Southeast trollers can fish for king salmon this summer after all.
A federal appeals court ruled that the Southeast Alaska king or chinook troll fishery can open on time this summer, July 1st.
The Northern Journal reported today [06/21] that the ruling reverses a lower court order that would have kept the $85 million industry off the water for the season. The court panel said they based their decision on “the certain and substantial impacts” of closing the harvest outweighing the “speculative environmental threats”.
The Wild Fish Conservancy — a Washington-based conservation group — sued to shut down Southeast’s king troll fishery three years ago. They argued that allowing the harvest to continue would harm a declining population of orca whales in Washington’s Puget Sound that rely on eating king salmon.
The Wild Fish Conservancy is also pursuing Endangered Species Act protections for several populations of king salmon across Alaska.
