In The Ocean
BACKGROUND
Kuskokwim salmon of all species typically spend more than half of their lives in the North Pacific ocean, where they feed, grow, and mature before returning to the river to spawn. Elders from our region have described the marine environment – and the Bering Sea in particular – as the nursery that we send our salmon to until they are old enough to come home, and as the bowl that supports the food security, traditions, and culture of our region.
In recent decades, however, the Bering Sea and North Pacific have not been favorable to Kuskokwim salmon. Climate change – including marine heat waves and disappearances of food sources – industrial trawling, and large-scale commercial intercept fisheries are causing lasting negative impacts to the health and abundance of Kuskokwim salmon, especially Chinook and chum salmon. These impacts are magnified in the face of continued low abundance of these stocks.
Controlling climate change impacts is challenging, but reducing impacts from fisheries are directly under human control through different management entities. In times of Kuskokwim salmon shortages, all fisheries that impact stocks need to shoulder some of the burden to conserve and protect these fish. Restrictions to subsistence and commercial fishing in the Kuskokwim are only a part of this effort. Bering Sea trawl fisheries and the Area M commercial salmon fishery can be managed with conservation in mind – but until they are, the cumulative and largely unrestricted removals of Kuskokwim and other Western Alaska salmon stocks are the number one threat to our fish.
Bering Sea Bycatch & Trawling
Western Alaska Chinook and chum salmon – including salmon from the Kuskokwim – are caught as bycatch by industrial trawl fisheries in the Bering Sea. These include pollock trawl fisheries, which are responsible for more than half of all salmon bycatch in most years.
“Bycatch” is the term for fish that are not targeted, but are incidentally caught when fishing for other species (such as pollock). In federal offshore fisheries, bycatch species like salmon are managed as Prohibited Species Catch, meaning they cannot be sold; they can sometimes be donated, but usually are thrown back to the sea.
Only part of the annual salmon bycatch is of salmon from Western Alaska rivers, like the Kuskokwim. On average, about 50% of all Chinook salmon bycatch and about 20% of all chum salmon bycatch come from Western Alaska stocks. However, a new genetic baseline used to analyze 2024 and 2025 Chinook salmon bycatch unveiled that about 50% and 60% of the bycatch in the respective years were from Kuskokwim & Bristol Bay Chinook salmon stocks – indicating most Chinook salmon bycatch may be coming from our river.
Bycatch numbers are publicly available and are updated weekly. Find Chinook salmon bycatch numbers here, chum (“non-Chinook”) salmon bycatch numbers here, and other North Pacific bycatch reports here. Bycatch is reported by onboard human observers or by electronic monitoring equipment (primarily in the Gulf of Alaska).
On top of bycatch, trawl gear used in the Bering Sea contacts the seafloor – including the pelagic pollock trawl fishery, which for years has been known as a midwater trawl fishery. The cumulative impacts of pelagic and bottom trawl gear on seafloor habitat and ocean food webs are not well known. It is possible they contribute to poor salmon and ecosystem productivity.
Bering Sea (and Gulf of Alaska) commercial fisheries are managed by NOAA Fisheries Alaska Region, with input from the North Pacific Fishery Management Council (NPFMC). Learn about upcoming NPFMC meetings here, and find meeting archives here.
AREA M
Vessels in the South Alaska Peninsula, or Area M, commercial salmon fishery are known to harvest and sell migrating Western & Interior Alaska chum and Chinook salmon caught in their area. Recent genetic studies from this fishery tell us that about 25% of all chum salmon catches are from Western & Interior Alaska rivers, and over 20% of all Chinook salmon catches are from the Kuskokwim and Bristol Bay stocks specifically.
Area M is managed by pre-determined Fishery Management Plans set by the Alaska Board of Fisheries, and administered by the Alaska Department of Fish & Game. Find archived and upcoming meeting information online – look for “Alaska Peninsula / Aleutian Islands Finfish” meetings for Area M information.
In-season Area M harvests can be found on ADF&G’s website here. Note that harvests come from processor reports without any independent verification – so these are reports by the industry.
2026 Management: Because the Attorney General’s office recently disapproved the new management plan set by the Board of Fisheries in February, the Area M fishery is operating under its 2023-2025 June management plan. This includes two evaluation thresholds for chum salmon that would trigger restrictions or closures for the seine fleet if exceeded. However, the chum salmon harvest did not meet or exceed the two in-season evaluation thresholds (300,000 chum by June 19, or 450,000 chum by June 24), so no restrictions or closures to the purse seine fleet were triggered this year.
2026 Area M June Fishery Calendar
2026 Area M July Fishery Calendar
In The NEws
Bering Sea commercial groundfish fisheries – including the pollock trawl fishery – began their B season fishery on June 10. Read on for 2026 bycatch updates.