Educational game juxtaposes Sullivan’s trawling industry ties with Mary Peltola’s Alaska first fish policy.
ALASKA – Today, Alaskans for Mary announced the launch of an educational online game, “Salmon Run,” drawing attention to the harm factory trawlers are inflicting on Alaska fisheries, Dan Sullivan’s insidious ties to to the industry to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign checks, and Mary Peltola’s plan to save our fish.
“Alaskans deserve to know that Dan Sullivan is dragging in hundreds of thousands of dollars from the same Lower 48 factory trawlers that are devastating Alaska fisheries,” said Alaskans for Mary Campaign Manager Elisa Rios. “Dan Sullivan has been in lockstep with the factory trawling agenda in DC even as Alaska fishermen suffer under scarcity and harsh restrictions. While Mary is a fighter who will stand up to anyone to restore abundance to Alaska fisheries, Sullivan will always put his special interest donors first and Alaska last.”
Users play the game as a salmon forced to dodge factory trawler nets and natural predators on its route home — with the risk of dying as bycatch.
Onscreen, “Salmon Run” informs players about the toll of factory trawling and excessive bycatch on Alaska’s fisheries, and highlights that Mary’s opponent has accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from donors connected to the trawling industry, despite more than more than 70% of Alaskans supporting an overall ban of trawling.
See for yourself – Salmon Run onscreen fun facts include:
- Every year, millions of pounds of fish & crab are killed as bycatch
- More halibut is killed as bycatch than consumed
- Bottom trawlers destroy 580 miles of seabed every day
- Trawlers have killed and wasted 1 million lbs of halibut this year
- Trawlers kill 141 million lbs of marine life each year
- Dan Sullivan took hundreds of thousands of dollars from the trawling lobby
- If you win – YOU MADE IT HOME! Dan Sullivan & his hundreds of thousands of dollars from trawlers couldn’t stop you
- If you are caught by a trawling net – YOU’RE BYCATCH – Dan Sullivan reeled in hundreds of thousands of dollars from the trawlers who caught you
- If you are consumed by a predator – YOU’RE DINNER – You fed an [ANIMAL NAME], but at least you’re not bycatch. Play again!
Mary recently announced her Alaska first plan to fight for our fisheries including bold proposals to restore abundance like banning factory trawling, keeping mid-water trawlers off the bottom, reducing bycatch, investing in the future of Alaska’s blue economy, and securing Alaska’s seat at the table on subsistence and fisheries governance.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), bottom trawling is defined as “a fishing practice that herds and captures the target species, like ground fish or crabs, by towing a net along the ocean floor.” NOAA defines bycatch as “discarded catch of marine species and unobserved mortality due to a direct encounter with fishing vessels and gear.” Every year, trawlers kill 141 million pounds of marine life as bycatch – discarding millions of fish and crabs as waste. Already this year alone, trawlers have killed 600,000 crabs, 1.5 million pounds of herring, and 20,000 Chinook salmon as bycatch. The epidemic has resulted in severe fishing restrictions for subsistence, sport, and commercial fishermen across Alaska, with many pointing to factory trawling as the leading culprit.
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