Demand a limit on chum salmon trawl bycatch

Photo by Brooke Woods

Add your name

Currently, trawlers can bycatch an unlimited amount of chum salmon

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council (NPFMC) will take final action and select a preferred alternative to implement management measures to reduce chum bycatch by the Bering Sea pollock trawl fishery in their Feb. 2-11, 2026 meeting.

  • The average annual bycatch by the Bering Sea pollock trawlers from 1991-2025: 182,252 chum salmon

  • The highest year of chum salmon bycatch was 2005, when the trawlers caught 710,800 total chum (1911-2025)

  • Since 2011, over 615,000 WAK chum salmon have been caught as bycatch in the B-season by the Bering Sea pollock trawl fishery.

    While not all reported chum salmon bycatch are from Western & Interior Alaska, on average, about 19% of the annual total chum salmon bycatch is from WAK rivers.

Ask of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council – impose a hard cap of 100,000 chum salmon (Alt 2) as well as a corridor cap and closure of 50,000 (Alt. 5 Opt. 1).  While this doesn’t go far enough to stop the bycatch of chum salmon, this combination of alternatives is the only option in front of the Council with meaningful measures for chum salmon savings. Sign the petition below