As per the press communiqué released by Federal Subsistence Board recommending that the North Pacific Fishery Management Council lower by thousands the number of salmon caught incidentally in Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea pollock fisheries. The board has recommended a hard cap of 15,000 king salmon caught as bycatch in the Gulf of Alaska Pollock fishery, and a hard cap of 50,000 chum salmon in the Bering Sea pollock fishery.
The federal fisheries council is scheduled to make a final decision on king salmon bycatch in the Gulf of Alaska groundfish fishery during its June meeting in Nome, and a final decision on Bering Sea bycatch of chum salmon in the groundfish fishery at its December meeting in Anchorage. But at its April meeting the federal fisheries council adopted a preliminary preferred alternative of a prohibited species catch limit of 22,5000 Chinook salmon for the western and central Gulf of Alaska pollock fisheries.
There would be an alternative that would implement an interim observer requirement of 30 percent coverage for trawl vessels under 60 feet while fishing for pollock in the central or western Gulf of Alaska. Full retention of all salmon would be required by all vessels directed fishing for Pollock, and the National Marine Fisheries Service would work with the industry to improve observed and extrapolated Chinook salmon estimates and their timeliness.
