Ep. 864: Is Trawling Destroying Alaska's Fisheries?

The MeatEater Podcast episode 'Is Trawling Destroying Alaska's Fisheries?' presents a compelling and urgent examination of the environmental, economic, and political consequences of industrial trawling in Alaska’s waters, particularly in the Bering Sea. Host Steven Rinella, joined by David Bays—a former fishing guide and leader of the 'Stop Alaskan Trawler Bycatch' Facebook group—exposes how midwater trawlers, despite being legally classified as non-bottom contact, routinely drag the seafloor, devastating critical habitats like halibut nurseries. The episode reveals staggering bycatch figures, including over 4.3 million pounds of halibut killed annually and more king salmon caught as bycatch than return to the Yukon River. Systemic failures in fisheries management are highlighted, including unchanged bycatch limits for over a decade, the refusal to reclassify pollock as a forage fish despite scientific consensus, and the dominance of trawl industry representatives on regulatory councils, leading to regulatory capture. The discussion also uncovers corporate manipulation, such as moving fish 100 feet across a Canadian border to exploit trade loopholes, and notes a growing political shift, with several Alaska gubernatorial candidates openly opposing trawling. While public sentiment strongly favors reform—with 74% of Alaskans supporting a ban on bottom trawling—industry lobbying and economic narratives continue to obstruct change. The episode concludes with a call for ethical stewardship, emphasizing that trawling is a highly controllable factor in fishery decline and that meaningful reform is both necessary and possible with political will and transparency.