bycatch

Federal fisheries regulators have set some limits on salmon chum bycatch in the Bering Sea. The highly debated – and long awaited – decision aims to protect declining salmon stocks while minimizing harm to pollock fisheries.

Subsistence communities in Western Alaska ask for strict limits on the Bering Sea trawl fishery.

The long-anticipated decision over pollock trawlers’ chum bycatch has seafood towns like Unalaska worried.

Alaska’s congressional delegation introduced legislation Wednesday that aims to reduce bycatch in parts of southwest Alaska using better marine data, technology and gear.

Delayed federal funding has pushed the North Pacific Fishery Management Council to cancel travel and shift its October meeting online, raising concerns about long-term oversight.

In its most recent meeting, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council said that funding and scheduling concerns could delay final action on chum bycatch until April 2026. The potential delay has been criticized by those who say that chum salmon crashes across Western Alaska, especially on the Yukon River, require swift action.

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council, which manages federal fisheries off Alaska’s coast, wrapped up its February meeting Tuesday, with one issue dominating discussions: salmon bycatch in the Bering Sea. The 15-member council unanimously approved a motion that inches forward a decision that will finally put to bed the issue of pollock trawlers’ chum salmon bycatch, which has become the biggest fisheries issue in over a decade.

The issue pits a multibillion-dollar industry against Western Alaska subsistence communities struggling with record-low salmon returns — with climate change in the background.

The National Marine Fisheries Service developed the regulations after a 2021 recommendation by the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council to limit bycatch from the groundfish fleet. Proponents say the limits protect halibut populations from the trawl group, which accounts for more than half of the halibut bycatch in the area. Groundfish Forum, which represents a group of large trawl catcher-processors, said this puts an unfair burden on their sector, while other fisheries in the region aren’t facing the same constraints. They also said the proposed cap is unrealistic because it’s too strict to implement, which they claim violates conservation laws.

Washington’s Democratic governor had advanced an ally of tribes and conservation groups for appointment to the federal commission that manages lucrative fisheries off the Alaska coast, but the U.S. commerce secretary instead reappointed an official from a Seattle-based trawl company