Photo credit: NOAA Fisheries
October 7, 2021
by Peggy Parker, SeafoodNews.com
Last August, the Federal Register published a short notice on reapportioning 1,350 Chinook salmon from the Gulf of Alaska pollock fishing fleet to the Gulf trawl fleet for groundfish, including bottomfish. The same month, state biologists monitoring rivers that flow into the Gulf noted historically low numbers in almost every area. Chinook salmon is not allowed to be taken commercially, for sport, and now even for subsistence in many more regions of the state than ever before.
That notice will be put into practice during the current North Pacific Fisheries Management Council meeting happening this and next week online.
Yesterday, fishermen delivered a letter signed by over 300 Alaskans to Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and his administration, asking the governor to address the crisis facing Alaska’s Chinook salmon by advocating for a much lower bycatch allowance in the off-shore federally managed trawl fisheries.
“We are writing with an urgent request for your administration to lead the North Pacific Fishery Management Council to dramatically reduce salmon bycatch in the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska trawl fisheries” Alaskans told the governor.
“Alaska’s Chinook Salmon are in the midst of an unprecedented crisis. Drastic measures are being taken by small boat commercial, subsistence and sport fishermen across the state, including severe restriction or closures in order to get every possible Chinook salmon up Alaska’s rivers to spawn.”
“Fishermen are asking the Governor and the North Pacific Fishery Management Council to chart a new course for fisheries management,” said Linda Behnken, a Sitka-based fisherman, Executive Director of the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association, and a former North Pacific Fishery Management Council member.
“Climate change is shifting the context of Alaska‘s fisheries from abundance to scarcity, and the Council has tough decisions to make.
“Right now, the Council is optimizing trawl harvest at the expense of Alaska’s fish and fisheries. That needs to change,” Behnken said. “We need to protect fish habitat, reduce bycatch, and prioritize Alaska’s historic fisheries before it is too late.”
“As fishermen we understand the purpose of conservative management; we rely on healthy oceans and sustainable fisheries decisions,” noted Sommers Cole, a gill netter in southeast Alaska and Manager of the Salmon Habitat Information Program (SHIP).
“That’s why it’s so frustrating that trawlers are allowed to kill — as bycatch — high value species like salmon, halibut, and crab. Meanwhile our fisheries are being closed or curtailed and our neighbors’ personal use and subsistence access is being eliminated. This is a blind spot for our management system. Something has to change.
“Trawlers are allowed to fish as though all of the populations of fish they discard as bycatch are in good health, while the rest of Alaska’s user groups are making the sacrifice of significantly reduced access or complete closures in order to ensure the long-term sustainability of those same stocks. It’s a bad deal for Alaskans.”
“Alaska’s Chinook salmon are in the midst of an unprecedented crisis,” the letter pointed out.
“Drastic measures are being taken by small boat commercial, subsistence and sport fishermen across the state, including severe restriction or closures of fisheries across the state in order to get every possible Chinook salmon up Alaska’s rivers to spawn. Most notably Cook Inlet fisheries have been closed to allow Kenai River kings to reach their spawning grounds. Similar stories of restrictions and closures exist from the Stikine, Taku, Kuskokwim, and the Yukon,” the authors wrote.
Alexus Kwachka, who fishes out of Kodiak and Bristol Bay and has served on the Advisory Panel for the NPFMC, was among the 300 who signed the letter.
“It’s time to manage these ecosystems for more than just a single species — pollock — which has been the status quo,” he said. “Our goal here should be getting the Gulf and Bering Sea back to their former levels of health and abundance. If trollers, gillnetters, seiners, sportfishers and tribal citizens throughout Alaska are being forced to go without fishing while trawlers keep their nets in the water we have a serious management problem and it is beyond time to right that ship.”
Letter to the Governor is below:
Gov. Mike Dunleavy
Credit: Matt Buxton, The Midnight Sun
Dear Governor Dunleavy:
We are writing with an urgent request for your administration to lead the North Pacific Fishery Management Council in revising the roll-over or reapportionment policy of Chinook bycatch between trawl sectors. The Council recently took action allowing the National Marine Fisheries Service to reapportion the 1,350 Chinook salmon prohibited species catch limit, from the vessels participating in directed fishing for pollock in the Central Regulatory Area of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA) to nonRockfish Program catcher vessel sector participating in directed fishing for groundfish, other than pollock, in the Western and Central Regulatory Areas of the GOA.
This is yet another hit on Alaska’s Chinook salmon populations which are already in crisis. Chinook are in trouble from Southeast Alaska to the Bering Sea. The 1,300 Chinook not yet killed as bycatch in the trawl fisheries should be left in the ocean while the Council considers long-term bycatch reductions and the bycatch roll over policy should be reversed by Emergency Rule while the Council initiates the process to revise this policy for the long-term.
Alaska’s Chinook Salmon are in the midst of an unprecedented crisis. Drastic measures are being taken by small boat commercial, subsistence and sport fishermen across the state, including severe restriction or closures of fisheries across the state in order to get every possible Chinook salmon up Alaska’s rivers to spawn. Most notably Cook Inlet fisheries have been closed to allow Kenai River kings to reach their spawning grounds. Similar stories of restrictions and closures exist from the Stikine, Taku, Kuskokwim, and the Yukon.
Alaskans are making huge sacrifices to protect Chinook; the federal government via the NPFMC needs to do the same. Chinook bycatch being rolled over to another trawl sector to kill and discard is unconscionable when many Alaskans are foregoing subsistence, sport and commercial harvest. During this time of crisis, minimizing Chinook bycatch must take priority over optimizing trawl harvest. Along with stopping this roll over more generally we are asking your administration to urge the Council to revisit the Chinook salmon bycatch limits and further reduce bycatch to support conservation and management of these critical stock.
Sincerely,
| Scott Adams | Homer, AK | Michele Laduke | Ketchikan, AK |
| Chelsea Anderson | Wasilla, AK | Kathy Lenniger | Fairbanks, AK |
| Dan Anderson | Valdez, AK | Dustin Logan | Palmer, AK |
| James Apone | Anchorage, AK | Israel Logan | Anchorage, AK |
| Helen Arnold | North Pole, AK | Angela Lopuhovsky | Anchorage, AK |
| Jacob Askren | Anchorage, AK | Lindsey Lorgen-Jones | Petersburg, AK |
| Elaine Atkinson | Metlakatla, AK | Peter Lyford | Wasilla, AK |
| Robert Bailey | Anchorage, AK | Cherime Macfarlane | Wasilla, AK |
| Kent Barkhau | Sitka, AK | Jason Malemute | Koyukuk, AK |
| Carol Barnhill | Anchorage, AK | Stacie Mallette | Kenai, AK |
| Heather Bauscher | Sitka, AK | Guyan Mandich | Fairbanks, AK |
| Ann Bayes | Anchor Point, AK | Russel Mangels | Anchorage, AK |
| David Bayes | Homer, AK | Christine Maning | Wrangell, AK |
| Jeff Beal | Palmer, AK | Claudia Markham | Fairbanks, AK |
| Crystal Beeman | Homer, AK | Bruce Markwood | Anchorage, AK |
| Daniel Berg | Ketchikan, AK | Caleb Martin | Anchorage, AK |
| Carl Berlin | Kasigluk, AK | Marta Martinsen | Sitka, AK |
| Keith Billi | Petersburg, AK | Bridget Maryott | Homer, AK |
| Charles Bingham | Sitka, AK | Mike Mccoy | Wasilla, AK |
| Ryan Bish | Eagle River, AK | David Mcfadden | Anchorage, AK |
| Sheridan Bishop Iv | Anchor Point, AK | Lillian Mcghee | Ketchikan, AK |
| Arthur Bloom | Juneau, AK | Ryan Mcglohn | Anchorage, AK |
| Loretta Bly | Homer, AK | Tammy Meachem | Juneau, AK |
| Jason Bontrager | Anchorage, AK | Bill Menish | Petersburg, AK |
| Chris Bosch | Wasilla, AK | Vicki Meyers | Willow, AK |
| Blake Bousley | Ketchikan, AK | Kenley Michaud | Anchorage, AK |
| Rob Boyer | Anchorage, AK | Josh Miles | Wasilla, AK |
| Will Brain | Wasilla, AK | Dustin Millar | Eagle River, AK |
| David Branshaw | Cordova, AK | William Miller | Homer, AK |
| Philip Brna | Anchorage, AK | Chris Mitchell | Homer, AK |
| Daniel Brown | Juneau, AK | Kyle Moffat | Wasilla, AK |
| Melanie Brown | Juneau, AK | Peter Mooney | Port Alexander, AK |
| Robert Brown | Jber, AK | Ryan Moore | Anchorage, AK |
| Richard Bucy | Kenai, AK | Jacob Moret | Wasilla, AK |
| Mike Bugni | Valdez, AK | Phyllis Mulligan | Sitka, AK |
| Fredrika Bunger | Anchorage, AK | Rudy Multz | Homer, AK |
| Rodney Burba Jr | Ketchikan, AK | Connor Murphy | Kodiak, AK |
| Jordyn Caldwell | Palmer, AK | Lori Murray | Homer, AK |
| Michelle Canfield | Willow, AK | Raymond Nations | Wasilla, AK |
| Arilee Carlson | Craig, AK | Chris Nealey | DDutch, AK |
| Samuel Carroll | Big Lake, AK | Marvin Nelson | Port Lions, AK |
| Kenneth Carter | Willow, AK | Sandracha Ching Nessett | Craig, AK |
| Richard Catrett | Juneau, AK | Mark Newman | Eagle River, AK |
| Caroline Ceffalio | Kasilof, AK | Martin Nicolai | Kwethluk, AK |
| Yunghsing Chang | Fairbanks, AK | Daniel Norman | Kenai, AK |
| Tammy Chisum | Dutch Harbor, AK | Steve Northcutt | Chugiak, AK |
| Erik Christoffers | Kenai, AK | Dennis Northrup | Ward Cove, AK |
| Cathryn Coats | Ketchikan, AK | Chris O’Fallon | Chugiak, AK |
| Sandra Coats | Ketchikan, AK | Maura O’brien Phillips | Petersburg, AK |
| Della Coburn | Anchorage, AK | Rick Oldham | Homer, AK |
| Clint Cole | Ketchikan, AK | Eric Osborne | Nome, AK |
| Matt Cole | Douglas, AK | Landon Page | Anchorage, AK |
| Sommers Cole | Juneau, AK | Edgardo Paredes | Anchorage, AK |
| Margaret Craig | Homer, AK | Wyatt Patten | Craig, AK |
| Tyler Cropley | Sitka, AK | Dan Pauk | Manokotak, AK |
| Jon Curtis | Soldotna, AK | Eugene Perkins | Ketchikan, AK |
| Michael Dalton | Anchor Point, AK | Jim Perry | Anchorage, AK |
| A Michael Daniels | Anchorage, AK | Micah Peter | Palmer, AK |
| Karri Davidson | Soldotna, AK | Matthew Peters | Sitka, AK |
| Terry De Geus | Wasilla, AK | Helen Peterson | Saint Marys, AK |
| Karl Demmert | Craig, AK | Dollynda Phelps | Kenai, AK |
| Judy Dennis | Anchorage, AK | Jeffery Phelps | Kenai, AK |
| Laurenc Devita | Homer, AK | Jeffrey Philemonoff | Anchorage, AK |
| Lauren Divine | Anchorage, AK | Karli Phillips | Juneau, AK |
| Justin Dong | Kodiak, AK | Mike Pilling | Juneau, AK |
| Howard Driskell | Anchorage, AK | Arseny Polushkin | Homer, AK |
| Vicki Duggin | Kenai, AK | Steve Potter | Fairbanks, AK |
| Michael Dunn | Sitka, AK | Lance Preston | Sitka, AK |
| Reiker Durtschi | Girdwood, AK | Janetta Pritchard | Wasilla, AK |
| Eric Eckard | Wasilla, AK | Ken Quigley | Craig, AK |
| William Egolf | Haines, AK | Linda Rabideau | Anchorage, AK |
| Jorgen Eliason | Sitka, AK | Earl Ramsey | Anchorage, AK |
| Honalee Elkan | Juneau, AK | James Refuerzo | Juneau, AK |
| Nathan Elswick | Anvik, AK | Roger Register | Anchorage, AK |
| James Erickson | Hoonah, AK | Marty Remund | Port Alexander, AK |
| Jay Erickson | Hoonah, AK | Raymond Renner | Cordova, AK |
| Robert Erickson | Juneau, AK | Justin Reno | Thorne Bay, AK |
| Brent Erwin | Soldotna, AK | Damion Ripley | Ketchikan, AK |
| Jill Evans | Haines, AK | Tracy Rivera | Tenakee Springs, AK |
| Ely Evanson | Anchorage, AK | Lynelle Roberts | Wasilla, AK |
| Angela Ferrari | Anchorage, AK | Eden Romeo | Anchorage, AK |
| Mike Ferris | Kodiak, AK | Katie Rooks | Craig, AK |
| Elizabeth Figus | Juneau, AK | Derek Ruckel | Girdwood, AK |
| Thomas Finger | Kenai, AK | Eryn Ruppert | Ketchikan, AK |
| Brannon Finney | Petersburg, AK | Danny Saeyang | Seward, AK |
| Jaylene Fitka | Marshall, AK | Daniel Sam | Tanana, AK |
| Michael Foster | Palmer, AK | Sandra Sanders | Ketchikan, AK |
| Constance Fredenberg | Palmer, AK | Jed Sapp | Cordova, AK |
| Amy Fredette | Kodiak, AK | Bruce Savo | Dillingham, AK |
| Shannon Gackstetter | Fairbanks, AK | Jeffrey Schauermann | Wasilla, AK |
| Michael Garhart | Wasilla, AK | Michael Schoder | Anchorage, AK |
| George Garner | Anchorage, AK | Mike Schoessler | Soldotna, AK |
| Samuel George | Akiachak, AK | Jessie Schoonover | Juneau, AK |
| Sara Gering | Juneau, AK | Dena Selby | Haines, AK |
| John Goulet | Chugiak, AK | Tim Sharp | Anchorage, AK |
| Josephus Govaars | Ketchikan, AK | Gilda Shellikoff | Anchorage, AK |
| Ken Green | Cooper Landing, AK | Anthony Sheppard | Mountain Village, AK |
| Duane Hahn | Kenai, AK | Brittney Shill | Ketchikan, AK |
| Keith Harmon | North Pole, AK | Rachel Shoemake | Anchorage, AK |
| Ana Harrington | Anchorage, AK | Lynn Sieck | Soldotna, AK |
| Stephen Harrison | Valdez, AK | Gloria Simeon | Bethel, AK |
| Mike And Nancy Harsh | Eagle River, AK | Sandra Simons | Seward, AK |
| Lilian Hart | Juneau, AK | Clayton Smith | Homer, AK |
| Mike Hemminger | Ketchikan, AK | Mackenzie Smith | Cordova, AK |
| Michael Hicks | Soldotna, AK | Rebekah Smith | Anchorage, AK |
| John Hinchman | Hoonah, AK | Travis Snyder | Anchorage, AK |
| Denis Hippert | Sterling, AK | Dan Spies | Soldotna, AK |
| Ruth Hlavnicka | Hoonah, AK | Brian Stanley | Wasilla, AK |
| Thomas Hlavnicka | Hoonah, AK | Vicky Sterling | Anchorage, AK |
| Thomas Hlavnicka | Hoonah, AK | Morgan Stonecipher | Juneau, AK |
| Karl Holfeld | Anchorage, AK | Benjamin Storey | Juneau, AK |
| Vince Holton | Anderson, AK | Stephanie Stout | Big Lake, AK |
| Christa Hoover | Cordova, AK | Edith Suvlu | Barrow, AK |
| Susan Hoyt | Ketchikan, AK | Adam Swanson | Petersburg, AK |
| Kyle Hunter | Kenai, AK | Jim Swanson | Wasilla, AK |
| Kristine Hutchin | Eagle River, AK | Kimberly Takak | Elim, AK |
| Cory Ioos | Homer, AK | Andrew Taylor | Eagle River, AK |
| Jennifer Ireland | Ketchikan, AK | Susan Taylor | Port Alexander, AK |
| Lisa Gonzales Ives | Girdwood, AK | Drew Terhaar | Sitka, AK |
| Tara Jacobsen | Hoonah, AK | Elizabeth Thompson | Petersburg, AK |
| Jesse James | Soldotna, AK | Arthur Thorness | North Pole, AK |
| Doug Jenny | Sitka, AK | Roxanne Thurman | Nome, AK |
| Diane Jewkes | North Pole, AK | Sandra Tompkins | Chugiak, AK |
| Amanda Johnson | Anchorage, AK | Ruby Touya | Homer, AK |
| Charice Johnson | Unalakleet, AK | Chris Tran | Anchorage, AK |
| David Johnson | Sitka, AK | Margaret Ungrodt | North Pole, AK |
| Erik Johnson | Chugiak, AK | Erik Velsko | Homer, AK |
| William Jones | Anchor Point, AK | Corey Verdoljak | Homer, AK |
| Amahra Kalush | Soldotna, AK | Misty Wagers | Wasilla, AK |
| Steven Kashevarof | Chiniak, AK | Rhonda Ward | Douglas, AK |
| Carol Kasza | Fairbanks, AK | Rosemary Watabe | Fairbanks, AK |
| Nancy Keen | Haines, AK | David Wayne | Palmer, AK |
| Corey Kettering | Palmer, AK | Irma Whitehawk | Palmer, AK |
| Steven King | Girdwood, AK | Josh Wickboldt | Homer, AK |
| Ben Kirchenschlager | Cordova, AK | Erin Willahan | Anchorage, AK |
| Dusten Kirker | Kenai, AK | Rhonda Williams | Fairbanks, AK |
| Erik Kokborg | Cordova, AK | Saldie Wilson | Haines, AK |
| Lauren Kregel | Juneau, AK | Adam Wuertz | Anchorage, AK |
| Kellie Kvasnikoff | Ninilchik, AK | Kenneth Yockey | Chugiak, AK |
| Tracy Labarge | Juneau, AK | Shannon Zanone | Homer, AK |
