Thousands of Chinook salmon wasted by trawl fisheries

Thousands of Chinook salmon wasted by trawl fisheries

Source: thecordovatimes

2/25/2024

Credit: Kinsey Brown for The Cordova Times

A new Canadian government report on salmon bycatch in the Pacific region groundfish trawl fishery confirms that thousands of salmon were caught and discarded as bycatch in the groundfish trawl fishery off the coast of British Columbia, most of them Chinook salmon likely thrown overboard.

The report released by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) on Jan. 22 confirmed that an estimated 28,117 salmon were caught, killed and discarded as bycatch in the groundfish trawl fishery by Option A trawl license holders during the 2022-2023 fishing season, with Chinook salmon representing 93% or 26,273 of those fish.