Banning trawl gear in some state waters to protect crab, and creating new requirements for pelagic (mid-water) gear in Alaska waters will be addressed by the state Board of Fisheries (BOF) at its supplemental meeting set for March 17-21 in Anchorage.
Citing increased factory trawl activity in the Aleutians region, Proposal 11 seeks to close waters to commercial pelagic and non-pelagic trawl groundfish gear west of 170° W. longitude to protect golden king crab habitat.
“We are concerned about increased factory trawl activity in Aleutian Islands golden king crab habitat and the associated impacts to the resource,” the proposal states…