Alaska's salmon collapse and the trawler fight

The Senate Commerce Committee advanced Sullivan's Bycatch Reduction Act. Alaska's full congressional delegation introduced the first version in January 2026, with what SeafoodSource called 'an exclusive focus on supporting research and development.' Sullivan introduced the current version in June as its sole sponsor. It would set a performance standard for pelagic, meaning mid-water, trawl gear. It would require seafloor-contact detection systems and salmon excluder devices, and impose transparency mandates on the North Pacific council. SeafoodSource reports that part of the bill's stated goal is to ensure 'mid-water nets do not operate like bottom-trawl gear.' Four Democrats on the 26-member committee voted no, including Washington's Maria Cantwell, whose state hosts much of the pollock industry. Three pollock associations objected in a joint statement that moving fishing higher in the water column 'will increase encounters with salmon.' Sullivan said he hoped for a full Senate vote as early as the week of September 21. The House was in recess until after the November 3 election.