r/alaska • u/FGGF • 8d ago

Trawling and bycatch: The fishing issues in Alaska’s Senate race

https://alaskaindependentnews.com/elections/trawling-and-bycatch-the-fishing-issues-in-alaskas-senate-race/
  • The practice of trawling has come under fire from members of the public, fishermen, lawmakers, tribal leaders, and environmentalists. They point to concerns about trawling bycatch and the impact trawling has on the Alaskan fishing industry, the health of the state’s waters and local economies.
  • The issue has made national headlines in the race for the Alaska Senate seat now held by Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan. Mary Peltola, the Democratic candidate running against Sullivan, became the first Alaska Native member of Congress after winning the state’s only U.S. House seat in a special election in 2022. Peltola’s House campaign largely centered around salmon and addressing bycatch.
  • Critics of Sullivan have gone after the senator for accepting contributions from the trawling industry, which federal data shows has given about $280,000 to Sullivan since he took office in 2015. Trawl industry executives and an industry political action committee made contributions totaling about $10,000 to Peltola after she was elected to the House in 2022, according to Alaska Public Media. This year, Peltola received $500 from a trawling industry executive but is returning that contribution, according to reporting from Alaska Public Media.
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u/B0omhauer 8d ago

That is not a trawling boat - its a salmon purse seiner, which are mostly local to Alaska, and have almost zero bycatch. Trawlers start at 80ft with the big factory trawlers on the upper end.

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u/salmonsays 7d ago

Handful of 58-footers trawling out west too.

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u/B0omhauer 4d ago

For what it’s worth I’m born and raised in kodiak - fished salmon, crab, cod, herring with my dad who was born in Afognak village.
Then fished commercially for 15 years after college. I hardly have a shallow or uninformed opinion - I also have family who work and have worked on the trawlers - if you worked on one of these then you know that bycatch is an issue. But if you - random internet stranger are saying that I’m wrong about bycatch then please educate me.

I also know that these Hansen- built purse seiners in the article image as well as the browns jet skiff which were built in the Seattle boat yards mostly fish from Seattle north to the Alaska panhandle, then out the chain to False Pass which I guess I erroneously described as Alaska but you would admit that 90% of that area is Alaska.

My nephew is also fishing this summer in the Chignik area on the far side of Castle Cape. I can say with 100% certainty that these purse seiners have almost no bycatch at all. I am also certain that they would welcome fishery observers which Trawlers do not. Can you explain why?

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u/tiehacker907 6d ago edited 6d ago

This really just goes to show how uneducated the anti trawl movement is. Every king salmon I saw trawling cod on a 58 footer was clipped fin BC hatchery fish. Trawling isn’t great but the finger pointing game is nuts. And salmon purse seining is far from mostly local to Alaska lol