March 26, 2023 — A resolution to protect the Southeast Alaska troll fishery passed in the state Legislature on March 20 by a unanimous vote in the Senate. House Joint Resolution 5 calls on state and federal governments to defend Alaska fisheries from a lawsuit filed by the Washington State-based environmental group, the Wild Fish Conservancy.
The suit seeks to stop the Southeast troll fishery over what the group sees as a threat to the Southern Resident killer whales in the Puget Sound. The organization’s position is that terminating Southeast’s king salmon troll fishery might allow chinook salmon to migrate back down the coast through key hunting grounds of the Southern Resident killer whales.