We support the US District Court decision to halt the Southeast Alaska troll fishery

The decision will allow tens of thousands of Chinook to return to their home rivers and provide food to endangered Southern Resident killer whales along the way.

Update: On June 21, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeal, overturned this decision. Read the update.

This letter was written by Raincoast Wild Salmon Program Director Misty MacDuffee in support of the US District Court decision to halt the Southeast Alaska troll fishery during the summer and winter seasons. The SEAK troll targets migrating Chinook, over 90% of which are not salmon from Alaska.  As fisheries close in Canada and the Pacific Northwest due to low salmon abundance, and we grapple with difficult measures to ensure Chinook prey is accessible for endangered Southern Resident killer whales, Southeast Alaska’s fisheries continue unrestricted because they do not bear any consequences from harvesting these fish.  The consequences are borne by hungry killer whales and communities outside of Alaska.

Read the full letter

To: US Courts for the Ninth Circuit
Dear members,

I write on behalf of the Raincoast Conservation Foundation to express our support for implementing recovery measures for endangered Southern Resident killer whales. This includes our support for the US District Court decision to halt the Southeast Alaska troll fishery during the summer and winter seasons. This decision enables tens of thousands of Chinook to survive this interception fishery and migrate through Alaska. Many of these migrating Chinook (destined for rivers in British Columbia and the lower US states) will pass through the feeding grounds of Southern Resident killer whales.

Since 2015, Raincoast has been working with a team of international scientists to examine effective recovery measures for Southern Resident killer whales. Our modeling shows that increased Chinook abundance can improve survival of Southern Residents to the point of either stabilizing or slowly growing their population. These scenarios are even more powerful when combined with other measures to reduce vessel noise and disturbance.

British Columbia has taken important, yet difficult, steps in its efforts to recover Southern Resident killer whales. Fishing restrictions include Chinook salmon time and area closures that support prey rebuilding, and seasonal recreational fishing closures to reduce prey competition. Canada has also established a network of sanctuaries where whales can feed without the presence of vessel traffic, and increased restrictions on whale watch vessels to limit their noise and disturbance on foraging whales.

In addition to efforts to constrain fisheries for killer whales, Chinook fisheries in British Columbia are constrained by the low abundance of domestic stocks of threatened and endangered Chinook. While domestic measures of fishery closures support Chinook rebuilding, threats to Chinook include catch in Alaskan fisheries. Closure of the Alaskan troll fishery is therefore a welcomed initiative to support domestic rebuilding, in addition to its benefits to whales.

BC’s domestic fishing constraints, combined with the catch limits set under the Pacific Salmon Commission, should ensure that the increases in south migrating Chinook liberated from the Alaskan troll fishery will pass through northern BC to reach feeding grounds of SRKW in southern BC.

Alaska has a long history of intercepting migrating populations of Chinook and other salmon that are destined for rivers in BC and the Pacific northwest states. Increasingly, intercepted Chinook can be from threatened and endangered wild populations that are the focus of significant recovery efforts in BC. In several places in BC, fisheries, including food fisheries for First Nations, are closed with boats tied up to docks because of low abundance. Yet just over the Alaskan border, these same at-risk populations are caught with no restrictions.

It is very bold for Alaska to state that it should be allowed to continue its unrestrained access to non-Alaskan Chinook salmon that are prey for endangered whales or that aid recovery of endangered Chinook populations in BC. In the case of both the whales, and at least a dozen Chinook populations, these are animals facing extinction.

To address the status of these killer whales, Canada has committed over $120 million in the last 6 years to support recovery efforts for Southern Residents. They have further committed $640 million through the Pacific Salmon Strategy Initiative to support recovery of wild salmon runs. Canada is making this investment because of the importance of these whales and fish to Canadian culture, society, and economy.

In 2022, the Southeast Alaskan Chinook troll generated 2.2% ($16.2 million exvessel value) of the salmon revenue in Alaska ($720.4 million). If this revenue must be maintained, Alaska needs move its fishery to the inside waters of SEAK and capture its own domestic salmon. Doing so would stop compromising the recovery of salmon and whales that are part of Canada’s cultural heritage.

Sincerely,
Misty MacDuffee
Wild Salmon Program Director Raincoast Conservation Foundation

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Coastal wolf with a salmon in its month.
Photo by Dene Rossouw.