July 24, 2013 — The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) passed a resolution calling for the protection of Alaska salmon for subsistence. Resolution REN-13-029 calls for the North Pacific Fishery Management Council to take action to significantly reduce Chinook salmon bycatch in the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea pollock trawl fisheries and to put meaningful and effective Chinook salmon bycatch reduction limits Chinook bycatch in the Gulf of Alaska non-pollock trawl fisheries.
Mike Williams Sr., the NCAI Regional Vice President for Alaska, is the author of this resolution.
The resolution states that since time immemorial, Alaska’s tribes have hunted, fished, and gathered on the land and waters of what is now the State of Alaska. Alaska’s Chinook salmon is of critical importance to the spiritual, cultural, subsistence, and community needs of Alaskan Natives.
Other whereases state:
Alaska’s Chinook salmon support Alaska’s commercial, charter and personal use fisheries; Alaska’s Chinook salmon runs have been declining for at least a decade; Alaska’s 2012 Chinook salmon runs were dramatically low and disaster declarations were made for upper Cook Inlet and the Yukon and Kuskokwim Rivers; significant effects on subsistence users and on the cultural and spiritual values of Alaskans is beyond economic assessment.
In 2012, subsistence fisheries in the Yukon and Kuskowim rivers were under severe restrictions, and despite those restrictions, many escapement goals were not met, says the resolution.
“Chinook salmon bycatch is a direct and controllable source of mortality for extremely valuable and declining salmon runs throughout the state,” continues the resolution. “The Chinook salmon bycatch caps for the Bering Sea Pollock fishery is set at 60,000 and the Chinook salmon bycatch cap in the Gulf of Alaska Pollock fishery is set at 25,000.”
The resolution also states that significant Chinook salmon stocks from Alaska are caught and discarded in the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska pollock fisheries and other trawl fisheries in the Gulf of Alaska. However, that statement is not accurate.
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