ALASKA – On the heels of lifelong Alaskan and former fishing boat captain Mary Peltola recently introducing her plan to fight for Alaska fisheries – which includes specific and bold steps to restore our fish stocks and support the Alaska fishermen, families, and communities they sustain – Dan Sullivan introduced a half-baked fish policy which fails to address the disastrous effects of factory trawling on Alaska’s fisheries. In response, Alaskans for Mary campaign spokesperson Harry Child issued the following statement:
“Dan Sullivan is running scared after seeing a groundswell of support from Alaska fishermen who are fired up to support Mary’s plan to ban factory trawling and fight for Alaska’s fisheries – and Alaskans will see through his election-year tricks. The truth is that Sullivan has had twelve years in the Senate to take meaningful action to shut down factory trawling and stand up for Alaska fishermen – instead, he’s made money off of the world’s largest farmed salmon company, lied about continuing to take money from Pebble Mine executives, and has supported the factory trawling agenda in DC at every turn. Alaskans know that Mary is a fighter who will stand up to anyone to restore abundance to Alaska fisheries, and they won’t forget that Sullivan only cares about two things: The special interests who cut him checks, and himself.”
Mary’s plan, “Fighting for Alaska Fisheries” is a “much needed” path forward to restore our fisheries and protect Alaskans’ way of life, including specific policy planks like:
- Banning Factory Trawling: Ban factory trawling and keep mid-water trawlers off bottom to reduce bycatch, protect fisheries, and restore abundance to Alaska.
- Restoring Our Fisheries: Secure robust fishery disaster funding for Alaska fishermen and communities; fully fund fish stock assessments so fishermen aren’t hit with unnecessary restrictions; crack down on enforcing National Standards 8 and 9 to reduce bycatch.
- Bringing Innovation Into Our Traditions: Expand the use of modern electronic monitoring and technologies to detect bycatch in real time and hold factory trawlers accountable.
- Strengthening Our Alaska Seafood Economy: Invest in Alaska’s fish by-product economy and non-fish mariculture industry to ensure Alaska keeps leading the blue economy; ban the federal government from pushing toward national finfish farm permitting.
- Giving All Alaskans a Seat at the Table: Lock in the makeup of the federal subsistence board; create Tribal seats on the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council so that Alaskans are the ones making critical decisions about our fisheries.
Mary has spent her life fighting for Alaska fishermen, fisheries, and the communities they sustain. As Alaska’s representative, she led the fight for legislation to reduce bycatch and bottom trawling, permanently protect the Bristol Bay fishery, strengthen our seafood supply chain, and improve fishery resilience and management. She worked with colleagues across the aisle to secure more than half a billion dollars in federal funding to support Alaska’s fisheries.
As a lifelong fisherman and a former fishing boat captain, she’s seen firsthand the decline of salmon runs and the devastating impacts out-of-state trawlers are wreaking on our fisheries. She knows the stakes, and she’s running for Senate to fight for bold action to save our fish and restore abundance for Alaskans.
Read Mary’s full plan to fight for our fisheries here.
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