Commercial fishermen of the Bering Sea Pollock fishery have given their consent to close an additional 1,000 square nautical miles of fishing grounds to reduce encounters with chum salmon. According to the announcement made by the Marine Conservation Alliance in Juneau through the use of the Inter-Cooperative Salmon Agreement, the Pollock industry agreed to allow for that closure by the independent organization SeaState, bringing the total area allowed for closure to 5,000 square nautical miles..
MCA officials said that SeaState reviews federal observer data collected whole vessels are actively fishing and has the authority to close specific fishing grounds whenever a salmon “hot spot” is identified. The fact is that the numbers of chum salmon are proving to be more abundant so far this year. This has been reflected on the Pollock grounds and in river escapements.
MCA also explained that the Alaska Department of Fish and Game recently increased Yukon River run size projections to 2 million fish, up from 1.3 million to 1.6 million chum salmon. The Pollock fishery has been heavily criticized by commercial and subsistence fish harvesters because of the large numbers of salmon, including kings and chums, caught as bycatch during the groundfish fishery.
