The move comes amid catastrophic shortfalls in salmon harvests in some of Alaska’s rural, Indigenous communities.
Crew members adjust the net as it releases fish aboard the Northern Hawk factory trawler on Aug. 5, 2023 in the Bering Sea. in some of Alaska’s rural, Indigenous communities, advocates have pleaded for a crackdown on unintentional catch of those same salmon by the trawl vessels that harvest billions of pounds of whitefish in the Bering Sea.
The idea has broad support from conservation groups, Alaska Native tribes, small-boat fishermen and Alaska Democratic U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola, who made her opposition to the unintentional salmon harvests, known as “bycatch,” Families would once catch hundreds of salmon every summer and fall. The absence of fish, in recent years, has posed what some tribal leaders the North Pacific Fishery Management Council to set stricter bycatch limits, arguing that it’s unjust for corporate-owned vessels to accidentally catch thousands of salmon when subsistence harvesters face fishing bans.
The guidelines aren’t technically law. But judges can still look to them when deciding fisheries-related lawsuits because of what’s known as “deference” — the idea that agency interpretations of laws should carry significant weight in court. saying it was considering revisions to the guidelines for three of the 10 national standards, including the one that applies to bycatch.
“We are aware of the growing calls for better bycatch management in certain regions,” the group’s leaders wrote. “However, we strongly urge NMFS to resist the urge to make significant changes to fundamental management principles and guidelines to appease one specific region or sector.”Alaska’s two Republican U.S. senators, Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, both requested an extension but didn’t submit substantive feedback in response to NMFS’ formal call for comments.
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