By Mark Thiessen And Audrey Mcavoy THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP)- A U.S. appeals court on Wednesday halted a lower court ruling that would have shut down southeast Alaska’s chinook salmon troll fishery for the summer to protect endangered orca whales that eat the fish. The ruling by a three-judge 9th Circuit Court panel means the summer chinook, or king, salmon season will start as usual next week for an industry that supports some 1,500 fishery workers in southeast Alaska. The opinion said the state and others who were part of the appeal established a sufficient likelihood that certain and substantial impacts of the lower court’s decision “outweigh the speculative environmental threats.” The ruling will allow the fishery to continue while the appeals court considers the lawsuit more broadly.

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