Fishing for a Solution · Episode 8 of 12 · 17 min
Counting the Bycatch
A king salmon caught in a pollock trawl cannot be sold; it is counted by an observer, tallied against a limit, and discarded or donated. Over fifty years that counting grew into one of the most intensive monitoring systems in any American fishery, with hard king salmon caps since 2011 and a genetics lab in Dutch Harbor. The numbers support two arithmetics: under two percent of returns, or every fish matters.
Who's who
- John GauvinTrawl-industry scientist and lead developer of the salmon excluder
- Janet CoitNOAA Fisheries head who announced denial of the 2024 petition
- Rachel BakerAlaska fish and game deputy commissioner who presented the 2026 chum motion
- Anne VanderhoevenCouncil member who voted against the chum motion
- Tim BristolSalmonState director who asked for a hard chum cap
- Abby DuffyManager of the Dutch Harbor genetics lab
Where it happens
- Dutch Harbor, Alaska+1 more episodeOne-room genetics lab traces where bycaught salmon were born
- Bering Sea+10 more episodesWhere observers or cameras cover every pollock vessel
- Kodiak, Alaska+3 more episodesTwo trawlers caught about 2,000 king salmon in September 2024
- Bethel, Alaska+5 more episodesKuskokwim hub where families catch about forty kings a summer
Timeline
- 1973First U.S. observers board foreign vessels in the Bering Sea
- 2007King salmon bycatch reaches its record, about 122,000 fish
- 2011Amendment 91 hard king salmon limits take effect
- April 18, 2024NOAA Fisheries denies the zero-cap petition
- 22 to September 25, 2024Gulf of Alaska king salmon limit reached for the first time
- February 11, 2026Council votes 8 to 3 for a 45,000-fish chum limit
Still debated
The 1.9 percent figure is an adult-equivalent average since 2011, not a raw count, and covers Western Alaska as a whole. Critics say king caps sit far above recent bycatch while defenders credit incentive plans. SalmonState and Kawerak call the chum measure too weak, and an Arctic Storm member calls it imprecise.
