Federal fishery managers have approved a new chum salmon bycatch limit, but tribal advocates say it leaves too much of the burden on subsistence communities.
Kawerak says federal action on chum salmon bycatch in the Bering Sea pollock fishery does not go far enough for Western Alaska tribes.
The organisation, which serves tribes in the Bering Strait region, issued its statement after the North Pacific Fishery Management Council took final action on new measures intended to reduce Western Alaska chum salmon bycatch in the Eastern Bering Sea pollock fishery.
The Council approved a Western Alaska chum salmon bycatch limit connected to a closure area in the pollock fishery, along with changes to salmon avoidance measures used by the fleet. The action is meant to reduce the number of Western Alaska-origin chum salmon caught incidentally by pollock trawlers.
Kawerak said the decision falls short of what many tribal advocates, rural residents and salmon-dependent communities requested.
According to Kawerak, chum salmon bycatch in the Eastern Bering Sea pollock fishery has averaged about 250,000 fish a year since 2011. In the proposed conservation corridor, Kawerak said annual chum bycatch has averaged about 164,000 fish, including Western Alaska chum, Gulf of Alaska chum and Asian hatchery chum.
Those figures matter because many Western Alaska communities are already living with severe salmon declines. Families that have depended on salmon for food, culture and seasonal life have faced closures and restrictions, while industrial fishing continues offshore.
For Alaska Native communities, salmon are not only a resource category. They are food, law, kinship, trade, ceremony, teaching and memory. A child learning to cut fish is not simply learning food preparation. They are learning a relationship to land, water, family and responsibility.
That is why bycatch decisions made in federal fishery meetings can reach deep into village life.
Kawerak said nearly 200 people testified during the Council process, with rural Alaska residents, tribal representatives, fish commissions and tribal regional nonprofits making up the majority of testimony. The organisation supported stronger action: a 100,000 chum bycatch cap across the pollock fishery, a 50,000 cap inside the conservation corridor and stronger regulation of industry avoidance measures.
The Council chose a narrower path. Its February 2026 action established a limit focused on Western Alaska chum salmon and a corridor closure connected to the Bering Sea pollock fishery. The Council said the measure is intended to change fleet behaviour and reduce interceptions of Western Alaska chum salmon during migration.
Kawerak’s objection is that the limit is too limited. The organisation said the Council’s decision does not create a hard cap across the full pollock fishery and does not fully address bycatch outside the corridor. Kawerak also warned that the adopted structure could still allow high levels of chum bycatch before stronger consequences take effect.
There is a long history behind this disagreement. Alaska Native communities have repeatedly had to fight for subsistence needs to be treated as central, not secondary, in fish and wildlife management. Federal and state systems often describe fisheries through numbers, allocations and economic sectors. Native communities often speak from a different place: the river, the smokehouse, the freezer, the elders, the families that know what a failed run means before it reaches a report.
The Bering Sea pollock fishery is one of the largest commercial fisheries in the world. Chum salmon, by contrast, move through a much older economy of use and responsibility. When subsistence fishing is restricted while industrial bycatch continues, the conservation burden is not shared evenly.
That imbalance is the heart of Kawerak’s statement.
The issue also shows the limits of treating bycatch as accidental. A fish caught by mistake is still a fish that will not reach a river. It will not feed a family. It will not spawn. It will not return in future years.
NOAA’s environmental review considered management measures to reduce chum salmon bycatch in the Bering Sea pollock fishery. The Council’s final action now moves through the federal process.
For Western Alaska tribes, the question is whether the final rule will reflect the urgency they brought into the room.
Kawerak’s message is plain: tribal voices called for meaningful action, and the adopted measure does not yet meet that standard.
Sources
Kawerak — Tribal Voices Call for Meaningful Action on Chum Bycatch: https://kawerak.org/press-release-kawerak-region-tribal-voices-call-for-meaningful-action-on-chum-bycatch/
North Pacific Fishery Management Council — Western Alaska Chum Salmon Bycatch Limit: https://www.npfmc.org/notice-of-council-action-western-alaska-chum-salmon-bycatch-limit/
NOAA Fisheries — Bering Sea Chum Salmon Bycatch Management Draft Environmental Impact Statement: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/resource/document/draft-environmental-impact-statement-and-regulatory-impact-review-proposed
