Massive King Salmon Bycatch Controversy After Gulf Of Alaska Fishery Closure

A commercial fishery in the Gulf of Alaska was closed earlier this week after a Kodiak-based boat incidentally caught roughly 2,000 king salmon while fishing for whitefish – specifically pollock.

Here’s the Alaska Beacon via reporter Nathaniel Herz of the Northern Journal with more:

The Kodiak-based trawl fleet has caught just over one-fourth of its seasonal quota of pollock — a whitefish that’s typically processed into items like fish sticks, fish pies and surimi, the paste used to make fake crab. 

But about 20 boats will now be forced to end their season weeks before its Nov. 1 closure, with hundreds of jobs at shore-based processing plants also in jeopardy, to make sure the fleet doesn’t exceed its yearly cap on its unintentional king salmon harvest — some 18,000 fish.

“From a community perspective, it’s huge,” said Julie Bonney, who runs a trade group, the Alaska Groundfish Data Bank, that represents the trawlers and processing companies. “Nobody’s happy about the closure, but they understand the reason.”

The incident is sure to draw more scrutiny on the issue of bycatch — the industry term for the unintended harvest, typically of salmon or halibut, by boats targeting other species.

Here’s what NOAA Fisheries said about the closure:

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is prohibiting directed fishing for pollock by vessels using trawl gear in the Central Regulatory Area of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA), effective 1200 hours, Alaska local time (A.l.t.), September 25, 2024, through 2400 hours, A.l.t., December 31, 2024, according to Jonathan M. Kurland, Regional Administrator, Alaska Region, NMFS. 

This action is necessary to prevent exceeding the 2024 Chinook salmon prohibited species catch limit for vessels directed fishing for pollock using trawl gear in the Central Regulatory Area of the GOA. This action is issued pursuant to 50 CFR 679.21(h)(8)(i).

While this closure is effective the maximum retainable amounts at 50 CFR 679.20(e) and (f) apply at any time during a trip.

This information bulletin only provides notice of a regulatory change. For the purposes of complying with the regulatory change, you are advised to see the actual text in the Code of Federal Regulations.