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NOAA Fisheries denies request for stricter limits on Chinook bycatch

Factory Trawlers like the F/T Alaska Ocean, pictured here in Dutch Harbor in 2023, harvest Alaska pollock in the Bering Sea and process it onboard, producing fillets, surimi and fish oil all aboard the ship.
Theo Greenly
/
KUCB
NOAA Fisheries said restricting all Chinook bycatch would effectively close the pollock fishery, which is the largest in the nation, as well as one of the most lucrative.

NOAA Fisheries announced Thursday it will not be implementing new limits on Chinook salmon bycatch in the Bering Sea pollock fishery.

The national organization that helps manage federal fisheries in Alaska was responding to a January petition from western Alaska communities asking for a total ban on Chinook bycatch in the large, trawl fishery.

NOAA regulators said in the statement that the “petition did not meet criteria necessary for emergency action.”

Subsistence harvests and traditional practices are in jeopardy in many western Alaska communities, as Chinook salmon returns remain critically low in the region. Most scientists point to climate change and warming oceans as the main culprit, but the pollock fishery is also under scrutiny for the substantial number of salmon incidentally caught in trawl nets while targeting pollock.

The pollock fishery currently has a cap on Chinook bycatch, but those asking for stricter limits say the restrictions don’t go far enough.

Nearly 100 tribes and communities in western Alaska, including the Association of Village Council Presidents, signed the emergency petition on Jan. 17.

NOAA Fisheries said restricting all Chinook bycatch would effectively close the pollock fishery, which is the largest in the nation, as well as one of the most lucrative.

Theo Greenly reports from the Aleutians as a Report for America corps member. He got his start in public radio at KCRW in Santa Monica, California, and has produced radio stories and podcasts for stations around the country.
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  • Nearly 100 tribes and communities in western Alaska, including the Association of Village Council Presidents, signed their support for an emergency petition that would set a zero bycatch limit on chinook salmon in the pollock trawl fishery for 180 days, a move Unalaska Mayor Vince Tutiakoff Sr. said would “effectively shut down the entire pollock fishery of the Bering Sea,” and create a “dire situation” for Unalaska.
  • The North Pacific Fishery Management Council, which manages federal fisheries in Alaska, will continue to explore options for how to manage chum salmon bycatch in the Bering Sea pollock fishery. The council, facing rising pressure from western Alaska communities who depend on chum as a cornerstone of subsistence, released a statement Wednesday summarizing their decision from their April meeting.
  • Crew members shovel pollock onboard a trawler on the Bering Sea in 2019.
    Federal fisheries managers hold Bering Sea pollock quota steady
    The move has generated criticism from conservationists, tribes, and the trawling industry alike.