Small pink salmon runs and a more efficient fleet have prompted the Southeast Alaska seine fleet to consider a permit reduction that would buy out 36 of the 315 existing permit holders.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recently announced that Congress had approved the buyout request, which was submitted earlier this year by the Southeast Revitalization Association.
The buyout would come from a 40-year federal loan of USD 10.4 million (EUR 9.2 million) to be paid back by remaining permit-holders via a landings tax.
Susan Doherty is the executive director of the Southeast Alaska Seiners Association (SEAS), an organization that represents permit holders in the fleet.
“It’s pretty obvious in recent years that seiners are getting less time and area to fish, and one reason is because of the low pink salmon returns," Doherty said. "We’ve also become more efficient, and it doesn’t take the same amount of permits to be able to harvest the excess to escapement."
Fishermen will vote on the plan over a 30-day period starting 15 January, 2019, and Doherty says her organization believes a fleet reduction is everyone’s best interest.
“If we can remove some permits, we can get more time on the water and have a more viable fishery for those who remain in it,” she said.
Doherty said SEAS is working hard to encourage fishermen to vote, and added that any ballots not returned will automatically count as a no vote.
In 2011, NOAA bought out 64 Southeast Alaska seine permits for USD 13.1 million (EUR 11.6 million) after Congress approved a loan of USD 23.5 million (EUR 20.8 million), the remainder of which would be used for the current proposal.
Pink salmon run every other year, and the last two pink seasons have been historically low in Alaska. In 2016, a harvest of 18 million pink salmon prompted the federal government to declare disaster in the fishery. This season, Southeast Alaska reported its lowest pink salmon harvest in four decades, and the salmon fishery only averted disaster with the help of hatchery chum salmon.
