April 8, 2024 — Representatives from more than 100 Alaska Native tribes and villages, along with representatives of commercial fishing and fisheries, shared their concerns and ideas Saturday in downtown Anchorage over what many consider a crisis of declining salmon populations.
The North Pacific Fishery Management Council is gathering testimony to help shape possible federally-backed bycatch rules in the future. The U.S. Department of Commerce issued a letter to the NPFMC on March 29 about proposed management measures to reduce chum salmon Prohibited Species Catch in the Bering Sea pollock fishery, as well as possible limits to the chum salmon bycatch.