Pollock fisheries groups share methods for avoiding bycatch

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – Pollock fisheries teams shared a few of the strategies they’ve been utilizing to forestall the unintentional taking of bycatch salmon to the North Pacific Fisheries Administration Council’s Advisory Committee on Thursday.

Throughout the displays, two teams shared technological, area-based and incentive-based methods of mitigating the results of bycatch.

One of many strategies the Inshore Salmon Financial savings Incentive Plan group used was a digital camera system that has a full view of the deck monitoring crew exercise.

“You’ll be able to see if salmon had been being discarded so you already know that the salmon accounting that’s taking place at a plant the place 100% of them are counted is 100%,” Advisory Committee member Chelsae Radell mentioned.

Normally, vessels can have federal observers on the deck of a pollock vessel to watch bycatch. However Radell mentioned that these cameras are extra environment friendly on account of having the ability to monitor all areas of the deck always.

A consultant from the At-Sea Processors Affiliation shared a technological methodology that actively prevents bycatch.

“The final part that we’re engaged on is to proceed to use and refine excluded gadgets and see if we are able to get extra salmon out of the web after they’ve already been captured,” mentioned Austin Estabrooks, a pure useful resource analyst with the At-Sea Processors Affiliation.

Salmon excluder gadgets are holes in trawl nets which can be specifically made to permit salmon to flee whereas preserving pollock within the internet.

The Inshore Salmon Financial savings Incentive Plan works by means of a financial savings credit system. Which works by creating an allowance of a 500-count bycatch restrict. For each three chinook salmon a vessel doesn’t bycatch a yr that will contribute to that restrict, the vessel earns one salmon credit score that can be utilized as insurance coverage for the following three seasons in opposition to the preliminary allocation restrict.

“In case you don’t catch them, you get to earn one thing. And so by each three salmon you don’t catch, you’re principally incomes one,” Inshore Salmon Financial savings Incentive Plan Consultant Suzie Zagorski mentioned.

Zagorski additionally mentioned that vessels don’t often go over the restrict, however that this credit score system will be helpful if vessels come throughout a considerable amount of chinook in a “lightning strike,” and that these credit expire after three years to additional incentivize avoiding bycatch.

The North Pacific Fisheries Administration Council’s assembly continues by means of the weekend into Monday with each the At-Sea Processors Affiliation and the Inshore Salmon Financial savings Incentive Plan representatives.

Copyright 2023 KTUU. All rights reserved.