Federal Fisheries Board Takes Up Chum Salmon Bycatch Issues
The North Pacific Fishery Management Council held a special meeting in Anchorage this week focused on two issues: a second review of the chum salmon bycatch analysis and appendices last reviewed in April 2024; and 2025 harvest specifications for Cook Inlet salmon.
The meeting is being held in the Egan Center in downtown Anchorage. Several dozen people have already testified at this special meeting, which was scheduled to run through Tuesday, Feb. 11.
The five options being considered by the council range from Alternative 1, keeping the status quo, to Alternative 5, which calls for an in-season prohibited species cap on total chum salmon.
In advance of the meeting, the council received some 238 comments from commercial and subsistence fishermen, communities and fisheries organizati...