Federal Appeals Court Rules Southeast Troll Salmon Fishery Can Commence On July 1

Big court ruling today that paves the way for the Southeast Alaska king salmon troll fishery can begin July 1 after a controversial lawsuit seemed to pave the way for a closure. Here’s more from Alaska Public Media:

“It’s a major victory,” Alaska Fish and Game Commissioner Doug Vincent-Lang said in a brief phone interview Wednesday. “We can go fishing.”

The panel, in a five-page ruling, said that the entities defending the fishery — the Alaska Trollers Association, the state of Alaska and the National Marine Fisheries Service — met the legal standard required to grant what’s known as a “stay” of the lower court ruling.

The decision, the panel said, was based on the likelihood that those entities could show that “the certain and substantial impacts” of closing the harvest on the Alaska salmon fishing industry outweigh the “speculative environmental threats” posed by allowing the fishery to take place.