As we’re getting ready to pack this year’s hook-and-line caught king salmon harvest into boxes for our premium subscription members, we wanted to provide an update on the lawsuit that threatened the sustainable small-boat summer Southeast Alaska commercial fishery.
In August 2024, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals partially reversed a lower court ruling regarding a lawsuit from a Washington state conservation group aimed at protecting endangered Southern Resident killer whales. The three-judge panel determined that shutting down the Southeast Alaska fishery would not effectively contribute to the whales' survival and acknowledged the significant economic impact such a closure would impose on local communities, particularly fishing villages and Alaska Natives. In 2023, the court previously stayed the lower court ruling just before the summer troll season, allowing fishing to continue while leaving the fishery's future uncertain.
This is a huge win for Southeast Alaska small-boat trollers, as king salmon constitutes around 40 percent of their total harvest by value. It’s also important for the fishing industry as a whole — many of the processors are on the edge of going out of business, and it’s hard to make it as a fisherman these days. Losing access to king salmon would be a finishing blow to many.
The optics of fighting against a conservation group that is trying to protect king salmon does not look good, but that’s not the whole story. Trollers are usually aligned with conservation groups around protecting freshwater habitat and supporting in-season management which buoys international, coast-wide management of the species, both of which allow for more sustained salmon runs. We harvest using responsible fishing methods like hook-and-line, which limit bycatch — the unintended capture of other species — and do not degrade marine habitats. We feel this lawsuit was misguided in targeting a small section of the total harvest of king salmon and that there are so many other factors involved with healthy salmon populations, not to mention other reasons for the decline of the Southern Resident killer whales.
While the recent ruling alleviates immediate concerns for the fishery, it does not settle all issues. Fishermen and processors know the fight isn’t over, but they can rest assured that their king salmon season will continue next season as it has for the last 100+ years. Fundamental to our values-driven business is a commitment to responsible fishing practices and the short and long-term health of marine ecosystems that we rely on. We strongly value the interconnections between the health of the communities where fishermen fish and the ongoing health of the resource.
