Karl began fishing in 1981 after finishing an MS in Oceanography at the University of Alaska. He eventually owned and operated a gillnetter in Bristol Bay for 20 yrs. In 1994, Karl’s company, Sea State, Inc developed an approach to bycatch management incorporating observer data and mapping technology that is now used by most trawl fleets in the Bering Sea and the whiting fleets operating in Washington and Oregon. To enable rapid assimilation and turnaround of commercial catch and bycatch information, Sea State uses federal observer data, vessel shoreside catch landings data and vessel satellite location data to help fleets achieve full harvest with minimal bycatch of unwanted species. Sea State also develops time-and-area closures to reduce salmon bycatch in the Bering Sea pollock fishery and monitors compliance with such closures using VMS (satellite vessel monitoring systems) for Bering Sea pollock harvesting cooperatives. Sea State also maintains a confidential database and web site for trawl and longline fleets operating in Alaska and the Pacific states to facilitate cooperative harvesting agreements.