A majority of Gulf of Alaska groundfish trawlers will voluntarily suspend fishing in order to attend the North Pacific Fishery Management Council meeting in Portland, Oregon this week. They are concerned that the recent State of Alaska proposal to restructure their fisheries would seriously harm their livelihoods and the economies of their fishery dependent communities.
Instead of harvesting fish and pursuing their livelihood, many of the vessel owners, skippers and crew that deliver into Kodiak, Sand Point and King Cove will travel over 3,000 miles round-trip to express their concerns to decision makers at a fisheries management meeting in Portland, Oregon.
“This is really quite unique,” said Julie Bonney, Executive Director of the Alaska Groundfish Data Bank based in Kodiak, Alaska. “Fishermen agreeing to stand down, essentially losing income, in order to make this trip to provide their input demonstrates just how important this change in management is to the fishing industry.”
All of these vessels compete with each other, and the fact that there has been a consensus among these competitive fishermen to stop fishing and go to the meeting underscores the urgency they feel.
Read the full story at Stories in the News >>
Read more about Alaska groundfish >>
