Peltola releases Alaska fisheries platform anchored in factory trawling ban

Senate candidate Mary Peltola released a fisheries platform Tuesday that would ban factory trawling, create tribal seats on the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, and lock in the current makeup of the federal subsistence board, framing the proposals as urgent relief for fishermen and communities facing collapsing salmon runs.

Peltola, a former U.S. representative, lifelong fisherman, and former fishing boat captain, cited a collapse in salmon return rates as the driving urgency. She said the rate has fallen from six fish per spawner to fewer than one, and argued the decline is driven by out-of-state factory trawlers, excessive bycatch, and destruction of Alaska's fisheries.

"Alaska deserves a senator who cares more about fish stocks than their stock portfolio," Peltola said on her campaign Substack.

The platform, which Peltola framed as part of a broader "fish, family, freedom" agenda, also calls for robust fishery disaster funding for Alaska fishermen and communities, expanded use of electronic monitoring technology to detect bycatch in real time, and enforcement of National Standards 8 and 9 to reduce bycatch. The trawling plank includes keeping mid-water trawlers off the bottom to further reduce bycatch.

The economic planks call for federal grants to build a fish by-product economy, increased mariculture funding, fully funded fish stock assessments, and a ban on federal finfish farm permitting. Peltola previously secured more than $500 million in federal funding to support Alaska fisheries during her time in the U.S. House.