NOAA Fisheries News Releases
NEWS RELEASE
January 12, 2009
Sheela McLean, Public Affairs
(907) 586-7032
NOAA Fisheries Extends Public Comment Period on Salmon Bycatch Document
NOAA Fisheries is extending the comment period on a draft environmental impact statement that proposes methods of reducing the number of Chinook salmon accidentally caught by Bering Sea pollock fishermen.
“Based on numerous fishing industry requests, we are extending the comment period for the Draft Environmental Impact Statement on Bering Sea Chinook Salmon Bycatch Management through February 23, 2009,” said Acting Alaska Regional Administrator Doug Mecum. “We want to give the public additional time for comment without delaying the North Pacific Fishery Management Council’s plan to take final action at its April 2009 meeting.”
The draft EIS was released December 5, with a comment period that was to end February 3, 2009. In the draft EIS, managers describe ways to limit the accidental salmon 'bycatch' in order to conserve Chinook salmon, maintain a healthy ecosystem, and provide maximum benefit to fishermen and communities that depend on Chinook salmon and pollock.
The Bering sea pollock fishery catches up to 95 percent of the Chinook salmon taken as bycatch in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands groundfish fisheries.
The alternatives analyzed in the draft EIS generally involve limits or ‘caps’ on the number of Chinook salmon that may be caught in the Bering Sea pollock fishery. Managers would close all or part of a fishery when a Chinook salmon bycatch cap is reached, even if the entire pollock total allowable catch has not yet been harvested.
The draft EIS reveals projected environmental, social, and economic impacts of four alternatives to minimize Chinook salmon bycatch while still achieving optimum yield in the Bering Sea pollock fishery. It also analyzes the benefits of the projected numbers of Chinook salmon saved and the costs of the projected forgone pollock catch under each alternative.
For a copy of the Bering Sea Chinook Salmon Bycatch Management Draft Environmental Impact Statement go to: http://alaskafisheries.noaa.gov/sustainablefisheries/bycatch/ NOAA understands and predicts changes in the Earth's environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and conserves and manages coastal and marine resources.
On the Web:
- NOAA Fisheries Alaska Region: http://alaskafisheries.noaa.gov
- Alaska Fisheries Science Center: http://www.afsc.noaa.gov