Among the more notable issues, a trio of proposals (170, 171 and 172) would constrain pink and chum production from salmon hatcheries. Two of the proposals are from the Kenai River Sportfishing Association.
Another trio of proposals (163, 164 and 165) would appear to make life tougher for trawlers. The proposals are from an organization called the Alaska Healthy Habitat Alliance.
Proposal 163 would define all trawls operating in state waters as bottom contact gear. Proposal 164 would "establish bottom contact monitoring requirements for pelagic trawl gear."
The Alaska Whitefish Trawlers Association hates these trawl proposals, commenting in a letter to the board:
There seems to be an assumption that trawlers operating in the Gulf of Alaska and Prince William Sound regularly put their pelagic nets on the bottom. This is not accurate. The seafloor in the GOA and PWS are rocky, and our pelagic nets are relatively delicate. Contact with the bottom (or sunken shipwrecks) shreds our nets, requiring time-consuming and expensive repairs or replacement, and lost fishing time. On average a pelagic trawl net alone for our members costs $110,000, and we are not going to intentionally damage an expensive piece of gear.
18 comments:
Shocker, the group supporting these proposals are all grant funded.
https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/static/regulations/regprocess/fisheriesboard/pdfs/2025-2026/state/rcs/rc035_Alaska_NGO_Watch_Comments_on_Prop_163-165.pdf
Trawler bs has to stop you're towing your nets on the bottom, everyone knows it. Any idiot with bottom mapping can avoid the snags in the goa "When the debate is lost, slander becomes the tool of the loser,"
Hahaha. Who's really slinging the bs? Less than 0.1% of the gulf is trawled on bottom. Any idiot with a map knows it's too rocky for pelagic gear. When the facts are bad, lies and emotion become the currency.
Prove it. If you know that you don't tow on the bottom then share how you know that. "Because I didn't rip my net up" doesn't count
You're asking the wrong question. The question is is bottom contact having a negative impact on habitat. And that answer is no. The fishing effects model, which assumes contact 100% of the time, proves that.
KMXT reports the Kodiak fleet pauses pollock fishing as the Board of Fisheries considers trawl proposals:
https://www.kmxt.org/news/2026-03-18/kodiak-commercial-trawlers-pause-fishing-while-board-of-fisheries-considers-trawl-proposals
Where can I find research on Bottom Trawling in Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska? Has NOAA done this research?
You can start with Essential Fish Habitat https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/alaska/habitat-conservation/essential-fish-habitat-efh-alaska
Here are some other studies:
https://www.globalseafood.org/advocate/fisheries-in-focus-busting-misconceptions-about-bottom-trawling-and-its-environmental-impacts/
https://www.globalseafood.org/advocate/fisheries-in-focus-busting-misconceptions-about-bottom-trawling-and-its-environmental-impacts/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34983873/
https://academic.oup.com/icesjms/article/80/6/1567/7226311
Here is a study showing that the frequent storms in the Bering Sea cause more harm than trawling https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1405454111
Thanks for info 2:47
What about the thousands of pots that are dragged along the bottom every day when fishing for cod or crab. Anyone that pot fished knows the pot doesn’t come off the bottom when you start hauling. Especially in shallower water. What about the thousands of pots dropped on top of piles of crab each day? You think a 6-700# pot doesn’t kill them? What about longline? You’re crazy if you think there’s no bycatch. With a 9 month fishery there’s damn little ground that’s not fished. Probably the dirtiest fishery out there. Ask the ALFA lady how much coral comes up on a long line hook at times. You really need to understand the other fisheries before you point all the blame to trawling. I’m not talking thru my ass either. I participate in all these fisheries.
Meanwhile this Board whacks the Cook Inlet salmon fishery on an out of cycle agenda change request.
The issue for me is the trawlers keep lying about it. We all have bycatch and bottom contact but the trawlers keep going up there and saying that if they touched bottom their $100k dollar nets would explode etc. just admit it then we can have a honest conversation about the impacts and what can be done about it. Unlike trawling polluck it's going to be very hard to catch a crab in a pot without bottom contact
You're the one lying. There is seafloor contact in the Bering Sea. This has been known since the 90s when the pelagic gear definition was created. In the Gulf, there is very little, if any contact beacuse of where the fishing occurs. Second, habitat management already estimates and assumes contact and finds that there is no adverse impacts. Don't say you want an 'honest conversation' when you clearly have no intent of doing so.
None of the hatchery and trawl proposals passed, as indicated in the board's summary of actions:
https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/static/regulations/regprocess/fisheriesboard/pdfs/2025-2026/state/psoa_3-21-26.pdf
While voting to take no action the trawl proposals, the board did resolve to call a meeting of the Joint Protocol Committee to consider trawl issues included in the proposals. The committee is comprised of three Board of Fisheries members and three North Pacific Fishery Management Council members.
How many square miles is .1% of the GOA?
From Alexus Kwachka, a Kodiak resident, Bristol Bay fisherman and former member of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council's Advisory Panel:
"Assigning these habitat and bycatch proposals to the Joint Protocol Committee is a clear do-nothing dodge. The council has known for four years that pelagic trawls were dragging the bottom and they have done nothing to stop that. The board could have shown leadership here in protecting Alaska's fisheries. Instead, they are bowing to the trawl industry and federal fisheries managers."
Here's an Ocean Conservancy press release:
https://oceanconservancy.org/newsroom/press-release/2026/03/21/alaska-trawlers-evade-accountability/
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