Alaska lawmakers are adding their voices to the chorus seeking new limits on the Bering Sea trawl fleet.

A dozen representatives and senators from around the state have sent a letter to the chair of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council. They’re asking for a 50 percent reduction in the amount of halibut that trawlers can take as bycatch.

Regulators have been putting less halibut up for harvest in the Bering Sea over the past few years, out of concern for the stock. As a result, longliners have seen their individual fishing quotas dry up.

But groundfish trawlers have continued to take large amounts of halibut on accident -- seven times as much as the commercial halibut fleet, in some areas.

Concerns about the size of that commercial harvest drove the North Pacific Council to consider an emergency cap on bycatch this winter. The measure failed by a narrow margin. But the council will consider new caps on bycatch again this June, when they meet in Sitka.