Halibut Petition

Fishermen’s Finest delivering petition against halibut bycatch decreases to Washington state governor

March 31, 2015, 5:33 pm Undercurrent News (photo by Fishermen's Finest)

Washington state-based Fishermen's Finest, which fishes Alaska groundfish, is delivering its petition against the halibut fishery to Washington state governor Jay Inslee on Tuesday, company president Dennis Moran told Undercurrent News on Monday.

The petition includes 23,000 signatures, which the company gathered in 17 days, supporting its aim of convincing the governor to stop the North Pacific Fishery Management Council (NPFMC) from imposing proposed decreases -- ranging from 10% to 50% -- to the halibut bycatch allotment for Alaska groundfish fleets.

The company expects the bycatch decreases to have a devastating one-to-one impact on revenue for Amendment 80 flatfish fishing operations in the Bering Sea.

In other words, if the 50% halibut allocation limit went through, companies would see flatfish revenues sink by 50% on average over the course of several years. 

"This reallocation will cause a handful of Alaska fishermen to gain an additional $44 million over the next ten years but will cause the loss of $1.2 billion and 4,900 jobs in the Washington state fishing and shipbuilding industry," the company says in a petition.

Pictured above/below are Fishermen's Finest crew processor Andrew Wilt and Capt. Rick Loan:


Delivering 23,172 signatures to the honorable Governor Jay Inslee of Washington State.

Read More on this issue (content gathered by FF): 

Fishermen's Finest ~ a team of excellence ~ our name says it all. 

 

Ship's Blogarchive172 signatures, 23, Amendment 80, Andrew Wilt, Fishermen's Finest, Halibut, Kristian Uri, petition, protect A80 halibut, Rick Loan, safest catch, Safest Catch dot Net, SafestCatch-net, Undercurrent