Image: ANS

Alaska Pollock fisheries groups share methods for avoiding bycatch

UNITED STATES
Monday, April 10, 2023, 02:00 (GMT + 9)

The following is an excerpt from an article published by Alaska's News Source:

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - Pollock fisheries groups shared some of the methods they have been using to prevent the accidental taking of bycatch salmon to the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council’s Advisory Committee (NPFMC) on Thursday.

Developing a Salmon Excluder for the Pollock Fishery. Image: Seagrant

During the presentations, two groups shared technological, area-based and incentive-based ways of mitigating the effects of bycatch.

One of the methods the Inshore Salmon Savings Incentive Plan team used was a camera system that has a full view of the deck monitoring crew activity.

Source: NPFMC

“You can see if salmon were being discarded so you know that the salmon accounting that’s happening at a plant where 100% of them are counted is 100%,” Advisory Committee member Chelsae Radell said.

Usually, vessels will have federal observers on the deck of a pollock vessel to monitor bycatch. But Radell said that these cameras are more efficient due to being able to monitor all areas of the deck at all times.

A representative from the At-Sea Processors Association shared a technological method that actively prevents bycatch.

“The last component that we’re working on is to continue to apply and refine excluded devices and see if we can get more salmon out of the net after they’ve already been captured,” said Austin Estabrooks, a natural resource analyst with the At-Sea Processors Association.

Salmon excluder devices are holes in trawl nets that are specially made to allow salmon to escape while keeping pollock in the net.(continues...)

Author/Source: Joe Kinneen/ Alaska's News Source | Read the full article by clicking the link here

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