With Western Alaska Salmon Runs Weak, Managers Set Limits On The Pollock Fleet’s Chum Bycatch

By Yereth Rosen

(Alaska Beacon) -- Federal fishery managers have approved the first-ever mandatory caps on at-sea interception of chum salmon, a fish species critical to Indigenous communities along Alaska’s river systems.

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council on Wednesday voted in favor of new limits for the pollock fleet to reduce the amount of chum salmon accidentally caught in trawl nets, a phenomenon known as bycatch.

The compromise, approved at the end of a 10-day council meeting...