The National Marine Fisheries Service is
amending regulations to tighten halibut bycatch limits on Bering Sea bottom trawlers known as the Amendment 80 fleet.
Now that NMFS is taking this final action, we'll wait to see whether the fleet sues the agency.
In Southeast (2C) in 2023 there were 1,126 halibut landings for 1,500 metric tons of legally caught and sold halibut. These 20 trawlers throw over 1,550 tons of halibut as bycatch, dead to the bottom of the ocean. And they have the audacity to complain about bycatch reductions. C'mon Alaska, cut this tiny fleet's halibut bycatch to zero.
ReplyDeleteEighteen boats destroying the livelihood of hundreds of fishermen. Problem is, in 'Murica you get the justice you can afford.
ReplyDeleteThe revised bycatch numbers were a compromise that didn't go far enough.
ReplyDeleteFive Amendment 80 companies allowed to waste 3,416,200 pounds of halibut per year, while we are seeing yearly declines in halibut stocks. And the landings of these five companies don't even touch American soil, everything is shipped straight to Asia.