Pollock official puts bycatch impact on Western Alaska runs at 1.9%

Bering Sea pollock salmon bycatch reduces Western Alaska salmon returns by 1.9% on average, according to Nicole Kimball of the Pacific Seafood Processors Association, who spoke at a Resource Development Council breakfast forum Thursday.

"There's 100% monitoring required by law," Kimball said, citing cameras on every trip, a shoreside salmon census and genetic stock sampling. About half of Chinook bycatch originates from Western Alaska stocks; chum bycatch from the region averages 15%. The fleet also uses hard caps, required Chinook excluders (a chum excluder is in development), rolling hotspot closures and a genetics lab in Dutch Harbor funded by the Bristol Bay community development quota group, which also funds Western Alaska communities.

A 2026 measure would cap Western Alaska chum bycatch at 45,000 fish near the Alaska Peninsula from June 10 to Aug. 31, closing parts of 20 statistical areas if that cap is exceeded. The measure awaits approval from the Commerce Department and would not take effect before June 2028.

Groundfish fisheries had killed 12,065 Chinook salmon by June 18, with 84% of that bycatch coming from pollock trawlers, according to the Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission. The Yukon River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission calls the proposed cap insufficient as subsistence closures continue on the river. Ocean Conservancy says the limit is both too high and too narrow in geographic scope.