We want in

Deckboss reported in December how The Boat Co., a Southeast Alaska sportfishing outfit, had filed suit challenging the federal government's expanded fishery observer program.

The suit argues program regulations don't ensure adequate observer coverage to estimate bycatch of halibut and Chinook salmon in Gulf of Alaska trawl fisheries.

Now a group called the Fixed Gear Alliance is looking to intervene in the case, also to challenge the expanded observer program.

This memorandum in support of the motion to intervene explains the group's many complaints, including "excessive and unnecessary costs" and other burdens associated with the program.

The memo says the Fixed Gear Alliance is "an Alaska nonprofit corporation whose membership represents commercial fishing vessel owners, commercial fishing vessel operators, commercial fishing crewmembers, halibut and sablefish Quota Share holders, and commercial fishing associations who operate, or who have members that operate, fixed longline or pot fishing gear in the Gulf of Alaska, Bering Sea, or Aleutian Island management areas."

Juneau attorney Bruce Weyhrauch is representing the Fixed Gear Alliance.