Rochelle van den Broek, executive director of the Cordova District Fishermen United, said that in response to interest in targeting long nose and big skates in Prince William Sound, Cordova District Fishermen United worked with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to submit a request for funding through the state.
She also said that Rep. Bill Thomas supported the development of this new fishery, with the benefit of providing an extra shot in the arm for participants during the slow winter months, and he was able to secure $50,000 to fund a pilot study. Copper River Seafoods expressed interest in the idea, and after finding support by fishermen and a processor, a proposal was approved during the 2008 Board of Fisheries cycle to run a pilot fishery this year.
It is told that the test fishery is slated to kick off on March 21 and continue until guideline harvests are achieved. To qualify to participate in the test fishery, fishermen had to present a 2009, gear-appropriate, miscellaneous finfish interim-use permit card issued by the Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission. It is said that CDFU encourages fishermen to contact processors prior to making deliveries of skate to verify that the processor can take them.
Bill Bailey co-owner of Copper River Seafoods, informed that this fishery is going to happen in conjunction with the cod and halibut fisheries. He added that this will be a less wasteful fishery, as fishermen were only able to keep 20 percent of the skate, per by catch laws, in the past.
