Canada Fishing Info

In recent years, the fleet of about 100 pollock trawlers has intercepted record numbers of salmon bound for rivers in Canada, the Pacific Northwest, Asia and Alaska. King salmon “bycatch” - fishing jargon for the unintentional capture of a species - in the Bering Sea pollock fishery rose last year to a record 122,000, up from a five-year average of 57,333. The problem has gotten so bad that the management council, a federal body that regulates the region’s fisheries, expressed tentative support recently for an unprecedented proposal to temporarily close the Bering Sea pollock fishery if king salmon bycatch exceeds a certain number. The corporations that dominate Alaska’s billion-dollar pollock industry say a limit on salmon bycatch would put a damper on pollock numbers and increase the cost of fuel by forcing boats to move more frequently, according to Stephanie Madsen, a former council chair and now executive director of a pollock trade group, the At-Sea Processors Association. read more

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