The North Pacific Fishery Management Council is currently taking comments on chum bycatch ahead of their October 2-11 meetings in Anchorage. Please consider adding your signature to our letter asking the council to take meaningful action to mitigate chum bycatch in the pollock fishery and to address the ongoing chum salmon declines in western Alaska rivers.
Along with adding your signature, in today’s newsletter, you’ll find links to provide your own written comments and you can view our salmon bycatch toolkit to learn more about the council process and how to provide written or public testimony to ensure your voice is heard.
Bycatch in the pollock fishery directly affects our communities. Our voices, together, have an impact.
Due to low salmon returns, families on the Yukon and Kuskokwim Rivers have not been able to harvest chum salmon. An aspect central to our way of life has been shut down. Meanwhile, the $1.3 billion pollock trawl fleet faces zero penalties for chum salmon harvested as bycatch.
Our very identity, culture, and way of life are connected to the health and abundance of salmon. Meaningful, effective, and strong measures on chum bycatch in the pollock fishery must be instated. If the strictest of measures are taken in rivers, strict measures should be seen in federal ocean fisheries. If you agree, sign onto our letter to tell the North Pacific Fishery Management Council that we need meaningful ACTION on bycatch.
| The deadline to sign the letter is September 28 at 5 PM! |
Please check out our Salmon Bycatch Toolkit. You’ll find additional information on how to engage in the North Pacific Fishery Management Council process. The toolkit shares steps on how to submit your own written or public comments on bycatch.
It’s important to voice your thoughts at the North Pacific Fishery Management Council meeting. To protect our ways of life they need to hear why action needs to be taken. We encourage you to provide written comments or give public testimony during the meeting.
The North Pacific Fishery Management Council comment period deadline for written comments is Friday, September 29 at 12 PM
Please submit written comments for the council by clicking on the ‘Comment Now’ links next to the relevant agenda items located here: https://buff.ly/3PgLqnI.
The AP and Council will also take in-person and remote oral testimony during the meetings. All information provided through the eAgenda or during testimony is part of the public record.
If you’d like to receive text alerts on Council timing, text the word “NPFMC” to the number 1-833-237-1598.
More information on the NPFMC meetings.