Thursday, January 9, 2020

Troll fishery in the crosshairs

Wild Fish Conservancy, a Seattle-area conservation group, is serving notice of its intent to sue the federal government regarding "overharvest" of Chinook salmon in the Southeast Alaska troll fishery.

"It is irresponsible for NOAA to authorize this harvest in Alaska when they know it undermines efforts to restore imperiled wild Chinook populations in Washington, British Columbia, and Oregon rivers, and contributes to the starvation of endangered Southern Resident killer whales and fishing communities all along the coast," says Kurt Beardslee, the group's executive director.

More here.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

trollers are not the problem trawlers and draggers are, also global warming and fish farms.so if your going to bring your stupid lawsuit king salmon need a hospitable inviorment in the oceans to survive warmer waters and lack of food from too many farmed salmon released are part of the problem trawlers and draggers under reporting of bycatch are a big part of the problem also seine fishing and gill netting!so if your going to bring your stupid lawsuit try to know a little something abut what your upset about!!!

Anonymous said...

Trolling is dirty as a lifelong Alaskan I’ve personally witnessed and experienced this fishery. It has gone on for years with a total lack of accountability. The fishery is open almost every single day of the year and for every 1 king salmon a troller sells they probably kill atleast 10 more that go undocumented due to catching undersized fish that they are required to throw back in the ocean and catching kings while the fishery is closed to the retention of king salmon while targeting other species. I personally support this action against the troll fishery if nothing becomes of it atleast it will bring awareness to this dirty fishery. This troll fishery is not sustainable under it’s current harvest strategy and the people that participate it this are selfish and entitled and have total disregard for resource conservation and are blinded by greed.

Anonymous said...

And the sport fishery too. Same as all the others. The incidental killing of small king salmon across all fisheries is the single, most important reason for the coastwide decline of kings, and also for their decreasing size. It will just keep getting swept under the rug or become worse, as long as clowns like these, who call themselves conservationists keep pointing at other fishing groups. It's been like this my whole long life. Bye Bye king salmon.

Anonymous said...

California, Oregon, Washington and B.C. should keep their own darn king salmon and quit allowing them to feed in the pristine waters of Alaska. Those Southern Resident Killer Whales shouldn’t be so snobby as to what salmon species they are willing to eat. If I’m hungry enough, I’ll eat anything!

Anonymous said...

Amendment 80 boats? Kodiak drag fleet?

Anonymous said...

How many Alaskan fishery permit's are owned by those same Washington and Oregon Coastal resident's ...? 

They build Dam's on their river's and then blame Alaskan's when they learn a salmon can't survive swimming thru a Cuisinart.

Anonymous said...

Yes, 3:41, trolling is maybe the dirtiest fishery in state waters, and except for the bottom draggers is the most dirty of all.

Follow a troller and you see a long string of dead rockfish, torn gill undersize kings, Dollies, halibut, ling cod, you name it. Balance that bycatch against their retention lbs and you have a sickening dirty fishery.

A dirty fishery that targets and intercepts salmon to clean them out of wherever they are trying to spawn. Buy out the trollers. Or let them die a natural death. The fish they intercept will then be caught by cleaner gear closer to the terminal areas.

Anonymous said...

Everyone has some fault. Even the catch-and-release crowd. How many of those kings die? And what's up with even allowing fishing on spawning beds?