Two Alaska Tribal Organizations Seek an Overhaul of Pollock Trawling Management in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands

Two Alaska Tribal Organizations Seek an Overhaul of Pollock Trawling Management in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands

The federal lawsuit challenges fisheries management that fails to address climate change and unlawfully permits pollock trawlers to catch thousands of salmon as bycatch annually

Contacts

Elizabeth Manning, Earthjustice, (907) 277-2555, [email protected]

Kate Glover, Senior Attorney, Earthjustice, (907) 792-7133, [email protected]

Bob McNaney, Association of Village Council Presidents, (651) 249-7718, [email protected]

Taryn Calhoun, Tanana Chiefs Conference, (907) 452-8251 ext. 3570, [email protected]

The Association of Village Council Presidents (AVCP) and Tanana Chiefs Conference (TCC), represented by Earthjustice, will argue their case in U.S. District Court in Anchorage today in a legal challenge aimed at changing the way the pollock trawling industry is managed in Alaska and updating the environmental analyses that underpin those management decisions.

AVCP and TCC's lawsuit against the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), filed in April 2023, alleges that when NMFS set groundfish catch limits in 2023 and 2024, the agency unlawfully relied on outdated environmental studies and failed to consider ecosystem-wide changes over nearly two decades in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands.

NMFS regulations authorize the groundfish fisheries to harvest 4.4 billion pounds of pollock and other groundfish from the ocean each year, along with tens of thousands of salmon as bycatch. At the same time, subsistence fishing in western and interior Alaska has been severely restricted over the past decade or more due to poor runs of Chinook and chum salmon. Bycatch in the groundfish fisheries contributes to the collapse of salmon runs, preventing Tribes from fishing as they traditionally have for thousands of years.

AVCP and TCC collectively work on behalf of nearly 100 Tribes and communities in the Yukon-Kuskokwim region. Following are statements from both organizations:

Brian Ridley, Chief/Chairman of Tanana Chiefs Conference said, "We must correct the way the National Marine Fisheries Service manages the natural resources they are responsible to protect. We are asking the agency to update the decades-old environmental studies that inform these critical management decisions so that sweeping changes to our climate and dramatic salmon declines are considered. The trawlers blame climate change for lower salmon numbers, so they recognize climate change, yet oppose updating the environmental studies or doing anything that affects their bottom line. It's not acceptable that the pollock fleet can keep trawling up salmon, crab, and halibut, and carry on without interruption, while the people who have responsibly cared for salmon and our precious natural resources can no longer fish as we always have, to sustain our lives and cultures."

AVCP Chief Executive Officer Vivian Korthuis said, "We appreciate the Court's attention to what has become a humanitarian crisis the likes of which Western Alaska has perhaps never experienced. Our people are suffering without the salmon as the agencies responsible for protecting our natural resources stand back and watch the devastation unfold. The time is now to bring modern research, environmental impact studies, and Native voices to the effort to restore salmon. The Court's decisions in the case will profoundly impact the lives of 100,000 Alaska Native people."

Additional Resources

• About the Alaska Office

About Earthjustice

Earthjustice is the premier nonprofit environmental law organization. We wield the power of law and the strength of partnership to protect people's health, to preserve magnificent places and wildlife, to advance clean energy, and to combat climate change. We are here because the earth needs a good lawyer.