January 2, 2019 — Should the US federal government shutdown continue, it could put a serious clamp on commercial fishing off the coast of Alaska, KTOO reports.
The government will allow fisheries in the Bering Sea to start as scheduled with an initial opening for Pacific cod on Jan. 1 and a second opening for pollock and other species on Jan. 20, the Alaska public radio station explains. However, due to the shutdown, the National Marine Fisheries Service isn’t doing the required inspections of scales for weighing fish on boats or monitoring equipment. And special permits that some boats need are not being issued.
Nearly all of the large boats that fish for cod starting Jan. 1 have already had their required inspections, said Chad See, executive director of the Freezer Longline Coalition. And the more lucrative pollock season is several weeks from restarting. But blocking only a single fishing trip by a large factory trawler could cost the industry millions of dollars, the article warned.