Following a mid-March luncheon, a group of Wrangell residents launched a formal petition to challenge new shrimping regulations that closed the Southeast fishery from March 1 to April 30, and proposed legislation that they say could devastate commercial shrimpers.

The Wrangell Action Group (WAG) drafted the petition after members heard from numerous people worried about the future of their livelihoods. The petition is gaining momentum as it circulates through various communities across Southeast Alaska. As of March 27, it had gathered well over 100 signatures in less than one week.

The primary focus of the group’s opposition is Senate Bill 161, which aims to protect marine ecosystems by banning the use of trawl or dredge fishing gear “that makes substantial bottom contact with the seafloor.”

WAG co-founders Jim Freeman and Jake Harris argue the legislation is too broad and could unintentionally shut down sustainable fisheries that have operated responsibly for decades.

Specifically, the group is concerned that the bill lumps small-scale beam trawlers that harvest shrimp in with large-scale industrial operations.

“This is about the lifestyle of a handful of mostly smaller independent family-owned commercial fishing boats that have been lumped into the same group as the big commercial trawlers that damage the floor of the ocean,” Freeman said.

He noted that beam trawling for shrimp is a traditional fishery with roughly 25 permits in the region, characterized by smaller equipment and lower bycatch rates compared to the invasive methods used by larger vessels in Gulf of Alaska waters.

According to Freeman, much of the push to end the bottom-trawl fishery is fueled by a lack of public understanding regarding these technical differences.

“What we are working on doing with this petition is to bring to the attention of our communities, local and state government to look at this issue fairly, and using data that can be gathered and studied with scientific and logical analysis, to create a better plan than just to end the fishery altogether,” Freeman said.

“We’re all stakeholders in this community,” Harris added. “We need more people speaking up in a proper format.”

The petition highlights that most bycatch concerns, such as salmon caught up in trawl nets, stem from federal-water fisheries rather than state-managed waters.

WAG argues that “science should guide policy, not follow it,” noting that the legislation mandates a seafloor impact study but imposes a ban before the research is even finished.

The bill has not passed through its first committee since it was introduced a year ago and is unlikely to make it through Senate and House committees to passage in the final seven weeks of the legislative session.

In addition to the legislative challenge, the group is addressing the recent closure of the sport, commercial, personal use and subsistence shrimp fisheries in Southeast.

That closure, which began March 1 and runs through April 30, was adopted by the Alaska Board of Fisheries to protect shrimp during a biologically sensitive time when eggs mature and hatch.

The Department of Fish and Game has reported lower catch rates, prompting the closure to protect the shrimp population.

The next steps for the petition involve a strategic push to ensure these voices reach the decision-makers in Juneau. The Wrangell Action Group plans to submit the document to legislators, specifically targeting the Senate Resources Committee which is holding the trawl bill for further consideration.

By entering these signatures into the official public record, the group aims to provide lawmakers with evidence of regional opposition before any final votes are cast.

Furthermore, the petition will be shared with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game and the Board of Fisheries as formal public testimony to be considered for future management decisions, such as shrimp fishery closures.

The group also wants to ensure that when state biologists and Board of Fisheries members evaluate future shrimping seasons, they consider the economic and cultural impact these regulations have on the small-boat fishers of Southeast.