A controversial 2023 court ruling ordering the closure of commercial trolling for king salmon, or chinook, in Southeast Alaska has been lifted.
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals partially reversed a lower court ruling stemming from a lawsuit brought by a Washington state conservation group hoping to protect an endangered population of killer whales. A three-judge panel decided that shutting down the fishery is the wrong prescription for the whales’ survival.
When judges Mark Bennett, Anthony Johnstone, and Milan Smith Jr. heard oral arguments for the case on July 18, they expressed sympathy for the Southeast communities that would suffer severe economic consequences from losing the fishery.
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