Bering Sea pollock trawlers have used up their herring bycatch allowance, and now they're getting shut out of productive fishing grounds known as herring savings areas.
This will cause "significant disruption and economic harm to the pollock fishery," and could even lead to increased salmon bycatch, the trawlers say in this emergency petition to the North Pacific Fishery Management Council.
As a solution, the trawlers propose doubling their herring bycatch allowance from 2,532 metric tons to 5,064 metric tons.
This idea is drawing plenty of opposition from people who say herring is a valuable forage fish best left in the water to help support the marine food chain.
The council is meeting Monday through Wednesday via webconference.
Alaska commercial fishing news and notes
About me
- Deckboss
- I'm a journalist covering Alaska's commercial fishing industry. My real name is Wesley Loy. Reach me at wloy61@gmail.com.
10 comments:
Maybe I should go salmon fishing in a closed area, and if I get caught they will open it for me.
IF SOMEONE REALLY LOOKED AT WHAT THESE WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION REALLY DO TO THE FOOD CHAIN, THEY WOULD BE RUN OUT OF TOWN. HERRING IS WORTH FAR MORE ALIVE THAN THROWN OVER AS BYCATCH. HERRING IS THE BOTTOM OF THE FOOD CHAIN, PRETTY MUCH MOST MARINE SPECIES FEED ON HERRING. SO IF HERRING ARE DESTROYED, WHAT HAPPENS TO ALL SPECIES THAT DEPEND ON IT? HOW MANY SPECIES OF FISH ARE CAUGHT AS BYCATCH AND EITHER THROWN OVER OR DISPOSED/SOLD FOR "A FEE/PROFIT"? HOW MANY OF THESE SO CALLED AMERICAN COMPANIES ARE REALLY FOREIGN COMPANIES WITH AMERICAN PUPPETS SITTING AS FIGURE HEADS? WE, AS THE LITTLE GUY, PAY THE PRICE IN LOSS OF HALIBUT QUOTAS, SALMON SEASONS HIT OR MISS, FISHERIES BEING SHUT DOWN..ALL BECAUSE THESE GUYS TAKE PRETTY MUCH EVERYTHING IN ONE FELL SWOOP AND THEN WHINE BECAUSE THEY WIPED OUT THEIR BYCATCH QUOTA..NOW THEY CAN'T FISH WHERE THEY WANT AND THEN THREATEN WITH INCREASED SALMON BYCATCH TO MAKE SURE THEY GET THEIR WAY. IT WOULDN'T HURT MY FEELINGS ONE BIT TO SEE ALL TRAWLERS TIED UP TO THE DOCK FOR AT LEAST A YEAR, DIG THRU THEIR PEDIGREE AND ALL FISHING PRACTICES SCRUTINIZED WITH A MAGNIFYING GLASS. IT WOULD BE SO NICE FOR THE LITTLE GUYS TO BE ABLE GO BACK TO FISHING, NOT TRYING TO SCRATCH OUT A LIVING BETWEEN SHUT DOWNS AND LOSS OF POUNDS EVERY TIME WE TURN AROUND. WHOMEVER REGULATES THESE GUYS SEEMS TO LOOK THE OTHER WAY AND NOT USE A BIT OF COMMON SENSE..OH WAIT...THAT IS NOT SO COMMON ANYMORE.
Trawlers are using the same lame excuses they always put forward when they reach a PSC limit. "there so many herring/crab/halibut we can't avoid them", "Shutting trawler down for part of the season will collapse the local economies", "We are constrained by too many rules".
Quit your BS, and come up with some new excuses already!
Raising the Herring PSC limit is a forgone conclusion. According to one of the comments the AP wasn't even allowed to vote on the herring PSC issue. Typical f*ckery by the NPFMC and the draggers to allow the draggers to do whatever they want. NPFMC is in the draggers pockets.
Funny how folks down here in Washington are going to court to shut down the Salmon season because of Killer Whales starving in the Sound and yet not one has brought up the fact that the Trawlers that come from this state are the worst offenders of over fishing and wanton waste of bycatch. That by their own admission say they overfish. Blows my mind. The Fishery Management Board is a joke, I wonder what kickback they get or what the Trawlers have on them, because the whole thing reeks of collusion. Sure will be nice when Karma kicks their asses. Hope it will be soon
vote blue in November!!!!!
How is voting blue going to fix NPFMC's preferential treatment to the dragger? They have been letting the draggers get away with murder during both blue and red years.
Here's the motion the council passed unanimously.
What a Sh!+ Show!! Why do we even have the Council? Why are there regulations? They let the Trawlers do what ever they want. So pretty much just let them have at it and fish it all out so no one gets anything eventually...The Trawlers have to have something on the Members of the Council or automatic direct deposit set up, because the whole scenario is a fiasco. Foreign Corporations own the boats and the paper trail is pretty deep, so just throw American in the name or some other Red, White and Blue name on the bow and have at 'er.
I have to agree with 8;37,the NPFMC has had a dark cloud over it for many years. Members close ties to lobbyists stinks of conflicts of interest... or worse.
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