The Sitka-based Northern Southeast Regional Aquaculture Association board voted March 1 to provide up to $75,000 toward legal expenses to help fight a lawsuit that threatens to shut down the Southeast commercial troll fisheries.
The 22 members at the board meeting gave unanimous approval to the contribution to the Alaska Trollers Association, said association general manager Scott Wagner.
The aquaculture association manages hatcheries and salmon run enhancement projects as far north in Southeast as Haines.
The Wild Fish Conservancy, a Washington state-based nonprofit, filed a lawsuit in 2020 against the National Marine Fisheries Service to force a new management plan aimed at protecting the southern resident killer whales, which spend part of the year in Puget Sound. The group wants the orcas to have access to an increased share of king salmon originating in the Pacific Northwest, a solution that threatens the viability of the troll fishery in Southeast Alaska.
The case is before a U.S. District Court judge in Seattle, waiting for the next ruling.
The Sitka Borough Assembly has approved $25,000 in funds toward the trollers association legal expenses, and other Southeast communities, seafood companies, fishermen and individuals have made donations. The Wrangell assembly approved a resolution of support but declined to contribute toward the legal expenses.
The Alaska House of Representatives passed a resolution on a 35-1 vote March 2 that calls on the federal government to continue to defend Alaska’s fisheries, including the Southeast troll fishery. The resolution was introduced by Sitka Rep. Rebecca Himschoot, and targets the claims in the conservancy’s lawsuit.
“With overwhelming scientific evidence to the contrary, this suit seeks to hold the Southeast Alaska troll fishery responsible for the decline in southern resident killer whales, about 1,000 miles to the south,” Himschoot said.
In the lawsuit, the Wild Fish Conservancy claims that the National Marine Fisheries Service did not properly account for the effects the Southeast troll fishery had on the southern resident population of killer whales and salmon that spawn in Washington and Oregon, in violation of the Endangered Species Act. The group blames the Alaska fisheries for the decline in chinook availability and killer whale populations.
The Alaska Trollers Association and others argue that factors such as pollution and human population increases on Puget Sound are the more likely causes for the decline of killer whale numbers.
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