Dale Kelley, executive director of the Alaska Trollers Association, told that the reduction of about 48 percent in quotas this year will badly affect all fleets. The Pacific Salmon Commission allotted this quota range that will cover British Columbia, Oregon and Washington, as well as Alaska. According to the commission the king salmon stocks in California and Oregon were closed this year, but those closures aren’t directly related because the fish stocks are different.
It is the responsibility of the state Board of Fisheries to decide total allocation each fishing sector gets. The board allotted 125,410 for trollers, 7,310 for seiners, 5,930 for set and drift gillnetters, totaling 138,650 for commercial fishing. Sport fishing was allotted 31,350 fish. Kelly added that the reduction would be a one-year blip in the abundance and not a long-term problem with the health of chinooks.
This is going to affect both the commercial as well as sport fishing sector. Fish and Game released its management plant to deal with the situation. Charter captains will be limited to four lines per boat instead of the six allowed in past years. But the reduction in quotas will definitely improve the health and population of king salmon.
