SITKA, ALASKA
Anyone who held a hand or power troll permit in 2009 is eligible and has been sent a pre-printed application from the state’s Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission.
The Pacific Salmon Treaty is an agreement between the U.S. and Canada on the management of salmon. When it was renegotiated in 2008, Alaska’s share of the harvest was reduced by 15 percent. About $1.5 million was set aside to compensate Alaska trollers for the loss.
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Howard Pendell has been power trolling for most of his 35 years as a fisherman. He’s also on the Northern Panel that advises the Pacific Salmon Commission. He says the 15 percent reduction has impacts beyond the fish themselves.
“It’s the money they’d be spending around town, if they have a little extra, they’re able to do something with, help get kids through college, and whatever. So the thought was to just try to get some of that money directly back into their pocket.”
That money starts at $75 for anyone who held a hand troll permit in 2009. For power trollers, the payment begins at $150. From there, additional money is added on for those who actually commercially harvested a fish, and then again based on an individual’s percentage of the total Chinook salmon harvest from 2009.
Pendell says the money will help, but that he’d rather have the fish:
“I don’t think there’s any way to compensate for the loss of fish. Fishermen have never asked for money. And they didn’t ask for it this time. We really wanted the fish.”
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