Sunday, October 24, 2010

GOA King Salmon Destruction Continues, Agency Juggles Numbers

Click on report to enlarge.


The October 16 PSC catch report on King Salmon destruction by trawlers shows another 4134 King salmon caught by GOA draggers. Interestingly they add the previously killed 56,636 to this week's 4134 mortality and get 58,194...hmm...NMFS reserves the right to adjust figures based upon...the sampling data. A form of juggling, eh? The actual number should be 60,870 king salmon destroyed.

Still, even these large numbers are probably on the low side, since much gaming goes on with the trawl fleet in order to hide the damage being done to achieve their short term profits.

The December NPFMC should be a good one. Plan to attend and testify to stop this madness, or at least to see how well the Alaska Groundup Fish Data Bank can dance and juggle at the same time. The dogs and ponies are already rehearsing, we're sure.

Keep yer flippers wet.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

What, no more denial? The problem is then completed only with the typical "we need ownership in order to become responsible" Catch Share manure coming out of AGDB's mouthpiece --- like in "hey, let's cause a crisis then propose the government give us the fishery in order to resolve the crisis we caused" illogic. And how can they ever know "hot spots" exist unless they are smacking the hell outta the chinooks? Extruders - yeah, sure, like that is reassuring to the streams that end up without any returns ... and the sportsfishing industry that also gets robbed... Remember, these salmon bycatch numbers are mere fractions of the ones reported in 1998 when the federal judge forced a Bi-Op on GOA - figures that indicated trawl nets were coming up with over 50% salmon at times - extruders will not correct that problem - but killing off large runs sure has diminished that evidence...

Eric said...

First time visitor. Former observer.

Not sure if I understand whether your focus is solely on Gulf of Alaska. I only observed in Bering Sea fisheries and really didn't have any exposure to pollock or cod in the Gulf. I'll browse around to see if you have info on Bering Sea issues. Great resource from what I can see! Good luck to you.

Wiglaf said...

Alaska Polling,
It is not that we don't care about the Bering Sea, but we have to carve off a piece of turf to fight over. Here where the continental shelf is wide, our resources continue to be damaged by the short term profit seekers who would sell our grandchildren's future. What happens here is also happening or has happened in the Bering Sea. One sea, one land, one people. Welcome to the fight.

Unknown said...

It is time for those that depend on king salmon and halibut and crab to band together to stop this waste. If you are a troller, gillnetter, seiner, crabber, charter, longliner, or jigger you might want to plan to testify against the trawl destruction of this common property. Seems to me that a coalition could be formed to amplify our voices.

Anonymous said...

Surfing around and found new site which has joined the fight. Try bloodydecks.com........welcome friends

Anonymous said...

Gulf of Alaska, The Bering Sea, and soon the Frontiers of the big waters, The Bering Straits and The Arctic Ocean. We need to help these environments stay healthy.

Anonymous said...

The destruction of any natural resource when it is already hurting continues to hurt those that are most affected. Even for the approved Fishing disaster relief for the Lower Yukon and portions of the upper Yukon are most hurt because it only applies to '07, '08 and '09 years even though it was started in the late '70s, '80s and the '90s. Some got so frustrated that they started selling their permits or altogether just quit fishing before the declared fishing disaster to be approved. Some right now will not be compensated for those earlier years of fishing disasters.

Anonymous said...

The destruction of any natural resource when it is already hurting continues to hurt those that are most affected. Even for the approved Fishing disaster relief for the Lower Yukon and portions of the upper Yukon are most hurt because it only applies to '07, '08 and '09 years even though it was started in the late '70s, '80s and the '90s. Some got so frustrated that they started selling their permits or altogether just quit fishing before the declared fishing disaster to be approved. Some right now will not be compensated for those earlier years of fishing disasters.

Anonymous said...

WIGLAF, are you sure they have not slipped a decimelplace on that figure?

Anonymous said...

Good luck to all of you testifying next month at the NPFMC meeting addressing the Chum Salmon ByCatch. In the meantime, we King Salmon lovers have to wait another year and a half until the new Chinook ByCatch regulations kick in.