Here's an update on that photographic evidence of appalling bairdi Tanner crab bycatch in the Gulf of Alaska.
The North Pacific Fishery Management Council late Thursday voted to analyze options to possibly close important crab waters off Kodiak.
The closures could apply not only to groundfish trawlers, but also to pot boats that incur crab bycatch while pursuing cod.
By the way, it's probably not accurate for readers to conclude the council action was a direct response to seeing those pictures of wasted crab.
In fact, crab as well as salmon bycatch in the Gulf commercial fisheries has been on the council's radar screen for some years now.
Read all about it in this discussion paper prepared for this week's council meeting.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
15 comments:
now I got two pics cod pots full of tanner crab. Whats up you guys dont want to play anymore wont post my blogs wont post my pics. What kinda of operation are you running here westly
With the pot fishery. Most of the crab and if not all are alive when pulled. Then released alive. Can you say the same for the cod end on your Trawler? After a long haul. EVERYTHING is dead. Bycatch and all.
Crab that come out of the pot during a winter fishery are subjected to brutally cold weather which can result in almost 100% mortality
Tanner crab bycatch mortality in pot gear is around 50%. 80% in trawl gear.
In the Gulf of Alaska, the rate applied to Tanner crab bycatch is 20% for pots and 80% for trawl. The ADF&G has postponed the Tanner fishery in Kodiak due to extreme cold weather in order to reduce mortality.
That is a conservative handling mortality rate being used in the GOA. Some analysts in the BSAI are using 50% for pot gear.
In my 17 years experience pot cod fishing Kodiak and west, there is very little crab by-catch compared to dragging (7 yrs.exp), and what there is of any by-catch in pots goes back alive. Its not normally cold enough here around the rock to kill the crab and they go over within 2-3 minutes max. Most local pot boats would love to see the crab stocks build and the fishery come back, unlike many of the out of state draggers who don't fish crab, or halibut, and don't seem to seem to give a crap. Curt, how about that massive halibut by-catch each year by the trawlers, and all the undersize fish, cod and pollock, going to the grinder? We delivered our halibut catch to a local plant a few weeks back and at the same time they were unloading flats off a dragger, and there was more pounds of halibut on him headed for the grinder, than we had for 3 days fishing. How great is the quality of the fish in the cod end, compared to pot caught, instantly bled and put in rsw? We need to break the trawl lobbyists grip on the fisheries, its getting ridiculous.
What everybody needs but nobody wants, for the fisheries to remain healthy is 100 % observer coverage. That way with a hard cap on prohibited species bycatch the REAL clean fishermen will be rewarded.Only time and observer coverage will prove who that is
What's so clean about dragging the bottom of the ocean floor?....Maybe you don't bring up any by-catch, but that's because the fleet has tilled and scraped the bottom of the ocean floor so many times that the basic, primary components needed to replenish it's former healthy environment has become degraded to the point that only sediment is left where nothing can grow....the impacts have been far-reaching, and it's time to allow nature to let it do it's thing...if you don't...we'll all be out of a job....
I see a lot of anonymous on here, guess curt is the only one with the balls or facts to post his name, the "massive halibut by-catch" never excedes the quota, set years ago when halibut populations where half of what they are now. As for all the damage trawlers cause, the same fish keep coming back to the same places, we can keep making the same tows for thirty years and continue to catch fish. I'm not sure some of you realize what an impact shutting down the trawlers would have on this community or state, how many other people would lose their jobs if you removed half the fish that come through this town. There should be a way for fishermen to work together, posting inflammatory pictures that do not represent the norm is not it.
The article above states "A big problem is that Gulf trawlers most of the time carry no federal fishery observer to document the level of bycatch, say activists with the Alaska Marine Conservation Council."
The AMCC may say that but it is not true at all, in fact, it is the FIXED GEAR fisherman who rarely (if ever) take observers. THEY HAVE REFUSED TO TAKE OBSERVERS. The trawl fleet are the only fisherman advocating observers for all gear types.
How can you play this number game when your numbers aren't in?
carcus-cascus -carcus-carcus-carcus-carcus
Hey Curt..Years ago I took Bob Otto and 2 ADFG biologists out to gather data related to handling of crab bycatch by cod pot fishermen. we worked on this project for several weeks picking up and handling the same crab. In the end 100 crab were taken to fish tech center and held for some time to to watch for mortality. END RESULTS....ZERO MORTALITY. Check it out..all public info
Get yer facts straight...one can not refuse to take a federal observer. If you are an over 60 foot fixed gear vessel you are required by law to adhere to the same 1/3 percent observer coverage requirement as the trawl sector. More lies from trawl sector and their minions. Try this at the council and your cooked as it is a federal crime to provide false testimony to the council.
Hey Curt if you want some relief from the pressure of public scrutiny of trawl sectors dirty ways.....QUIT TOWING THROUGH THE TANNER CRAB GROUNDS.
Post a Comment