The amount of pollock that can be taken by trawlers in Bering Sea will remain the same until 2024. At its Dec. 9th meeting held in Anchorage it was decided that the North Pacific Fishery Management Council decided to maintain the total allowed pollock catch at its current amount of 1.3 million tons, a decision that has sparked some criticism from tribes, conservationists and the trawling industry in general.
Trade associations representing the trawl industry stated in a testimony to Council meeting on they believe the council’s decision to keep the steady of the pollock quota is wrong.
Stephanie Madsen, executive director of the At-Sea Processors Association, told the council that the decision could mean missing opportunities to harvest greater quantities of mature pollock in the Bering Sea.
“We cannot bank them as certain species of fish. They’ll age out of the system and not be available to fisheries,” Madsen said.
Madsen also informed the council that the industry’s request for a small increase in the quota for pollock, which was denied in the end it was already the result of a compromise.
“I want to be sure to remind everyone that the Russian fishing industry located in the Sea of Okhotsk and the Western Bering Sea take more pollock than our Eastern Bering Sea pollock,” Madsen said. “So an 20,000 metric tons rise in Eastern Bering Sea is likely to have a minimal impact on the global climate.”
Communities hit hard
On the other hand of the issue Tribes and conservation groups representing communities that are reeling from salmon-related crashes across Western Alaska have called for the reintroduction of the pollock fishery.
“We believe that the salmon that come back to the rivers as survivors of climate changes, which they face both in their marine and freshwater stages,” said Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission Programs Manager Terese Vicente. The commission is among the groups advocating for increased co-management among tribal groups for resources across Western Alaska.
“We must protect each one of them as a prudent, to protect of the things that we can influence because they’re vulnerable to changes in the ecosystem caused by climate change,” Vicente said.
Many tribes that have been affected by salmon-related crashes have issued requests for greater representation at the table of federal management and have also pushed for Alaska Native representation on the 11-member North Pacific council.
Member of the council Jon Kurland noted that requests from the Association of Village Council Presidents and Tanana Chiefs Conference to meet with the council prior to the meeting had not gone as planned.
“We have made many efforts to improve the process for tribal consultation, and try to ensure that when tribal consortia, and so on are interested in contacting us, we make that contact prior to the council taking the final decision,” Kurland said. “We have made several attempts to connect but we weren’t able to make these connections.”
Both organizations are and suing and the government for the manner in which it manages the Alaska pollock fishing industry is handled.
Council Member Anne Vanderhoeven, who introduced the motion to keep the 2024 pollock quota same as it was this year, has resisted the idea that the fishing industry is a major cause of salmon-related crashes.
“We have received calls and public statements to lower the amount of pollock caught TAC (total allowable catch) and acknowledgement of the present salmon crisis within Western Alaska rivers, and the devastating effects that this crisis is having on subsistence consumers as well as Alaska Native cultures,” Vanderhoeven declared. “But the most accurate scientific evidence available doesn’t back the claim that minor changes on the pollock TAC could significantly or even increase the number of salmon that escape in Western Alaska.”
The pollock quota in 2024 is established, however for 2025 the quota is yet to be established.
The next council gathering is planned for February. 5 through February. 12, in Seattle in which it will be able to consider improving an environmental impact statement, which guides the management decisions.
