Fishing for a Solution · Episode 10 of 12 · 21 min
Seafloor, Halibut and the Other Interceptors
In some recent years a June salmon fishery on the Alaska Peninsula caught more Western Alaska chum than the entire pollock fleet. The episode widens the frame beyond trawlers to the seafloor, where midwater nets may touch bottom, to halibut limits upheld in 2024, to Area M, and to an ocean crowded with about five billion hatchery salmon a year. The strongest case is the full ledger.
Who's who
- Brad HarrisAlaska Pacific University scientist who leads industry gear research
- Doug ChristensenPresident of Arctic Storm Management Group
- Julie Bonney+1 more episodeHead of the Alaska Groundfish Data Bank
- Sharon Gleason+1 more episodeFederal judge who upheld the halibut abundance rule
- Lauren HynesOceana manager who urged managing midwater trawls as bottom gear
- Vivian Korthuis+1 more episodeHead of the Association of Village Council Presidents
- Greg Ruggerone+1 more episodeFisheries scientist who led a review of pink salmon's ocean effects
- Jamie GoenCrabbers' leader who petitioned to close crab habitat to bottom gear
Where it happens
- Area M, Alaska PeninsulaJune sockeye fishery that also catches Western Alaska chum
- Bristol Bay, Alaska+7 more episodesRed King Crab Savings Area established 1996
- Vancouver, Washington+2 more episodesCouncil met there on June 8, 2026
- North Pacific Ocean+1 more episodeCrowded with hatchery salmon on high seas closed to directed salmon fishing
Timeline
- February 11, 1992Convention bans directed high-seas salmon fishing in the North Pacific
- 1996Red King Crab Savings Area established
- January 1, 2024Halibut abundance rule takes effect
- November 8, 2024Judge Gleason upholds Amendment 123
- February 25, 2026Board of Fisheries votes 4 to 3 to cut Area M June fishing time
- June 8, 2026Council votes to continue research on midwater trawl bottom contact
Still debated
Estimates of how often midwater nets touch bottom range widely because they measure different things, and unobserved crab mortality has no agreed estimate. Ruggerone's review calls pink salmon competition strong evidence, while the state called it a hypothesis stated too firmly.
