Pacific whiting fishery suddenly on hold due to chinook and rockfish bycatch
SEAFOODNEWS.COM by Peggy Parker Oct 16, 2014
Fisheries managers from two states are meeting today to determine if and how the Pacific whiting fishery can continue in the face of unexpectedly high bycatch of dark blotched rockfish and chinook salmon.
An announcement is expected today to restrict the fleet from fishing within a 100-fathom line to protect chinook salmon, likely the same genetic stock as the huge Columbia River run this year.
The “lightning strike” of dark blotched rockfish was as unexpected as it was huge. The mothership sector of the Pacific whiting fleet caught four and a half metric tons of rockfish in two hours last Saturday, triggering an immediate and voluntary closure.
The fleet still has over 21,000 mt of Pacific whiting quota uncaught...
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