The plight of the state’s fisheries, some of the most productive in the world, has become a flashpoint in Alaska’s Senate race and arisen as a potential weakness for two-term incumbent Dan Sullivan.
Sullivan faces a tough reelection bid against former Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola, who has centered her campaign around “Fish, Family, Freedom.” She’s trying to harness anger at out-of-state commercial fishing to win her way back to Congress.
Alaska hosts some of the largest commercial pollock fisheries in the world as well as major salmon populations — buttressing a seafood industry that supports more than 15,000 Alaskan jobs with around $5 billion in value. Many Alaska Natives harvest fish from the state’s mighty rivers and rely on the catch during winter.
Precipitous population declines in recent years that threaten commercial, sport and subsistence fisheries are shaping the election ahead of November. While some voters back the trawling industry for its economic contributions, other Alaskans are upset they cannot fish some rivers in the state anymore while huge commercial fisheries in the ocean continue to thrive, and Peltola’s campaign wants to pin that on Sullivan.
