A February 2023 report by the Alaska Marine Conservation Council outlines the findings in a North Pacific Council report from last April that revealed for the first time that pelagic, or mid-water, trawl nets contact the seafloor on average from 40% to 80% of the time, with rates up to 100% on factory ships, also called catcher/processors.
Some Background: When the 2021 red king crab fishery was cancelled last October for the first time in 25 years, the NPFMC tasked its staff to prepare a discussion paper.
