Alaska Senate race heats up over salmon bycatch

Salmon have long sustained Indigenous communities in western Alaska, but the fish are increasingly absent from the rivers that feed those villages. This scarcity has become the central conflict in the state's tight U.S. Senate race.

In the village of Kwethluk on the Kuskokwim River, smokehouses that traditionally fill with drying fish stand empty. Evon Waska, who lives at the water's edge, points to racks that should be full but are bare. He blames industrial trawlers operating miles offshore for the decline.

Waska noted that government agencies often close local rivers to conserve fish, leaving subsistence fishers to lose out while industrial boats continue to operate. He stated, "They don't close the trawlers. They close me and my people first."

The dispute centers on a $1 billion pollock industry, much of which is based in Seattle. Trawlers use large nets to catch pollock, a white fish used in products like imitation crab. These nets also scoop up king salmon and other species by accident. This waste, known as bycatch, has angered Alaskans.

Pollock trawlers reported catching 40,000 Alaska salmon so far this year. While this number represents a small percentage of the total pollock harvest, it has become a major political flashpoint. Fish are now a common subject in political ads across the state.

Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan has positioned himself as an ally of the pollock industry. This year, he is promoting a new bill designed to reduce bycatch and protect seafloor habitat. Sullivan called the measure "the most comprehensive bycatch legislation ever to reduce bycatch, protect seafloor habitat."

Democratic challenger Mary Peltola, who is Indigenous and from the Kuskokwim region, proposes banning factory trawlers, the largest vessels in the fleet. She criticized Sullivan's legislative efforts as a late campaign tactic. Peltola said, "Dan Sullivan reeled in over $300,000 from trawlers and waited until the 11th hour for a half-hearted and half-baked solution."

Heather Mann, who leads a trawlers association, argues that blaming the pollock fishery ignores scientific data. She stated that even if pollock fishing were eliminated, the impact on restoring salmon runs would be minimal according to current science.

In Kwethluk, tribal president Mary Nikolai observed that many local smokehouses have gone unused during the summer. She described the situation as a slow trend that is closing out the local workforce. Nikolai hopes the close Senate race will draw national attention to the threat facing these communities.

President Trump has sought to preemptively block election results in Alaska if the Republican incumbent loses. Regardless of the final outcome, the fight over salmon has defined the campaign for residents who depend on the fish for their livelihoods and culture.