NOAA Fisheries denies request for stricter limits on Chinook bycatch

NOAA Fisheries announced Thursday it will not be implementing new limits on Chinook salmon bycatch in the Bering Sea pollock fishery.

The national organization that helps manage federal fisheries in Alaska was responding to a January petition from western Alaska communities asking for a total ban on Chinook bycatch in the large, trawl fishery.

NOAA regulators said in the statement that the “petition did not meet criteria necessary for emergency action.”

Subsistence harvests and traditional practices are in jeopardy in many western Alaska communities, as Chinook salmon returns remain critically low in the region. Most scientists point to climate change and warming oceans as the main culprit, but the pollock fishery is also under scrutiny for the substantial number of salmon incidentally caught in trawl nets while targeting pollock.

The pollock fishery currently has a cap on Chinook bycatch, but those asking for stricter limits say the restrictions don’t go far enough.

Nearly 100 tribes and communities in western Alaska, including the Association of Village Council Presidents, signed the emergency petition on Jan. 17.

NOAA Fisheries said restricting all Chinook bycatch would effectively close the pollock fishery, which is the largest in the nation, as well as one of the most lucrative.