Last Frontier News

(Anchorage, AK) – The 9th U.S. Court of Appeals today halted implementation of a U.S. District Court decision that would have shut down the Chinook fishery in Southeast Alaska for the summer. Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy, Attorney General Treg Taylor and Department of Fish and Game Commissioner Doug Vincent-Lang react to the Court’s decision:

Governor Mike Dunleavy said, “The 9th Circuit got it right when it found that Alaska’s fishing interests outweighed the “speculative environmental threats.” There’s a gauntlet of obstacles before the Chinook reach our fishery. The ruling comes just in time so that our commercial troll fishers in Southeast have a season. And we are grateful for it.”

“This is great news for Alaska and Southeast. The Ninth Circuit recognized the absurdity of closing down a vital economic industry for an issue that is already being remedied by the federal government. Thanks to the 9th Circuit, fishing season is on come July 1,” said Alaska Attorney General Treg Taylor.

“We are pleased that the 9th Circuit agreed to allow the Southeast Alaska troll fisheries to operate this season. We are incredibly proud of the coalition formed to defend our fisheries. I want to thank all involved,” said Doug Vincent-Lang, Commissioner of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game

Read the former press release: Alaska to Appeal Bitter Ruling on Southeast AK Chinook Fishery by Federal Court in Washington

Read the five-page ruling: Stay here.

Wildfish Conservancy, a Washington nonprofit, argues that the troll fishery for Chinook, also known as king salmon, harms a population of 73 endangered orca whales that live off the coast of Oregon, Washington and British Columbia.

Alaska has argued in its filed pleadings that the Southeast commercial Chinook troll fishery has little effect on the listed species, especially considering the gauntlet of predators between the fishery and the identified pod of whales. “Shutting down the Southeast Alaska salmon fisheries would have negligible, if any, impact on the Southern Resident Killer Whale, as any Chinook not caught in Southeast must travel some 700 miles past Canadian commercial and recreational fisheries, tribal fisheries, Northern Resident Killer Whale, and Steller sea lions, which are also predators of large Chinook, and Southern U.S. fisheries to reach the Southern Resident Killer Whale.”

For more information contact Senior Attorney General Laura Wolff at Laura.Wolff@alaska.gov and Senior Attorney General Aaron Peterson at Aaron.Peterson@alaska.gov or Rick Green, Special Assistant to the Commissioner, ADFG, at Rick.Green@alaska.gov 

Original source can be found here