In addition, NMFS says a killer whale was caught this summer during a longline survey for sablefish and groundfish.
More details in this agency statement.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
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.
3 comments:
Too many killer whales out there.
Draggers claim the halibut bycatch is OK as long as they get them back in the water within 35 minutes, don't have to count as bycatch. Amendment 80 group from 2019 ruling. BS, halibut can't survive out of water for 35 minutes. I've been fishing them for 43 years. Even without being crushed by thousands of pounds of fish, BS. Can you hold your breath underwater for 35 minutes? Stupid, stupid, stupid. Shut them down.
Even if the halibut are deck sorted and tossed over the side in good to excellent physical condition, the killer whales eat every single one of them anyway — resulting in 100% mortality — but are NOT counted towards Amendment 80's halibut bycatch cap. The halibut are assumed to have survived even though scientists and witnesses know every halibut gets eaten. We need to move to full retention of all fish and marine mammals landed in Amendment 80's trawl nets. Prohibited species that are caught incidentally should be professionally processed, packaged and donated to food banks in Alaska and elsewhere at Amendment 80's expense.
Again, deck sorting is a scam implemented by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council — allowing Amendment 80 bottom trawlers to kill way more halibut than before. The bottom trawlers catch halibut, deck sort halibut that are alive (toss over the side), and let the killer whales eat every one of them. Yet it is not attributed to their bycatch caps.
So, now they can catch and kill an entire bycatch limit (over 3 million pounds from the Bering Sea alone), plus all the halibut they can toss over the side. This is reckless, irresponsible and such a waste of precious, iconic Alaska halibut.
Post a Comment