previous analysis.
Also included were additional analysis of potential impacts and options for the Community Development Quota sector should their CDQ pollock be fished on catcher vessels instead of catcher-processors in the future.
Annual genetic sampling by fishery observers certified by the National Marine Fisheries Service shows the Bering Sea pollock fishery intercepts predominantly hatchery origin Russia and Asia chum.
Still, the council is focused on management actions that could minimize bycatch of western Alaska origin chum salmon, as returns of these fish have declined substantially in recent years and reduced or eliminated in-river harvest opportunities.
Available science indicates recent declines in chum salmon populations across many regions of the North Pacific, including Canada, Japan, Russia, Korea, and the U.S., appear to be driven by warmer water temperatures in both the marine and freshwater environments which impact juvenile survival, prey availability and quality, metabolism and growth rates, and reproductive rates.
However, western Alaska chum salmon are also taken as bycatch in the Bering Sea pollock trawl fishery, reducing the amount of salmon that return to western and interior Alaska rivers, and the council is considering action to address these impacts.