I found this to be interesting. Using 2021 forecast for harvest BC and AK will take as many GH Chinook as cross the bar. So I think a step in right direction but do not think this will work as it is just another truck load of BS to continue on. It will take a judge with a pair ( of something ) to put an end to the massive damage marine fisheries continue to do. To be honest this bit NOAA is proposing is insulting as they continue to dodge the issue of AK and BC.


https://www.king5.com/article/news/natio...08-7533d1b0fd11

NATION WORLD
Feds could restrict West Coast salmon fishing to help orcas
The fishing restrictions would extend from Puget Sound in Washington to Monterey Bay in central California when Chinook salmon forecasts are especially low.

Author: Associated Press
Published: 7:29 AM PDT June 9, 2021
Updated: 7:29 AM PDT June 9, 2021
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SEATTLE — Federal officials are proposing to curtail nontribal salmon fishing along the West Coast in especially bad years to help the Northwest’s endangered killer whales.

NOAA Fisheries is taking public comment on the plan, which calls for restricting commercial and recreational salmon fishing when Chinook salmon forecasts are especially low.


The southern resident killer whales — the endangered orcas that spend much of their time in the waters between Washington state and British Columbia — depend heavily on depleted runs of fatty Chinook. Recent research has affirmed how important Chinook are to the whales year round, as they cruise the outer coast, and not just when they forage in Washington's inland waters in the summertime.

The fishing restrictions would extend from Puget Sound in Washington to Monterey Bay in central California, and they would be triggered when fewer than 966,000 Chinook are forecast to return to Northwest rivers. The last time forecast Chinook returns were that low was in 2007.

The restrictions would include reducing fishing quotas north of Cape Falcon in Oregon; delaying the start of the ocean commercial troll fishery between Cape Falcon and Monterey Bay; and closing parts of the Columbia River and Grays Harbor in Washington and the Klamath River and Monterey Bay to fishing much of the year.

If NOAA Fisheries adopts the plan as recommended by the Pacific Fishery Management Council, it would be one of the first times a federal agency has restricted hunting or fishing one species to benefit a predator that relies on it.


Credit: Wirestock - stock.adobe.com
A orca whale jumping out of the sea in Vancouver Island, Canada
There are 75 orcas in the three pods that make up the southern resident orca population. The whales have in recent years been at their lowest numbers since the 1970s, when hundreds were captured — and more than 50 were kept — for aquarium display. Scientists warn the population is on the brink of extinction.