The dock talk goes on and guys continually quit crewing on draggers because they can't stand the waste. Here is just a tiny example, brazenly feeding sea lions at the Trident dock with PSC (Prohibited Species Catch) halibut. When the feds were called about this, the responding agent purportedly laughed and said, "Trawlers really hate those halibut." No shit, Sherlock. And king salmon, and crab, and the list goes on.
Note: We have slowed the video down to 12% so you can see clearly what is going on, and edited out some slow spots. Filmed on October 23, 2013. Source withheld by request.
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Where is the equity in the justice system? Can you envision the judge's outrage in court at your wanton waste? What is that conviction going to cost you, your guide's license? Getting busted for one fish over the line, Sweet Jesus! Feeding sea lions? There is simply no justice here. Where ever trawlers unload, there are often piles of halibut under the docks unless, like this smart boy, he throws them into the jaws of waiting sea lions.Get in the loop: http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/20131124/alaska-fisheries-blogger-shares-video-alleged-misuse-halibut-bycatch
But keep yer flippers wet.
9 comments:
Looks like business as usual, they're pretty casual about it. Don't worry, Jim Balsiger and Chris Oliver are on the case. Brace yourself for a torrent of denial and ineffectual reform.
Here's what happens during the 84% of the time draggers aren't carrying observers.
Just think how many halibut might still be around had we adopted a plan similar to what the Canadiens did over 16 years ago when they reduced their halibut bycatch from 2,000,000 lbs down to 300,0000 while catching all their trawl allowable catches.
This is THE NORM not the exception. This is a deliberate plan to eliminate halibut so they cease to exist as a bycatch species.
If this goes on at the dock how many halibut do you think get pughed over at sea when there's no observer onboard?
These guys have long handled pughs so they don't have to bend over. This is not an isolated incident, they are geared up for this.
And enforcement either doesn't care or has been told to leave these vessels alone by their superiors. Trawling remains a blessed activity in the eyes of NOAA/NMFS; an economic engine important to American economic concerns...big business...and to hell with the resource and the small players.
OK. The boat was throwing them overboard, because they aren't allowed to keep them. They're at the dock, where observers monitor the deliveries, despite whether or not the trip was observed. I can't see the fish clearly, is it small halibut? Or flounder taken out of the net while cleaning it? Who wants to bet that this comment is not approved.
2:29. You are so unfamiliar with halibut your can't recognize them? Bow out, buddy. Frankly, you are too ignorant to deserve much of a response. Go back to your ball game.
If your going to take a video and post it on the internet, at least have the balls to leave your full name!You people that keep hating on trawlers are wasting your time, the truth is coming out that the trawlers have a much more lower percentage of bycatch than other gear types! trawlers have had observers on there boats for a long time, and all it took is one year of the new observer program to find out that trawlers are way more cleaner fishing boats then other gear types. I know that most of the other gear types out there are not apart of these groups that hate and hate on trawlers, I know this because I am friends with a lot of them. These groups of haters just have to much time on there hands. Trawlers are the life blood of Alaska, they keep the canneries operating threw the year. If there were no trawlers, there would only be one cannery in Kodiak and one out west. Kodiak would turn into a ghost town.
Lets see, the new observer plan cuts the coverage on draggers by 1/2 and the make believe NMFS 3's say there was 1/2 as much bycatch.
Coincidence?
So why does the one dragger who went from 30% observer coverage to 100% coverage show an increase in bycatch of 900% (throwing out the anomaly)???
Might somebody be gaming the coverage???
And you are just going to get laughed at calling someone names for wanting to remain anonymous when you don't give your name.
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