By fall 2026, salmon caught in Bering Sea pollock nets had become a deciding issue in Alaska's U.S. Senate race, and both candidates say the management system falls short. The episode walks through the North Pacific council and its recusal rule, the Magnuson-Stevens Act's bycatch standard, and the 2025 seafood executive order. It sets the candidates' bills, money, outside groups and polls side by side, with no endorsement.
Who's who
- Dan Sullivan+4 more episodesRepublican U.S. senator from Alaska seeking a third term
- Mary Peltola+1 more episodeDemocratic former U.S. representative and 2026 Senate candidate
- Lisa Murkowski+3 more episodesAlaska senator who cosponsored Sullivan's December 2025 research bill
- Nick Begich+1 more episodeAlaska representative who sponsored the House research bill
- Maria Cantwell+1 more episodeWashington senator among seven Democrats voting against the bill in committee
- Ed Markey+1 more episodeMassachusetts senator who objected to unanimous consent
- Stephanie MadsenExecutive director of the At-Sea Processors Association
- Linda BehnkenAlaska Longline Fishermen's Association director who supported both candidates' bills
Where it happens
- Anchorage, Alaska+6 more episodesCouncil met at the Egan Center in October 2026
- Vancouver, Washington+2 more episodesCouncil met there in June 2026
- Bering Sea+10 more episodesPollock fishery whose salmon bycatch is at issue
- Bethel, Alaska+5 more episodesPeltola's home town
Timeline
- April 13, 1976Fishery Conservation and Management Act signed
- May 22, 2024Peltola introduces two bycatch bills; neither advances
- April 17, 2025Executive order on American seafood competitiveness signed
- June 24, 2026Sullivan introduces the Bycatch Reduction Act
- September 16, 2026Senate Commerce Committee reports the bill
- November 3, 2026Election Day
Still debated
The committee vote was first reported as 22 to 4 and later corrected to seven Democratic no votes. Sullivan's trawl-industry money was corrected from nearly $400,000 to almost $280,000 through March 2026. Public polls disagree, several within margins of error, and what a factory trawler ban would cover is unsettled.
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Dead ReckoningStorm Warning: America's Earth Science · Episode 12Also features Dan Sullivan
Mail at the End of the RoadNeither Snow Nor Rain · Episode 5Also features Lisa Murkowski
The Disease We Thought We'd BeatenThe White Plague Returns · Episode 1