Fishing is a key issue in Alaska's tight U.S. Senate race

In Alaska's closely watched Senate contest, a dispute over salmon and industrial fishing has become a central theme, with the outcome potentially helping decide which party controls the chamber. Salmon that Indigenous communities have depended on for generations are no longer reaching some Western Alaska rivers, and regulators frequently shut the Kuskokwim River to fishing, even for families harvesting food for themselves. Evon Waska, who lives along the river, says trawlers are spared while his people are restricted first, according to NPR.

The trawlers in question are large pollock vessels, part of a $1 billion industry largely based in Seattle. Their nets also sweep up king salmon and other species by accident, which is known as bycatch. Republican Senator Dan Sullivan, long friendly to the industry, now promotes a bill he describes as the most comprehensive bycatch measure ever. Democratic challenger Mary Peltola, who is Indigenous and from the Kuskokwim, would ban factory trawlers and calls his bill an election-year ploy. Heather Mann, who leads a trawlers association, says science shows removing pollock fishing would barely help salmon. Trawlers report 40,000 Alaska salmon caught this year. In Kwethluk, tribal president Mary Nikolai hopes the race draws attention to the danger her community faces.

Summarized by PolitiKool from NPR’s reporting. Read the full story at NPR →