Fishing captain Sam Wright grapples with a unique challenge: halibut. Despite targeting other fish, federal rules prohibit keeping halibut caught in their nets. To reduce unintended catches, vessels like the Unimak use escape hatches and sort out halibut on deck. However, large-scale trawling in Alaska has historically impacted halibut populations. Last year, over three point nine million pounds of halibut died after encounters with trawl nets. In response, a federal fishery council has imposed tighter limits on the bottom trawl fleets halibut take, contributing to a downsizing of the fleet.
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