Sullivan introduces Bycatch Reduction Act targeting Alaska trawl fisheries

Sen. Dan Sullivan has introduced the Bycatch Reduction Act, legislation he describes as the most comprehensive bycatch bill ever introduced in Congress, targeting trawl gear impacts across the Bering Sea, Aleutian Islands, and Gulf of Alaska.

Sullivan introduced Senate Bill S. 4938 on June 25, 2026. The bill would reduce trawl gear impacts on bycatch and seafloor habitat in the Bering Sea, Aleutian Islands, and Gulf of Alaska. It would establish gear performance standards, seafloor contact detection requirements, and salmon excluder requirements. It would also improve North Pacific Fishery Management Council transparency and participation.

Sullivan described the bill's scope in a post on X: "My bill is the most comprehensive bycatch legislation ever introduced in Congress, with three clear objectives: protect Alaska's ocean habitat and fisheries, make bycatch monitoring and reporting more transparent, and reduce bycatch and habitat disturbances."

Sullivan said the Bycatch Reduction Act is an updated version of bycatch legislation he introduced last year and an expansion of his Alaska Salmon Task Force Act, which was signed into law four years ago.

The bill arrives as former U.S. Representative Mary Peltola, now a 2026 U.S. Senate candidate, has separately called for banning factory trawling outright. Peltola wrote on Bluesky that salmon return rates have fallen sharply, from six returning for every spawner to less than one, and that she has "a plan to save our salmon populations, restore our fisheries, and ban factory trawling."

Alaska fishing groups and tribes have argued that industrial trawl fisheries are damaging salmon runs, coastal livelihoods, and Alaska Native cultures, and that Congress should tighten gear rules and reduce bycatch. The bycatch debate is part of a broader, long-running policy struggle over how much bycatch and seafloor contact federally managed fisheries should tolerate while still supporting commercial harvests in the North Pacific.