The North Pacific Fishery Management Council is making progress toward controlling the incidental capture, or bycatch, of Chinook salmon in Gulf of Alaska pollock trawl nets.
How can we tell?
Check out this 295-page analysis posted this week on the council's website.
The analysis is a necessary step for meetings coming up later this month and in June, when the council could elect to impose a "hard cap" on the pollock fishery. That means the fishery would be closed down once a certain number of Chinook are taken as bycatch.
Chinook bycatch last year in the Gulf pollock fishery was an alarming 43,915 fish, according to the chart on page 21 of the analysis.
A hard cap, if approved, could be implemented in mid-2012.
The analysis says addressing Chinook bycatch in the Gulf is the council's highest priority.