Alaska laments decline of prized salmon populations

In his Alaskan community, fisherman Bob Candopoulos has long welcomed tourists to his business that is showcased by a sign featuring a king salmon.

However, this local fish emblematic of the region is growing increasingly rare.

“Ten years ago, we could go out every single day” and hit catch limits, the sports fisherman and charter boat operator said. “Now sometimes we’re lucky if we even find any salmon when we’re out there fishing.”

Workers unload halibut from a boat in the fishing town of Seward, Alaska, on Nov. 5.

Photo: AFP

“It’s terrible,” Candopoulos said on the docks of the small port of Seward, Alaska.

Like many residents, Candopoulos blames massive trawlers that scour the Gulf of Alaska and the Bering Sea for impacting the king salmon runs.

Industrial vessels target pollock, which is used in products such as breaded fish sticks and imitation crab products worldwide.

Their nets are as wide as four commercial airliners, and routinely scoop up thousands of tons of fish other than pollock each year.

This bycatch includes salmon, which then die in the ocean instead of returning to spawn in their native rivers.

The waste is particularly difficult to bear because salmon fishing has been severely restricted — and even outright banned — for years among the indigenous communities along the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers.

“Our rivers are running dry of fish, but the trawl industry isn’t regulated to stop killing them,” Candopoulos said.

Most of the trawlers are based in Seattle, Washington state — and roughly two-thirds of the economic output generated by the pollock fishing industry ends up outside Alaska.

“Alaska is definitely being preyed on by a billion-dollar industry,” Candopoulos said.

This inequity fuels distrust in a region that has long witnessed the arrival of opportunists eager to exploit its rich resources, including beaver pelts, gold and oil.

Polling has indicated the majority of Alaskans are angry enough they would like to see trawling banned.

In Seward, fishermen are not necessarily calling for that extreme.

“I’m not necessarily on the ‘kill all trawlers’ wagon,” Chance Miller said.

Alaska has a significant fleet of local trawlers, some of which operate on behalf of coastal indigenous communities, he said, voicing concern over the economic implications.

“Towns are built around processors,” Miller said. “If those guys weren’t bringing fish in, those processors might not be able to afford to stay open.”

Science points to another culprit: climate change.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration research showed the decline in Chinook (king) salmon primarily stems from marine heatwaves in the Bering Sea, which renders the waters uninhabitable for the fish’s prey.

University of Alaska Anchorage natural resource economist Brett Watson said a trawling ban would have “unclear” impacts on salmon runs.

“Climate change has been identified as probably a larger contributor to the declines of salmon runs in on the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers,” he said. “That’s a much more difficult issue to deal with.”