Board considers trawl gear restrictions in Aleutian Islands state waters

The Alaska Board of Fisheries heard testimony Thursday on a proposal to restrict trawl gear in Aleutian Islands state waters. Habitat protection advocates squared off against fishing industry representatives and community development groups. The board deferred the proposal to a future Alaska Peninsula/Aleutian Islands/Chignik meeting.

The proposal would close state waters west of 170° west longitude to commercial groundfish fishing with bottom trawl gear on vessels over 100 feet. The restriction targets factory trawlers while protecting the small-boat fleet operating out of Kodiak and Sand Point.

Crab fisherman Kohler told the board his catch has collapsed. "In 2014, I caught 1.4 million pounds of golden king crab and pulled 29,442 pots in the Aleutians," Kohler said. "Last year I caught 300,000 pounds. The only thing that has changed in the last 10 years is us having to deal with factory trawlers coming in there."

Proposal author Linda Kozak modified her original language to affect only vessels over 100 feet. She said the change responds to concerns from the small-boat fleet while addressing factory trawler impacts.

"I believe firmly, based on conversations that I have had with the industry, conversations that I have had with scientists, conversations that I have had with factory trawlers, that the small boat fleet" has minimal impact, Kozak said.

Steve Minor, vice president of the Aleutian Development Corporation, opposed the closure. He said the nonprofit is negotiating to reopen a processing plant that would generate $7 million in state taxes over 10 years.

"Proposal 11 simply takes too much fish off the table and creates too much risk in the middle of these negotiations," Minor said.

Minor said the corporation holds 10 percent of Western Aleutian Islands golden king crab quota allocated under the crab rationalization program. The nonprofit serves the community of Adak, 1,200 miles west of Anchorage. He said reopening the plant would benefit the crab fishery by reducing backhaul costs to Dutch Harbor and providing local processing capacity.

Over 95 percent of Aleutian Islands waters are already closed to bottom trawling under federal management. Additional habitat conservation zones prohibit all bottom-contact gear. The remaining open areas represent about 2,200 square miles of state waters, according to Alaska Department of Fish and Game staff.

The state-waters Pacific cod season west of 170° west longitude currently limits trawl gear to vessels 60 feet or less overall length. The restriction took effect in 2023 and was reaffirmed in an emergency order opening the parallel season in February 2026. The board also received but took no action on separate proposals to define all trawl gear in state waters as non-pelagic and establish performance and monitoring standards.

Julian Manos, representing three 58-foot boats based in Sand Point, said the small-boat fleet depends on state waters for pollock and cod.

"In the winter, the majority of that fish is caught north of Sand Point in state waters," Manos said. "That is just where the best pollock seems to be at this time of year."

Manos said his boats stopped trawling from 2017 through 2025 due to market conditions. The 2026 winter season marked their return to fishing.

Emma Williamson, a fifth-generation fisherwoman, opposed the proposal. She said her family has devoted their lives to the fishing industry and long-term sustainability.

"The idea that we would knowingly harm the very resource that sustains us simply is not who we are," Williamson said.

A trawler operator said trawlers avoid bottom contact because net damage can require four or five days of repairs.

"If we touch bottom, you are looking, you know, it could be you could fix it in a day, but most likely, like, you are looking at a lot of, like, maybe four or five days if you really screw it, mess your net up," he said.

The committee hearing was part of the board's statewide finfish and supplemental issues meeting in Anchorage.