Alaska Beacon
By James Brooks
August 16th, 2024
A three-judge panel at 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has overturned a lower-court decision that could have temporarily halted troll fishing for salmon in Southeast Alaska.
The appellate court decision, announced Friday, clears the way for the region’s troll fishery to continue. It had been threatened by a lawsuit from the Washington-based Wild Fish Conservancy, an environmental group.
The group filed suit in 2020, arguing that National Marine Fisheries Service rules applied to the fishery were inadequate when it came to protecting endangered killer whales that live in Puget Sound.
A U.S. District Court judge in Washington state agreed with the group, ruling in May 2023 that the biological opinion — a document that underpins fishing rules — was inadequate. Southeast Alaska’s troll fishery would be shut down as a consequence.