The Board of Fisheries has scheduled an emergency teleconference for Nov. 26 to consider a petition asking the board to undo its recent action to establish a purse seine fishery for Atka mackerel in state waters in the Aleutians.
The petition and other details are posted here.
Looks like there might be a division within the Adak community on whether it really wants the new fishery. Seems that Tillion and crowd urged the BOF to create the fishery to help the local economy in the off season, but the Development Corp fears they will lose the Pollock or the fuel business from the trawl fleet if the Atka Mackerel fishery stays. More threats from the feds are also impacting the viability of this new fishery. And not a peep from the owner of the new processing plant. So the good intentions of the BOF in an attempt to help the local community will likely go down in flames. No good deed goes unpunished.
ReplyDeleteHas anybody ever caught these fish with a seine? I really doubt it, or I would have heard about it. This seems like one more poorly considered half-baked case of government over reach by the state of Alaska.
ReplyDelete