Federal fisheries managers are slated to take final action in early April on the incidental harvest of Chinook and chum salmon in the Bering Sea pollock fishery.

Also on the agenda for the April 6-13 meeting of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council in Anchorage are final action on Gulf of Alaska sablefish longline pots, an update on Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands salmon bycatch genetics, a discussion paper on Area 4A halibut retention in sablefish pots, and an initial review of observer coverage on small catcher processors.

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council, after much deliberation at its December meeting in Anchorage, modified alternatives under consideration to include two major changes.

The first was the option of modification of seasonal apportionment of pollock total allowable catch from the A season to the B season, including shifting 5 percent to 10 percent of the B-season quota into the A-season. The second change would be reducing both the performance standard and the overall prohibited species catch limit by the same percentage reductions of 25 percent to 60 percent in time of low western Alaska Chinook salmon abundance.

Read the full story at Alaska Native News>>

Want to read more about salmon bycatch in the Bering Sea? Click here...