Former Alaska fisherman: “Factory trawlers aren’t funding Dan Sullivan because they think he’s a nice guy […] his long-term acceptance of their money tells Alaskans everything we need to know”
Fisheries expert: “The trawl sector apparently views [Sullivan] as its strategic shield against Peltola”
New columns from a former Alaska fisherman and a fisheries expert are eviscerating Dan Sullivan for his ties to Big Trawl, drawing a direct line between his campaign contributions from Big Trawl and his failure to deliver meaningful legislation to help Alaska fishermen.
In a column for the Alaska Beacon, a longtime Alaska fish journalist and fisheries expert scrutinized the allyship between Sullivan and the trawling industry, pointing out that “the trawl sector apparently views [Sullivan] as its strategic shield against Peltola. If they aggressively attack his bill, they could politically weaken their strongest ally in Washington.”
And in an op-ed in Anchorage Daily News, a third-generation former family fisherman lauded Mary and her Alaska first plan, slamming Dan Sullivan for taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from the factory trawling lobby “as those trawlers are destroying the fisheries Alaskans rely on.”
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Anchorage Daily News: Opinion: Alaska fishermen deserve a senator who fights for us, not the Lower 48 factory fleet
August 14, 2026
- Three generations of my family — my father, brother, wife, sisters, son and I — have participated in sport and commercial fisheries, including herring, salmon, shrimp and halibut, in Alaska. I was born in Seward in 1952 and have lived in Alaska for nearly all my life. I’m retired now, and my son still fishes Cook Inlet today.
- We’ve all seen firsthand the damage Lower 48 factory trawlers are wreaking on our fisheries.
- The adverse impacts of trawl fishing in Alaska waters include not only taking millions of pounds of excessive bycatch, such as highly valued king salmon, but also habitat damage caused by trawl nets being dragged relentlessly across the bottom of our ocean.
- The trawl industry is taking food away not only from sport and local family-owned commercial fisheries but also from folks in Western Alaska who rely on salmon runs to feed their families and fill their freezers. Because of trawlers, we’ve seen runs collapse and harsh restrictions enacted across the state to compensate for trawl bycatch harvests.
- Our current senator, Dan Sullivan — the man who’s supposed to represent our interests in Washington, D.C. — has taken hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from Lower 48 corporate trawl interests that are severely impacting Alaska fisheries. Sullivan has only recently proposed a “reduce trawl bycatch” bill in the Senate that he knows will not pass committees, Senate votes, House consideration, House votes, House-Senate bill reconciliation and presidential approval before the election. I believe Sullivan will let the bill die after the election to appease his corporate trawl financial supporters.
- Factory trawlers aren’t funding Dan Sullivan because they think he’s a nice guy. I believe his long-term acceptance of their money tells Alaskans everything we need to know about where his loyalties lie.
- We can trust Mary Peltola to navigate this issue, fight for our fisheries and put Alaskans first. She’s fished these waters since she was 6 years old, growing up fishing the Kuskokwim with her dad and becoming a fishing boat captain at 14. She’s been fishing and advocating for Alaska fishermen her whole life.
- So here’s the choice in front of us. In the rooms where these decisions get made — where the future of our fisheries is on the line — do we want a senator whose “campaign is fueled by big Seattle corporations’ trawl donations” as those trawlers are destroying the fisheries Alaskans rely on? Or do we want someone who’s from here, who’s spent her life fishing Alaska’s waters, who has been outspoken about restoring our fisheries and reining in corporate industrial factory trawling and whose own family has depended on our salmon runs?
- Alaska’s fisheries — and the families, jobs and economy that depend on them — deserve a senator who works for us, not big trawl. Fish, family, freedom to retain our Alaskan way of life.
- That’s Mary Peltola.
Alaska Beacon: Why no trawl backlash to Dan Sullivan’s proposed bycatch bill?
August 13, 2026
- In her current campaign to unseat 12-year incumbent Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan, Peltola introduced a similar “Fighting for Alaska Fisheries” platform to no reaction from the trawl sector. Sullivan quickly followed by proposing a Bycatch Reduction Act, a revamped version of a 2022 Alaska Salmon Research Task Force bill that produced a report recommending more research. Again, no trawler reaction.
- What’s the difference?
- This time around, Peltola’s push is a campaign policy platform, not a proposed congressional bill. While Sullivan’s Act fits that description, the trawl sector apparently views him as its strategic shield against Peltola. If they aggressively attack his bill, they could politically weaken their strongest ally in Washington.
- Instead of resorting to angry rebuttals, the trawl sector has outsourced its messaging to new advocacy fronts like The Truth Alaska, Sustaining Alaska’s Future and the Alaska Pollock Fishery Alliance. One originates in Texas; the others are fronted by former state directors for Republican Congressional delegates Sen. Sullivan and Rep. Nick Begich III.
- This strategy lets the trawl sector counter anti-trawl sentiment without making it look like they are fighting a sitting US Senator. They reframe the debate as “supporting science and Alaska jobs,” allowing Sullivan to position himself as the reasonable middle ground.
- During his tenure, Sullivan has been one of Big Trawl’s top recipients of campaign contributions. He obfuscates the fact that those cash cows all are homeported in Seattle or Oregon.
- In recent social media ads, for example, he calls for reining in chum salmon bycatch by “holding foreign fleets accountable,” knowing full well that foreign fleets have been banned from Alaska waters out to 200 miles since the mid-1970s.
- Sullivan dismisses the fact that each year 75% of the value of all groundfish taken from Alaska waters by industrialized trawlers leaves the state; for pollock, it’s 82%.
- It looks like Sullivan’s prime objective is maintaining the reliable donor flow from the Outside trawl sector. His sudden campaign year concern about reducing trawl bycatch and protecting Alaska’s marine ecosystem has as much staying power as a fish out of water.
