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Fishery stories are often complicated and hard to summarize in a few sentences so I would like to clarify my remarks. Currently there are no directed fisheries allowed for skates in Southeast Alaska. There is a potential to allow a directed fishery under the terms of a commissioner's permit. However, it is unlikely that a directed skate fishery could be developed without significant problems of bycatch of halibut and other resources. Skates are also susceptible themselves to over-harvest given their life history and low reproductive rates. Longline fisheries for halibut, blackcod, rockfish and Pacific cod already take large numbers of skates as bycatch.

These skates are currently not utilized and are discarded at sea because there is no market for them in our region at this time. For these reasons the Alaska Department of Fish and Game encourages the use of bycatch of these skates and would support full utilization of skates by-caught in existing fisheries.

Tory O'Connell, Groundfish Project Leader

Alaska Department of Fish and Game

Sitka