I mean, the 2023 troll harvest allocation is only 149,000 kings. They all issued statements saying this lawsuit is outrageous, mainly in that it overlooks what probably are the real threats to Southern Resident Killer Whales, which are industrial toxins, population of the Puget Sound area, vessel traffic, all these other sources that probably are creating more harm for these animals than the harvest of what is actually very few fish in Southeast Alaska. RW: Well, everybody keeps coming back to this, Casey, including our congressional delegation. There have got to be other environmental factors going on there. But the orcas also spend a lot of time closer to Seattle, which is a huge city, it continues to grow. And so this Incidental Take Statement that allows Chinook fishing to happen in southeast Alaska in summertime, and in winter, has been vacated.ĬG: So, obviously, this is focused on king salmon off Alaska’s coast. And I’m also vacating this document that’s called an Incidental Take Statement.” And an Incidental Take Statement is essential to open a fishery that might impact an endangered species. And I’m ordering the National Marine Fisheries Service to fix the flaws. And that happened this Tuesday, when Judge Richard Jones basically issued a two-page order saying, “This is it. So that report and recommendation had to be affirmed by another U.S. The Wild Fish Conservancy, in its lawsuit, had argued that the National Marine Fisheries Service had violated sections of the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act in failing to fully account for the impact of the Alaska Chinook fishery on this very seriously threatened population of killer whales in Puget Sound. District Court judge in western Washington named Judge Michelle Peterson issued a report and recommendation that basically went in favor of just about everything the Wild Fish Conservancy was asking for. RW: Well, it all got real back in December of 2022, when another U.S. Where did this lawsuit come from? What does it aim to do? I want to talk more about what the impacts might be to the fleet. And I take it that uncertainty is pretty difficult for fishermen trying to just get ready for the season or to know if they should get ready for the season. It’s still kind of an open question, though.Ĭasey Grove: Yeah. So it’s possible that fishing might happen this summer. And they’ll probably ask for a stay of the order until the appeal is heard. But both the state and the Alaska Trollers Association, who are intervenors in this lawsuit, filed a notice to appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court. Robert Woolsey: If you look at the order, the language of the order says, yes, they’re definitely calling for the end of troll fishing this summer. The following transcript has been lightly edited for clarity. KCAW’s Robert Woolsey has been following the lawsuit from Sitka, in the heart of the Southeast salmon troll fishing region, and says whether the king fishery will be closed this summer remains uncertain. ![]() The lawsuit centers ons whether Alaska fishermen should be allowed to harvest king salmon, which are considered essential prey for the Southern Resident Killer Whales. The ruling comes in a lawsuit filed three years ago by a Washington-based conservation group called Wild Fish Conservancy that aims to protect a small population of Orcas. (Courtesy Matt Lichtenstein)Ī federal judge in Washington state issued a ruling this week that threatens to shut down trolling for king salmon in Southeast Alaska this summer. King salmon landed in the commercial troll fishery in the summer of 2019.
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