Seafood sustainability group Ocean Wise has removed its recommended designation from southeast Alaskan salmon fisheries.
The Vancouver-based organization says there are questions about the impact of the fisheries on chinook salmon as they head south toward British Columbia, and the effect on the southern resident killer whales that feed on the fish.
The decision means chinook salmon caught by purse seine, drift gillnet and troll fishing in southeast Alaska can no longer carry the Ocean Wise label.
B.C. conservation groups the Watershed Watch Salmon Society, SkeenaWild Conservation Trust and Raincoast Conservation Foundation said in a statement Thursday they are “very pleased” by the decision.
The groups had raised objections to the Alaskan “interception fisheries” that they say target migrating salmon whose home rivers are in B.C., Washington, Oregon, and California.
Chinook salmon caught in a variety of B.C. fisheries retain the Ocean Wise recommended designation as a result of a report issued in May.