It’s safe to say that most fishermen are willing to work with fair rules that protect their industry. It’s also safe to say that everyone bends those rules to a degree. But things have reportedly gotten out of hand on the Northline in Egegik this season. A dearth of fish has led some harvesters to fish over the line in hopes of getting better catches.
“There are boats .2 over the line,” says one Egegik fisherman. We’re not going .2 over the line for 40 more fish.”
The word in the bay is that an angry fisherman who was respecting the line posted a video of boats over the line on social media, and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) has responded by issuing an emergency order that is shutting down the fishery in the Egegik District for four days starting at 5:00 PM local time on July 25, “due to numerous fishing reports of illegal fishing in closed waters.”
According to the announcement, the Egegik District will reopen for set and drift netters at 9:00 AM on Monday, July 29.
“All you Egegik fish robbers need to confess and give all your stolen money to the poor, you shut down the district” Ivan Basargin posted on the Bristol Bay Jobs Rumors and BS Facebook Page, with laughing emojis. His post drew comments expressing more humor, but also frustration with the group punishment and some words for the boats that went too far over the line.
Tom Aliotti, a well-known boat builder who has been fishing the bay for many years, believes a number of factors contributed to the problem. “ADF&G says they don’t have the funds to enforce it every day, but a skiff and two guys and some gas it can’t be that much money,” Aliotti says. “When they’re not there and it’s the only place to catch fish guys push it. Then someone who would not normally go over the line is sitting there watching and getting frustrated—not able to catch fish- day after day watching other guys get away with it. They’re forced to get in there make a set or go home.”
According to Aaron Tiernan, the ADF&G biologist in Egegik, the Alaska Wildlife Trooper left the area, and due to no enforcement in place, some fishermen pushed the line. “There haven’t been a lot of fish this year, 6 million, and usually this district sees upward of 12 million and up to 18 million. I’ve been here since 2019 and there hasn’t been a year where I didn’t get reports of fishing over the line late in the season, but this year we were getting many more reports, it got out of hand.” Without targeted enforcement capacity, Tiernan notes, the only feasible option was to close the fishery temporarily.
