Sullivan's bycatch bill advances from Senate committee

The Senate Commerce Committee advanced Sen. Dan Sullivan's Bycatch Reduction Act by voice vote Wednesday, sending the amended bill toward possible consideration by the full Senate.

The committee record identifies S. 4938 as advancing with a Sullivan substitute, as modified. A summary from Sullivan's office says the bill would establish performance and monitoring standards intended to keep midwater trawl nets off the seafloor, require salmon-excluder devices, expand genetic sampling and ecosystem research, and reauthorize NOAA's Bycatch Reduction Engineering Program.

Committee approval is not enactment. The Senate has not passed the bill, and the House has not acted on it.

The vote followed a Kodiak fisheries debate between Sullivan and Democratic challenger Mary Peltola. Sullivan described the bill as a response to Alaskans seeking stronger bycatch standards, monitoring and enforcement. Peltola has called for broader restrictions, including limits on bottom trawling, protections for Bristol Bay and tribal representation on the North Pacific Fishery Management Council.

The bill now awaits any further action by Senate leadership.