U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola, Alaskan Natives and family-owned fisheries are looking for a sea change in the fishing rights battle between local fishermen and industrial trawling fishing operations after a federal council recently denied a tribe-approved reduction in chum salmon catches.
In Western Alaska, local communities are experiencing a marked decrease in salmon populations.
The reasons for the decline remain a subject of intense debate between industry executives, conservation experts and subsistence communities. Many residents point to the Seattle-based trawler fleets operating in the Bering Sea, which, while fishing for pollock, inadvertently capture large numbers of chum salmon as bycatch.
The North Pacific Fishery Management Council, which oversees the regulations for fish caught in federal waters, recommended an annual bycatch total of 100,000 − well above the 22,000 limit the advisory council sought in a motion April 8. The pollock industry already has a hard cap restricting its take of Chinook salmon.
When asked about the council’s possible change of heart, Peltola, a Democrat who campaigned −and won − on the anti-bycatch platform, told USA TODAY she’s confident the U.S. government will find an equitable solution.
“I’m hopeful there will be a recognition that there are values measured in ways other than dollars and cents, communities are place-based and more than a group of people who work in fisheries,” she said. “And that it is, in fact, practicable to do better on bycatch.”
Peltola has been promoting sustainable fishery policies, including working with the Biden administration, which endorsed reviewing a limit lower than 200,000. The courts could reject the council’s final decision if studying alternatives is not considered.
Representatives of industrial trawling acknowledge the need to reduce bycatch but argue that climate change plays a role in the decline and that some of the recommendations preferred by tribes could cost them millions in operating costs but provide minimal fish for the affected communities.
The financial impact on the trawlers would also affect the Yukon and Kushokwin Native communities, which often live below the poverty line and directly benefit from the profits of the pollock harvest.
Coastal Villages CEO Eric Deakin said his company had done tests using different frequencies of light to attract salmon out of excluders to try to get more salmon to escape. He added that these types of technologies are being shared within the industry.
But not everyone agrees that industrial trawler companies are doing enough to save the wildlife population.
“Conservation continues to rest on the backs of tribes,” said Brian Ridley, chair of the Tanana Chiefs Conference, in public testimony to the fishery management council earlier this month.
Senior Ocean Scientist at Oceana Jon Warrenchuk stressed the importance of reducing industrial interactions with salmon so they can mature at sea and return to spawn in the rivers. “Alaska is the last stronghold of wild salmon runs in North America.”
While the fishery management council and pollock industry leaders attribute the chum declines partly to climate change, the equation is complicated. Describing modern conditions that affect Alaska salmon populations, Warrenchuk said, “We’re relying on production from only a couple of systems; that’s when there is a greater chance of random effects that cause the population to plummet.”
The council is required to select an alternative and take a vote by December 2024. While the federal government considers its next step, the impact of bycatch and sustainability on Alaskan fishing communities remains undeniable.
“The consequences of inaction are severe, as tends of millions of pounds of various species of halibut, salmon and other fish are in rapid decline, impacting every corner of our state,” said Jake Almeda, chief of staff to Republican state Rep. Sarah Vance.