Tanana Chiefs Conference and the Yukon River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission signed on to an effort to ask the fisherman of Area M to stand down from fishing in order to minimize bycatch of Yukon River bound salmon.
In June 2010-12, the Area M purse seine fleet voluntarily forewent participation in the first commercial salmon opening of the season to prevent interception of chum stocks passing through the Alaska Peninsula region en route to natal streams in the Arctic-Yukon-Kuskokwim (AYK) Region. Considering recent failures to meet minimal chum salmon escapement goals within the AYK Region, the loss of subsistence and commercial harvest of chum salmon on the Yukon River in 2021, and dire chum salmon harvest projections for 2022, the Bering Sea Fishermen’s Association, together with the undersigned organizations, asks the Area M purse seine fleet to stand down during all June commercial salmon openers to prevent the interception of AYK-bound chum stocks.
See the Full Letter to President Kiley Thompson of the Area M Seiners Association.