Alaska Senate Race: Fishermen and trawlers clash over declining salmon runs

Alaska voters face a tight U.S. Senate contest where the state's struggling salmon population has become the central economic and cultural issue. The race pits incumbent Republican Dan Sullivan against Democratic challenger Mary Peltola, with both candidates focusing heavily on how to manage the state's fisheries. The dispute centers on whether industrial trawling is harming the subsistence fishing practices that sustain communities in Western Alaska.

Evon Waska, who lives at the water's edge near the Kuskokwim River, says his drying racks are empty this year. He blames offshore trawlers for catching too many fish before they reach the river. Waska notes that government agencies frequently close the river to local fishermen to conserve stock, yet they leave the large industrial boats operating. He stated, "They don't close the trawlers. They close me and my people first."

The conflict involves a $1 billion pollock industry, much of which is based in Seattle. Trawlers use sock-shaped nets that are a quarter mile long with openings as wide as a football field. These nets target pollock, a white fish used in products like McDonald's Filet-O-Fish, but they also catch prized king salmon as bycatch. Alaskans report growing anger over this waste, with political ads in the state frequently mentioning the issue.

Senator Sullivan, a long-time ally of the pollock industry, is promoting a new bill to address the problem. He called it the most comprehensive bycatch legislation ever introduced to reduce waste and protect seafloor habitats. Peltola, an Indigenous woman from the Kuskokwim region, argues that Sullivan's bill is an election-year ploy. She stated, "Dan Sullivan reeled in over $300,000 from trawlers and waited until the 11th hour for a half-hearted and half-baked solution."

Peltola says she would ban factory trawlers, the largest vessels in the pollock fleet. In contrast, Heather Mann, who leads a trawlers association, says eliminating the pollock fishery would not solve the salmon decline. She noted that science shows removing pollock would have a minimal impact on restoring salmon runs. Trawlers report they have caught 40,000 Alaska salmon so far this year, which is a small percentage of their total harvest.

In the village of Kwethluk, subsistence fishing is the main occupation and a core part of the culture. Tribal president Mary Nikolai recently visited a neighbor's smokehouse that had been unused all summer. She said, "Most of the smokehouses are like this. And it's like a slow trend of closing our workforce out." Nikolai hopes the close race draws national attention to the threats facing these communities.

The outcome of the election could influence the balance of power in the U.S. Senate. President Trump has indicated he may attempt to block the results if the Republican incumbent loses. For now, the debate remains focused on the river, where families rely on salmon to feed their households and preserve their way of life.