Kodiak trawl fisheries fall under scrutiny

Published on October 15th, 2009

By BRISTOL BAY TIMES STAFF

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council last week received new photos showing high numbers of tanner crab on a trawl vessel fishing for groundfish. According to a news release from the Alaska Marine Conservation Council, the photos were taken by crew on an undisclosed trawl vessel operating off Kodiak Island last summer. The news release said the photos reveal a level of wasteful bycatch considerably higher than what has been reported to fishery managers through the standard catch monitoring system.

During the last five years Kodiak Island fishermen and Alaska Marine Conservation Council have submitted proposals to the federal fishery body to reduce tanner crab bycatch and protect seafloor habitat. A letter to federal fishery managers signed by 100 local fishermen was submitted for this meeting once again urging action on crab bycatch.

"These pictures are truly worth a thousand words. They demonstrate a problem more clearly than the statistical analysis that has so far masked a significant problem," said Alexus Kwachka, a Kodiak fisherman who delivered the photos to the North Pacific Fishery Management Council. "Our goal is to protect the crab that support our local small boat fishery."

The news release said the federal fishery managers voted Oct. 6 to evaluate a range of potential management measures including expanding no-trawl zones to exclude bottom trawl operations from areas of biological importance to tanner crab.

"We appreciate today's decision to pursue new conservation measures. The tanner crab fishery is important for the diversified local fishing fleet on Kodiak Island and so it's important to consider the amount of bycatch as well as the seafloor habitat that crab and other species need to thrive," said Theresa Peterson, Kodiak fisherman and Alaska Marine Conservation Council coordinator.

According to the news release, a problem in Gulf of Alaska fisheries management is a lack of catch monitoring. Vessels from 60 feet to 124 feet in length fishing around Kodiak Island are required to carry certified observers 30 percent of the time. This lack of information may have masked a problem in the trawl fishery, which drags gear on the sea floor.

AMCC says there is also crab bycatch in vessels fishing cod with pots and a similar lack of data describing the amount of bycatch. To address their contribution to overall bycatch, fishermen are developing mechanisms in pot gear design to allow crab to escape before the gear is hauled to the surface.