US: Minimizing chum salmon bycatch

Minimising Chum Salmon Bycatch . Statement from the Alaska Pollock Fishery Alliance on Recent Council Action to Minimise Chum Salmon Bycatch in the Bering Sea Pollock Fishery. The recent North Pacific Fishery Management Council meeting provided an opportunity to hear from more than 100 individuals who shared their perspectives on the issue of chum salmon bycatch. The pollock fishery shares in the concern about the challenges being felt by Western and interior Alaska residents and are committed to doing our part to find science-based management responses that further reduce incidental catch of Western Alaska chum salmon. Testimony also highlighted the amount of hatchery chum salmon produced by Russia is significant and growing every year. Several options being reviewed by the Council could set trigger closures based on these Russian hatchery fish, at the expense of avoiding Western Alaska chum salmon. This approach harms pollock-dependent communities without benefit to those that ...