between bottom maps and sonar and hooks that can be trolled at any level -
with a sort of airplane plus weights arrangement - and legal limits on net
sizes (length and depth), it is now possible to both count salmon more
efficiently and also to capture an appropriate percentage while leaving
enough escapement for the next generation under ideal circumstances. ocean
temp changes and more ruthless foreign fishing in russian zone and escaped
farm salmon from bc (mostly atlantic salmon that are easier to grow in fish
farms but could spread diseases to wild salmon or interbreed with unknown
effects on survival, instincts, etc all pose unknown risks. they do less of
the 10 mile long drift net fishing as some of it - even in the open ocean -
is now illegal.
obviously, none of the high seas salmon fishing makes any sense
biologically as the fish are happy to return under their own power to the
stream of their birth and are in excellent condition on arrival and could
easily be held in a big corral trap net with appropriate percentage
released into stream and the rest sent really fresh to market. but there is
such a big investment by so many small businessmen in fishing for salmon
withcommercial and sport boats and shore nets that such a change would
never work. the last time a big trap net and fish wheels were used in above
fashion the seattle folks owned most of it and so when ak became
independent state they wrote against fish traps and fish wheels in ak state
constitution. i believe natives can still use fish wheels.
the biggest problems are trawling which collect all sizes of fish and
disrupt the sea bottom life like crabs and juvenile fish by dragging huge
heavy nets across the bottom - and the factory boats that both waste and
throw back any fish they aren't licensed to catch such as halibut or which
they have no ready market for or which don't fit into their fish handling
routines or equipment and there is increasing pressure to reduce this
terrible waste which i believe is more wasted tons as unused bycatch than
fish retained and prepared for sale. of course, the big buck players are
still out of seattle and also norwegian in big factory ships. so there are
new laws to give a certain percent of catch to seashore villages and to
shore-based processors that hire local villagers and so on.
salmon, however, are only caught in gill nets or purse nets from boats or
from shoreline gill nets at high tide. i think they are not much bothered
by trawlers that drag more deeply or maybe salmon are fast enough to flee.