Tag: bycatch

Alaska Bycatch Review Task Force Delivers Recommendations
Fishermen's News Online, News

Alaska Bycatch Review Task Force Delivers Recommendations

The Alaska Bycatch Review Task Force has delivered its recommendations to the state on research, state engagement and management priorities on tackling the subject of thousands of fish caught incidentally to directed fisheries. In its final report to Gov. Mike Dunleavy, the task force said that while bycatch can and should be reduced, it can’t be completely eliminated without significant economic consequences. The report recommended continuous work to reduce bycatch through research, implementation of effective management measures and public engagement. As the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council has heard frequently in testimony, any action taken to change management of one fishery always has some impact on other vessels targeting other fisheries in the same area.  Balancing th...
Bycatch Review Task Force Nears Time for Report to Alaska Governor
Fishermen's News Online, News

Bycatch Review Task Force Nears Time for Report to Alaska Governor

The Alaska Bycatch Review Task Force, created last November by Gov. Mike Dunleavy, is preparing to submit its final recommendations to the governor next month. One draft recommendation on the table for the task force would put a firm numerical cap on chum salmon bycatch by the Pollock trawlers in the Bering Sea. Last year alone, the Bering Sea Pollock fishery took 540,000 chums as bycatch, as well as halibut, crab and other species. Salmon runs have been so low on the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers that the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) hasn’t allowed residents of these river villages even a salmon subsistence fishery, a fishery critical to their food supply and cultural heritage. The recommended cap on chum salmon taken as bycatch is a phased-in one, as any ca...