Trawlers are seen in Unalaska on Sept. 24, 2013. Trawlers use nets to harvest pollock and other groundfish species in the Bering Sea; the ships’ incidental catch of river-bound salmon puts the pollock industry in conflict with commercial and subsistence fishermen in Western Alaska. (Photo by James Brooks)
The Alaska Legislature is considering proposals to ban bottom trawling in state waters as a way to protect salmon and the seafloor.
In recent years, popular social media campaigns have opposed trawling and its links to bycatch, the taking of salmon and halibut as fishers target other species. Meanwhile, trawlers have come out vocally in support of the industry, focusing on its economic benefits for Alaska while seafood processors and other stakeholders struggle.
Access to salmon is a highly charged and emotional issue in Alaska. It is tied to jobs, food security and Alaska Native culture.
A persistent salmon crash in the Yukon River has been linked to climate change, overfishing and salmon from hatcheries competing with wild salmon for food, among other causes. However, anti-trawl campaigners have focused their ire on trawling and bycatch, arguing that is the main culprit for the salmon crisis.
Now, conservative politicians, tribal leaders and conservation groups have formed unlikely alliances that seek to limit bottom trawling, a form of fishing where open nets are dragged along the seafloor to harvest fish like pollock.
Tok Republican Sen. Mike Cronk and Big Lake Republican Rep. Kevin McCabe introduced bills last year to end bottom trawling and dredging in state waters, starting in 2028. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game would also be tasked with filing a report in 2027 that details the impacts of trawling in Alaska.
State officials estimate it would cost roughly $3.9 million to construct surveying equipment and conduct the trawling study.
Cronk told fellow lawmakers last week that the goals of his legislation are twofold: protect the ocean floor habitat and access to salmon for Alaskans.
‘Salmon is our identity’
Federal regulators have responded to a salmon crash in the Yukon River by banning Chinook salmon fishing for seven years. Chum salmon bycatch has also been limited in the Bering Sea.
Brian Ridley, chief/chairman of the Tanana Chiefs Conference, represents 18,000 people in Interior Alaska. Since 2020, he said TCC has purchased more than 120,000 pounds of salmon to replace lost food for tribal members. Ridley said it had cost the tribal consortium up to $2 million per year.
Beyond a critical source of subsistence, Ridley told legislators about the essential cultural nature of salmon for Alaska Native communities on the Yukon River.
“Salmon is our identity,” he said.
Bottom trawling largely takes place off the coast of Alaska for pollock in the Bering Sea. Large trawling ships, often based out of Seattle, can harvest around 3 billion pounds of pollock per year.
State officials estimate that more than 90% of bottom trawling for pollock in the Bering Sea occurs in federal waters, which suggests a state ban on the practice may have a limited effect.
At a recent Senate Resources Committee hearing, Cronk wore a bolo tie with a sockeye salmon clasp. He acknowledged trawling is not widespread in state waters. But he said banning bottom trawling would send a message to federal fisheries managers about the importance of salmon in Alaska.
“We’re putting Alaskans first and the resource first,” he said.
Trawl industry boosters point to billions of dollars in economic activity and thousands of jobs created by the fishery. They have also highlighted research that suggests only a small portion of salmon bycatch caught by the Bering Sea fleet are headed to the Yukon River.
Still, the issue of bycatch remains divisive.
The Senate Resources Committee received over 1,000 pages of public testimony for Cronk’s bill — much of it opposed to trawling from people who forwarded an online letter drafted by Alaska Community Action on Toxins.
Former Democratic U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola of Alaska won a U.S. House seat in 2022, campaigning to limit bycatch among other issues. She continues to support protecting fish as a central part of her platform as she campaigns for the U.S. Senate this year.
At her annual address to the Legislature in March, Republican U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski spoke about the “crisis” impacting Alaska fisheries and the need to reduce bycatch. She said salmon run collapses could not be attributed to one factor, citing the impacts of climate change.
Murkowski urged lawmakers to be cautious about “demonizing one sector of Alaska’s fisheries” in trawling.
“And while it is easy and often appropriate to point fingers at Seattle, we have to remember that many Alaska towns and villages are suffering after losing their fleets and processing plants,” she said. “Life isn’t necessarily better without them.”
No canneries
In general, bottom trawling is not widely practiced in Alaska state waters — areas of the ocean that are 3 nautical miles from the shoreline. But there are some state fisheries where it does occur, including scallop and shrimp fishing across Alaska, state officials said.
Patrick O’Donnell, president of the board Alaska Whitefish Trawlers Association, told legislators that trawling is a key aspect of seafood processing year-round in Kodiak. He said that around 280 Kodiak families would be impacted by the ending of scallop and shrimp trawling.
In recent years, major seafood processors have closed plants in rural Alaska. O’Donnell said that when he started fishing in Kodiak in 1990 there were 13 canneries. Now, there are three, he said.
“I see a future where we might not have any canneries,” O’Donnell said.
Cronk, who represents Interior Alaska communities, told lawmakers that it wasn’t his intention to end shrimp or scallop fisheries and that he could support amendments to the bill.
However, Cronk and McCabe’s bills could go further than prohibiting bottom trawling. Their legislation states fishing gear that makes “substantial” contact with the seafloor would be included in the new ban.
Commissioner Douglas Vincent-Lang of the Department of Fish and Game told legislators last week that could impact “pelagic” trawl fishing, where nets are used to target fish higher in the water column.
Findings in 2022 suggest pelagic trawl fishing routinely sees nets make contact with the seafloor.
Vinent-Lang said the bill could end trawling for pollock in Prince William Sound. Last year, that fishery became a flashpoint between supporters and opponents of trawling when the Alaska Board of Fisheries heard proposals to limit the practice.
After heated testimony, state regulators allowed pollock trawling to continue in Prince William Sound. Conservation groups, tribal leaders and industry boosters have continued to lock horns since then.
At last week’s Senate Resources Committee hearing, industry supporters testified against Cronk’s bill. They said Alaska’s state regulator for fish allotments — the Alaska Board of Fisheries — was the proper venue to debate methods of fishing.
In response, Cronk said he would prefer that the Alaska Department of Fish and Game and the Board of Fisheries manage the state’s fisheries for the benefit of Alaskans. But he said “the fact is, they’re not doing that.”
The Senate Resources Committee has heard Cronk’s bill twice since it was introduced in April last year. The House Fisheries Committee has not heard McCabe’s bill.
The 2026 legislative session must end by midnight of May 20.
