MY TURN: In Alaska, no fishery stands alone

Published 5:30 am Saturday, August 29, 2026

I grew up in the logging camps around Ketchikan, Alaska. In communities like those, an industry is never just a number in an economic report. It is the reason families can stay, schools can keep their doors open, stores can remain stocked and local governments can provide basic services.

I witnessed what happened when the Ketchikan Pulp Company mill closed in 1997. More than 500 people lost their jobs. Children went back to school and found many of their classmates gone because their families had to leave. Ketchikan and the surrounding communities adapted and rebuilt their economies, but it did not happen overnight.

That experience has stayed with me throughout my career. It’s why I believe we must understand the full consequences before speaking casually about eliminating or sharply restricting an industry that supports Alaska communities.

Today, that lesson applies to the public conversation surrounding pollock trawl fisheries.

Alaskans are right to care deeply about salmon. The loss of salmon returns in Western and Interior Alaska has caused real harm to food security, culture, family traditions and local economies. Bycatch matters, and it must continue to be reduced.

But responsible decision-making also requires us to follow the science and account for the entire system affected by a policy choice.

The pollock fishery is not an isolated industry operating somewhere beyond Alaska’s horizon. Between 2020 and 2023, pollock represented about 58% of Alaska’s seafood harvest volume. In 2025, the fishery supported more than 6,300 jobs in Alaska, generated $337 million in labor income and contributed approximately $832 million in statewide economic activity in 2023.

Zoom in on Kodiak, where pollock helps processors operate beyond the short summer salmon season. That year-round volume supports resident jobs, shipyards, fuel providers, transportation companies and the local tax base. It also helps preserve the processing and vessel capacity that other fisheries need.

Multigenerational family-owned boats can fish pollock early in the year, rockfish and flatfish in the spring, tender salmon during the summer and return to pollock in the fall. Pollock may account for half or more of a boat’s annual income. Without it, vessels could spend much of the year tied to the dock.

Severely restricting or closing the fishery would affect more than pollock production. Salmon fisheries would lose tendering capacity, processors would lose year-round employees, or shut down altogether, and local businesses would lose customers. Those effects extend to freight service and the cost of basic goods in coastal communities.

King Cove offers a sobering example. Fish-tax revenue, a major source of the city’s budget, has fallen by approximately 70% since the Peter Pan facility closed, forcing King Cove to eliminate positions, reduce employee pay and draw on limited resources to maintain essential services. In rural Alaska, the loss of a foundational industry can destabilize an entire community, even one that has spent years preparing, investing and building for the future.

The stakes extend across Western Alaska. The Community Development Quota program connects 65 communities to Bering Sea fisheries. Pollock is the program’s primary revenue source, supporting scholarships, workforce development, local fishing operations, infrastructure and other community investments.

In Alaska’s federal pollock fisheries, every salmon encountered is counted. NOAA requires extensive observer coverage, electronic monitoring and genetic sampling to identify where salmon originated.

Science does not support placing responsibility for the Yukon River chinook crisis on a single fishery. New NOAA-led research found that increased natural mortality during the marine life stage, associated with prolonged heatwaves in the Bering Sea, was a major driver of the recent severe decline. Researchers found no evidence that harvest or bycatch removals were significant factors in the population-level decline. In 2024, genetic analysis estimated that a total of 105 chinook caught as bycatch in the Bering Sea pollock fishery originated from Upper or Middle Yukon River stocks.

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council reports that bycatch accounts for less than 2% of Western Alaska chum mortality annually. In 2026, the council recommended a Western Alaska chum salmon cap and a migration-corridor closure. The fleet has also reduced chum bycatch by 90% over the past four years through avoidance measures, including real-time data sharing and vessel movement.

Alaska’s fisheries are considered a global model not because they have no impacts, but because they are closely monitored, publicly managed and expected to improve as science and technology advance. Sustainable fisheries and strong coastal economies are not competing goals. In Alaska, they depend on one another.

Before we reduce a fishery to a slogan, we should remember what an industry looks like from inside a community. It looks like a parent’s paycheck, a functioning harbor, a full classroom, reliable freight service and a young person who can imagine building a future in the place they call home.

Julie Sande is the Commissioner of Alaska’s Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development and a lifelong Alaskan. She is focused on building resilient communities and advancing economic opportunities across the state.