Bottom Trawlers Face Renewed Scrutiny Amid Halibut Decline

For fishing captain Sam Wright, halibut are an unwelcome sight.
Wright runs the FV Unimak, a 185-foot trawl vessel, which uses large nets to scoop up — by the ton — yellowfin sole, Atka mackerel and other bottom-dwelling fish that are then headed, gutted and frozen at sea.
Federal rules bar the Unimak and other trawl crews from retaining any halibut, which are largely reserved for the commercial longline fleet, sport anglers and subsistence fishers. Some of the trawl-caught halibut do not survive their trip to the surface...
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