Fisheries managers allow whitefish trawlers to inadvertently scoop up halibut, crab and salmon in their nets. The bycatch rate is relatively low, but because the trawlers catch so much of their target species, the unintended harvest adds up.
In rural western Alaska, where chum and king salmon runs have been performing poorly, the bycatch is raising alarms. While the bycaught salmon is often donated to food banks, it’s of little assurance to those living along the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers, where subsistence is a way of life.
The At-Sea Processors Association — a large industrial trawl organization — said in an emailed statement that no fishery is without bycatch and that there are always other species in the nets or caught on a line. A moratorium on salmon bycatch in the Bering Sea would mean a total shutdown of the pollock fishery, they argue.
Read more:
https://www.kstk.org/2021/10/13/tribal-commercial-fishing-groups-call-for-drastic-reductions-in-trawl-salmon-bycatch/