A final report issued by an eclectic group of seafood industry stakeholders concludes that while bycatch of salmon, crab and halibut should be reduced, it cannot be completely eliminated without significant economic consequences.
The goal then is continuous work to reduce bycatch, which can only be achieved through research implementation of effective management measures and public engagement, the Alaska Bycatch Task Force said in its final report to Gov. Mike Dunleavy.
The report notes that issues related to prohibited species catch, regulatory, and economic bycatch discards have been under discussion for many years and will continue to be an important topic. The report states the challenges will be balancing impacts to Alaska fisheries while ensuring the sustained yield of those resources and optimizing economic, social and cultural values.
Retired commercial harvester John Jensen of Petersburg, the chair of the Alaska Bycatch Task Force, said his hope is that their work would strengthen fisheries conservation in Alaska. Jensen also serves on the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, which reviewed the task force report at its December meeting in Anchorage, along with related salmon, crab and halibut bycatch issues.
“Our hope throughout this process was that by advancing our work transparently, and with public participation at every stage, Alaskans will have confidence in our recommendations,” Jensen said in the task force report.
General recommendations from the task force include developing state bycatch research priorities, implementing strategies to encourage and facilitate industry and agency cooperative research to reduce bycatch and associated mortality, creating methods for collaboration with stakeholders to better track proposed or funded bycatch research, and state development of an inclusive process for identifying bycatch research. Tasks important to improving bycatch avoidance were identified as gear modifications and improved technology—an update on assumed discard mortality rates and more data on shifting distribution patterns.
Separate recommendations specific to salmon in western Alaska and the Gulf of Alaska, plus crab and halibut, were also included in the report. Among those recommendations was one urging the state to support taking incremental measures through the regulatory process to improve bycatch utilization with a particular focus on species that are otherwise marketable, but are caught with non-targeted gear, or discards in a directed fishery that are required by regulation.
The task force urged the state to consider regulations for the directed crab fishery and pot cod fishery in the Gulf of Alaska to reduce incidental take and discard mortality. The task force further recommended an initial review of the open and closed areas of the Gulf of Alaska for pelagic and non-pelagic trawl gear and considered closing new and additional areas to reduce bycatch of halibut, salmon and Tanner crab.
The complete report, released by the governor’s office in early December, can be viewed online at https://gov.alaska.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/Alaska-Bycatch-Review-Task-Force.pdf.
