Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan introduced an updated bill last month that would require new monitoring and bycatch regulations in the trawl industry, along with increased transparency for fisheries policymaking and data monitoring.
The proposed legislation was announced shortly after federal regulators requested more research on midwater trawl impacts, despite substantial calls for immediate regulation change.
Sullivan boasts a “robust toolkit” in his revised bill to decrease seafloor habitat contact and bycatch by midwater and bottom trawling in the Bering Sea, Aleutian Islands and Gulf of Alaska. The Bycatch Reduction Act would target pollock harvesters, implementing tighter monitoring requirements to ensure trawl nets stay off the ocean floor, according to a statement from his office.
The bill requires trawl nets to include salmon excluder devices, which are like emergency fire exits for salmon. If any get caught in the net, the devices are designed to let the fish escape while keeping the target species inside.
Sullivan’s office said the legislation will also improve public participation and transparency in regulatory processes through recorded meetings, expanded public comment opportunities and a review of conflict-of-interest processes.
At its June meeting in Vancouver, Washington, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council took up the long-debated and controversial topic of bottom contact by pelagic or midwater trawl gear. The federal regulatory board received over 100 public comments on the topic. Many of those requested the council implement tighter regulations or completely ban midwater gear in areas already closed to bottom trawling.
The council didn’t make any regulatory changes at the meeting, but asked for a discussion paper containing more research on ways to reduce bottom contact by midwater trawl gear.
Midwater trawl nets, often used in the massive pollock industry, differ from bottom trawl nets and are expected to spend less time on the seafloor. Still, despite being described as “midwater,” the gear does make some contact with the seabed and many stakeholders say it’s negatively affecting species like crab that inhabit the area.
The council moved to “evaluate and reduce bottom contact in pelagic trawl gear fisheries” specifically in areas in the Bering Sea and the Gulf of Alaska that are already closed to bottom trawling. They also recognized the pollock industry’s voluntary closures made to avoid Bristol Bay red king crab during the 2026 season and requested that the group continue those measures next year.
The council said there’s still not sufficient data about how much of a role midwater trawl gear plays in unobserved crab deaths. They say because of that, they will consider additional regulatory measures and plan to work with the pollock industry to learn more about how their trawlers affect crab populations.
Sullivan said his revised bill will improve the public’s access to the council’s meetings as well as data monitoring from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. He said he’s introducing the updated legislation in response to stakeholders’ requests to reduce bycatch and seafloor contact.
“I’ve heard from countless Alaskans—from subsistence harvesters to commercial and recreational fishermen, and from residents of coastal communities to upriver villages—who are rightfully demanding direct action to reduce bycatch and gear contact with the seafloor to better protect our fisheries,” Sullivan said in the statement. “Based on those numerous conversations and the important work of the Alaska Salmon Task Force, I’ve introduced the Bycatch Reduction Act.”
According to Sullivan’s office, it would also hold foreign seafood harvesters to the same sustainability standards as American vessels by “prohibiting unsustainable foreign seafood imports.” The bill requires foreign vessels selling seafood in the U.S. to operate under national standards comparable to those defined in the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.
The bill is an offshoot of a 2022 Alaska Salmon Task Force Act and adds some updates to a previous bycatch bill Sullivan introduced last year. It still has to pass the U.S. Senate and the House before heading to the President’s desk to be signed into law.
