Editor's note: This story was originally published by KUCB and is republished here with permission.
The Alaska Board of Fisheries voted 4-3 last week to cut June fishing time in the Area M salmon fishery by roughly a third — a move supporters say will help struggling Western Alaska salmon runs, but critics argue could harm coastal communities without meaningfully conserving chum.
The board wrapped up its weeklong meeting in Anchorage Wednesday, Feb. 25, approving new limits for the South Alaska Peninsula salmon fishery. The new restrictions are part of a broader effort to reduce the interception of chum salmon bound for the Yukon and Kuskokwim Rivers, where salmon returns have reached crisis lows.
The region is part of Area M, a commercial fishing district that runs along the Alaska Peninsula and into the eastern Aleutians.
While the board's action reduces fishing opportunities in Area M by about a third, — cutting 136 hours for the drift fleet and 94 hours for the seine fleet — critics from both sides warn it doesn't actually make meaningful strides in conserving chum.
The vote has drawn sharply divided reactions across the state.
In a joint statement, Western and Interior Alaska tribal organizations, including the Tanana Chiefs Conference and the Yukon River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, said the board failed to create meaningful migration windows for salmon bound for Western Alaska rivers. While the groups acknowledged the reduction in fishing time as a step, they also said the board "failed to take decisive action."
In a separate statement issued Thursday, the Aleutians East Borough and several tribal governments in the region called on the Alaska Attorney General to investigate what they describe as a conflict of interest involving a board member who cast one of the decisive votes. The borough alleges the member failed to properly disclose prior advocacy related to shutting down Area M and should not have been allowed to vote.
The borough also argued the board dismantled a voluntary adaptive management program adopted in 2022 that they say reduced June chum harvests by roughly 50%. The new regulation removes adaptive in-season chum "trigger" provisions and replaces them with a fixed calendar schedule. Borough leaders contend that eliminating those triggers, while shortening the overall fishing window, could undermine conservation gains made in recent years.
The new restrictions come when Area M fishermen say they're already stretched thin. Area M Seiners Association President Kiley Thompson said the new measures would effectively wipe out the entire June fishery, which is when the fleet earns the majority of its income.
"So now what we're left with is, we get about eight or nine days to fish in the month of June. Basically, we were given a rope to hang ourselves with," he said after the meeting.
Communities like Sand Point and King Cove, whose entire economies revolve around commercial fishing, have been hit hard by low dock prices, poor harvests and market turmoil in recent years. King Cove lost its only seafood processing plant three years ago and continues to struggle economically. The Area M Seiners Association has warned that tighter restrictions would hurt their sector, which they say is already fighting for survival.
The new restrictions will go into effect this summer.
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