By Margaret Bauman
Alaska Journal of Commerce

Federal fisheries managers set a 1 million metric ton limit on the 2008 Bering Sea pollock catch, a 26 percent reduction from the 1.35 million tons harvested in 2007.

The move, a precautionary measure to protect pollock stocks during a predicted downward trend, was applauded by the Marine Conservation Alliance, a coalition of harvesters, processors and communities engaged in the Alaska groundfish and crab industries.

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council also edged forward toward resolving issues revolving around Chinook salmon caught incidentally in the Western Alaska pollock fisheries. Council staff will now study several alternatives for reducing the bycatch and report back to the council in February.

The council's concern is maintaining a healthy marine ecosystem for long-term conservation of groundfish and non-groundfish resources. The latter includes chum and Chinook salmon, which are being incidentally harvested in large numbers in the pollock fisheries.

Western Alaska fishermen told the council that the pollock fleet must share with them the burden of conservation.

“As in-river users sacrifice their harvests to ensure that escapement goals are met, it is reprehensible that the pollock fleet is allowed to harvest - and discard - such a high number of Chinook salmon,” Rebecca Robbins Gisclair, policy director for the Yukon River Drainage Fisheries Association, said in written testimony. “While we understand that bycatch is not the only factor contributing to Western Alaska salmon returns, as salmon populations struggle to recover, the burden for recovery must not be borne by Western Alaska alone.”

Robin Samuelsen, president and chief executive officer of the Bristol Bay Economic Development Corp., was among those making an impassioned plea to the council to move quickly to reduce the incidental catch of Chinook salmon, valuable both for commercial and subsistence rural fishermen.

Samuelsen said that the council should keep all options that would limit the Chinook bycatch to the 10-year average of 49,500 kings.

BBEDC proposes that a hard cap on bycatch be developed and that the hard cap be allocated to each sector based on a share of pollock assigned to each vessel.

“We oppose any sector split of Chinook based on historical catch of Chinook by vessel,” he said. “You would only be rewarding the dirty fishermen of the industry.”

Samuelsen also recommended another option, to shorten the B season for pollock a month early, to end it on Oct. 1. All data points that the later into the season, the higher catch per unit of effort in the pollock fishery, the higher the incidental catch of Chinook salmon.

Last October, there was little pollock late in the season and boats harvested much additional Chinook with very little pollock, he said.

“BBEDC does not take this stand lightly; we are involved in both the inshore and offshore pollock fisheries,” Samuelsen said. “We (as a Community Development Quota entity) stand to lose a substantial amount of income, as with the rest of the industry. However, with the Chinook bycatch in this pollock fishery at 130,000 plus Chinook salmon, which is more than double the ten year average, we cannot stand on the sidelines and watch our terminal Chinook runs be decimated by the pollock fleet.”

Yukon River Drainage Fisheries Association's Gisclair noted that while salmon bycatch has risen, salmon runs throughout Western Alaska this year were well below forecasts and historical averages.

“On the Yukon, the commercial harvest was 30 percent below the recent 10-year average, with only 33,629 chinook salmon taken commercially,” she said. “The recent 10-year average includes several years when Chinook returns were declared disasters by state and federal agencies, and necessitating many millions of dollars in aid. Subsistence users reported difficulty meeting their needs.”

The council also received substantial written and verbal testimony from tribal and traditional Alaska Native groups whose constituents fish commercially and for subsistence.

“It is imperative that the council, NOAA Fisheries and industry work diligently to reverse the trend of escalating salmon bycatch and bring overall salmon bycatch back down to levels that will ensure the long term sustainability of Western Alaska salmon stocks,” executives of several Community Development Associations said in a letter to the council.

The council also heard from the Yukon River Panel, an advisory body established under the Yukon River Salmon Agreement that deals with conservation, management and harvest sharing of salmon between the U.S. and Canada.

“The United States, as a party to the Yukon River Salmon Agreement, has a treaty obligation to maintain efforts to increase the in-river run of Yukon River origin salmon by reducing marine catches and bycatch of Yukon River salmon,” the panel said in written testimony. “The panel believes that the council can accomplish the intent of the agreement by taking immediate action to lower the salmon catch-level triggers for closing groundfish fisheries and to using a numerical limit for the total number of salmon which can be caught.”

Dave Benton, executive director of the Marine Conservation Alliance, said the industry is very much aware of the salmon bycatch problem.

“We are trying to develop new ways of fishing to avoid salmon,” Benton said. “Whether or not the pollock TAC (total allowable catch) has an affect on salmon bycatch is something we will have to watch very carefully.

Benton said the downturn in the pollock stocks was not unexpected.

“The responsible course of action is to follow our scientists' recommendation to reduce harvests as a precautionary measure,” said Benton, a former council chairman. “We've known this downturn was coming because a large age class of fish that dominated the population was naturally getting older. Fortunately, it seems a new age class may soon replace them.”

Margaret Bauman can be reached at margie.bauman@alaskajournal.com.