Comments on the Alaska Troller Association’s White Paper (“AWP”) concerning Wild Fish Conservancy’s lawsuit affecting the Southeast Alaska Chinook Salmon Troll Fishery

We respond to the AWP to inform the general public regarding the nature of our litigation and the reasons why the Southeast Alaska (SEAK) Chinook troll fishery is the focus of the litigation. In addition, we note several basic falsehoods and mischaracterizations regarding the importance of Chinook abundance to the survival and recovery of the ESA-listed endangered Southern Resident killer whale (SRKW) population (also referred to under the ESA as the SRKW DPS (“distinct population segment”).

Our focus is to provide a general and factual perspective on the substantive issues for the interested public, both in and outside of southeast Alaska, that is being mischaracterized by the AWP and related actions of the Association.