By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
The State of Alaska and the Alaska Trollers Association filed an appeal Wednesday to undo a ruling in a U.S. 9th Circuit court that could shut down the Southeast Alaskan king salmon troll fishery this summer.
“Notice is hereby given that the State of Alaska, Defendant-Intervenor in the above-named case, hereby appeals to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit from the District Court’s Order Adopting Report and Recommendation,” the Department of Law wrote in a court filing Wednesday. The state and ATA are co-defendants in the case of Wild Fish Conservancy v. Scott Rumsey et al. The chief defendant is the National Marine Fisheries Service.
On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Richard Jones upheld a December 13, 2022, decision by a federal magistrate to require federal fisheries biologists and managers to redo the biological opinion that allows for the take of king salmon by the Southeast Alaska troll fleet.
The ruling is the latest action in a lawsuit by the Washington-based Wild Fish Conservancy alleging that the National Marine Fisheries Service incidental take statement unduly restricts the number of Chinook allowed to return to their native waters as prey for the endangered Southern Resident killer whales that spend part of the year in Puget Sound.
In Tuesday’s two-page ruling in the Wild Fish Conservancy case, Judge Jones wrote “the 2019 Southeast Alaska Biological Opinion is remanded to the National Marine Fisheries Service to remedy the Endangered Species Act and National Environmental Policy Act violations previously found by this Court (in December).”
The state and trollers decried the decision, as did a number of representatives in the Alaska Legislature.
“The decision to shut down the troll fishery based on a flawed biological opinion sets a dangerous precedent for managing fisheries by lawsuit rather than sound science,” Sitka Rep. Rebecca Himschoot said in a press release Wednesday. “The impact of the closure of the troll fishery will be felt not only by the fishermen and their families but also by the many small businesses and communities that depend on the industry.”
In the same announcement, House minority whip Louise Stutes, of Kodiak, echoed this sentiment.
“We are deeply disappointed in the ruling… which has the potential to devastate the Southeast Alaska troll fishery and the communities that depend on it,” Stutes said. “The troll fishery is a vital part of our state’s economy, and its closure would have far-reaching and long-lasting consequences for the thousands of Alaskans who depend on it. If allowed to stand, this could be the beginning of the end for commercial fisheries as we know it in Alaska.”
