Craig Kaviak Chythlook

Alaska pollock slide into a holding tank aboard the Northern Hawk factory trawler in the Bering Sea. (Loren Holmes/ADN) In its recent editorial, the Anchorage Daily News’ editorial board made the argument that candidates for election are “oversimplifying” the role of trawl bycatch in salmon declines. Ironically, the ADN’s editorial aiming to complicate this issue barely scratched the surface.

Strips of king and chum salmon in a smokehouse along the Yukon River. (Loren Holmes/ADN archive) Chum salmon in Western and Interior Alaska desperately need protection. Chum are facing significant pressures, contributing to a serious crisis for the species and subsistence fishing communities. There are at least two pressures that we can do something about: the waste of chum as bycatch in the Bering Sea pollock fishery, and the harvest and sale of chum in the Area M salmon fishery.