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Indian Tribes File Amicus Brief in Wild Fish Conservancy Lawsuit

21Jun

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Indian Tribes File Amicus Brief in Wild Fish Conservancy Lawsuit

An amicus brief filed June 16 with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals by the Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes in Juneau is the latest development in a lawsuit in which Wild Fish Conservancy (WFC) in Seattle is seeking to halt the commercial king salmon troll fishery this summer in Southeast Alaska. WFC has said the salmon are needed by endangered Southern Resident killer whales (SRKW) in Puget Sound. Backers of the Southeast Alaska harvesters contend that halting the fishery won’t help the orcas in Puget Sound at all, but would devastate Southeast Alaska’s economy. The tribal amicus brief supports a state of Alaska motion stopping a district courts order from going into effect while the appeal is pending before the Ninth Circuit. The Tlingit & Haida statement released ...

Alaska Files New Appeal in Litigation over Southeast Alaska Chinook Salmon Fishery

Alaska officials have filed a new motion with the Ninth Circuit Court for a stay of the district court’s vacatur order of the incidental take statement (ITS) for the Southeast Alaska winter and summer commercial Chinook salmon troll fishery. That action this past week (May 26) came on the heels of U.S. District Court Judge Richard Jones’s decision denying the state’s request for a stay of his May 2 order vacating the ITS for the fisheries. That order has the practical effect of closing those two fisheries, which are vital to the Southeast Alaska economy, until a new ITS is in place. The litigation began when the Wild Fish Conservancy (WFC) in Seattle sued National Marine Fisheries Service, alleging violations of the Endangered Species Act and National Environmental Policy Act. The prim...

Financial Support for Trollers Pours in from Southeast Alaska

Financial support from local governments, nonprofits and the seafood industry is pouring in to help Southeast Alaska salmon trollers, a small boat hook and line fishery, battle litigation that would bring their summer and winter commercial troll fisheries to a halt. The fishery, which provides a substantial number of harvesting and processing jobs, contributes significantly to the economy of Southeast Alaska. The litigation was brought by the Wild Fish Conservancy (WFC) in Seattle, which contends that an end to the trollers summer and winter fisheries would benefit Chinook salmon and Southern Resident killer whales, for whom these salmon are a diet staple. According to the WFC, the government has failed to address the impact of Alaska’s Chinook harvests on these killer whales. The WFC...