Sullivan Introduces Bycatch Reduction Act

WASHINGTON-U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), a member of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, this week introduced the Bycatch Reduction Act, an updated version of bycatch legislation Sen. Sullivan introduced last year that incorporates extensive input from Alaska stakeholders. The legislation is an outgrowth of Sen. Sullivan's Alaska Salmon Task ForceAct, which was signed into law in December 2022 and created the Alaska Salmon Task Force.

Sen. Sullivan's Bycatch Reduction Act creates a robust toolkit to reduce bycatch and seafloor habitat impacts from mid-water and bottom trawl fishing vessels and strengthen reporting transparency and accountability. These tools include establishing clear standards and monitoring requirements to ensure trawl nets remain off the seafloor; mandating proven salmon excluder devices; investing in salmon tagging, faster genetic sampling, and ecosystem analyses; creating a new flume tank testing facility that simulates real ocean conditions to evaluate new gear and tools; and reauthorizing the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Bycatch Reduction Engineering Program (BREP). Finally, the Bycatch Reduction Act would provide the public with greater access to participate in the North Pacific Fishery Management Council regulatory process and NOAA data monitoring, while prohibiting the import of seafood from countries like Russia and China that ravage global fish stocks and fail to meet the same sustainability standards required of American fishermen.

**Click here to view a section-by-section summary of the Bycatch Reduction Act.**

"I've heard from countless Alaskans-from subsistence harvesters to commercial and recreational fishermen, and from residents of coastal communities to upriver villages-who are rightfully demanding direct action to reduce bycatch and gear contact with the seafloor to better protect our fisheries," said Sen. Sullivan. "Based on those numerous conversations and the important work of the Alaska Salmon Task Force, I've introduced the Bycatch Reduction Act, the most comprehensive bycatch legislation ever introduced in the Congress. My legislation has three clear objectives. First, it will protect Alaska's ocean habitat and fisheries by setting clear standards, improving monitoring, and establishing strict enforcement measures for trawl fleets. Second, the legislation will make bycatch monitoring and reporting more transparent through investments in new technology and investigations, guided by a new Bycatch Reduction Task Force made up of Alaskans. Third, the legislation will help test and deploy innovative fishing gear and equipment that reduce bycatch or habitat disturbances. Together, these measures will meaningfully improve the long-term sustainability of the fishery resources so many Alaskans rely upon."

Alaska Stakeholder Support

"I've spent my career on the water, and I know how important it is to reduce bycatch and protect our fisheries," saidCaptain Bob Candopoulos, Alaska sportfish and charter leader and owner of Saltwater Safari Company. "No one in Congress has done more to champion Alaska's fisheries and tackle the issue of bycatch than Senator Sullivan. When I shared my concerns with him last summer, he listened and was eager to find practical solutions, including new technologies and tools to reduce bycatch. This bill reflects that commitment, and I'm confident he'll keep leading the effort until it gets signed into law."

"Senator Sullivan's Bycatch Reduction Act addresses critical data gaps in Alaskan fisheries. It encourages collaboration among fishermen across fishing sectors and promotes innovative technologies to understand the impacts of fishing gear on the seafloor and reduce unobserved mortality of important benthic species," saidGabriel Prout, third-generation Bering Sea crab fisherman and president of Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers. "I applaud him for his efforts."

"AMCC has long called for better data and stronger accountability around bycatch, unobserved fishing mortality, and seafloor contact from fishing gear," saidMichelle Stratton, executive director of the Alaska Marine Conservation Council and a member of the Alaska Salmon Task Force in 2023. "This legislation includes important steps in the right direction, particularly its focus on research, monitoring, and performance standards tied to seafloor contact. To be meaningful, that work must lead to measurable, enforceable standards that reduce real impacts on salmon, crab, habitat, and fishing communities."

"Kenai River Sportfishing Association applauds Senator Sullivan for introducing this legislation and advancing needed reforms to reduce bycatch," saidShannon Martin, executive director of the Kenai River Sportfishing Association. "We believe this bill strengthens protections for marine benthic habitats while increasing transparency and accountability within the North Pacific Fishery Management Council."

"Senator Sullivan understands that Alaskans want meaningful action to reduce bycatch and protect seafloor habitat from bottom trawling. His new bill does both," saidLinda Behnken, executive director of the Alaska Longline Fishermen's Association(ALFA). "ALFA applauds this bold step forward."

Background

Several fish and crustacean species that spend all or part of their life in the marine environment have been experiencing increased variability in their productivity and abundance. The Bycatch Reduction Act builds on recommendations identified by the Alaska Salmon Task Force, which sought to disentangle environmental and human-caused factors that may be contributing to species declines and survivability, including bycatch in the marine environment. The task force was originally convened as a result of legislation authored by Sen. Sullivan, which was signed into law in December 2022.

The Bycatch Reduction Act builds on the success of the Alaska Salmon Task ForceActby:

• Reducing impacts on seafloor habitats and protecting species that live on the bottom with improved trawl gear and technology to keep nets off the seafloor and through monitoring and enforcement measures.
• Requiring proven bycatch reduction measures like salmon excluders on all pollock vessels.
• Improving transparency and public participation in regional fishery management councils through recorded meetings, expanding public comment opportunities, and a review of conflict-of-interest processes.
• Reconstituting the Alaska Salmon Task Force (ASTF) and giving Alaskans direct oversight of all NOAA data collection and reporting on mid-water and bottom trawl gear impacts to the marine environment and seafloor habitat, and a direct role to decide what NOAA investigates next.
• Holding foreign seafood harvesters and producers to the same standards as American fishermen by prohibiting imports from countries that fail to meet comparable bycatch and conservation requirements.
• Requiring the tracking of Alaska salmon migrations in the ocean through salmon tagging to reduce bycatch, genetic testing, and a thorough ecosystem analysis across the Bering Sea, Aleutian Islands, and Gulf of Alaska looking at ocean conditions like food availability, marine heatwaves, sea ice loss, and ocean acidification to understand how Alaska's changing oceans impact the survivability of salmon, halibut, crab, and other species Alaskans depend on.
• Encouraging modern technology for all commercial fishermen, including small boats, to obtain NOAA experimental fishing permits totest innovative gear, equipment, or technology that reduces bycatch and seafloor contact.
• Requiring NOAA to publicly post observer coverage requirements and bycatch information in plain language, so all Alaskans can understand how bycatch is being tracked.
• Authorizing new funding and infrastructure that help all fishermen across Alaska access and test improved gear to reduce bycatch and protect marine seafloor habitats.

Further background on Sen. Sullivan's work supporting fishermen and coastal communities

In addition to several other pieces of legislation that Sen. Sullivan was able to pass supporting fishermen, subsistence harvesters, and coastal communities, Sen. Sullivan has passed legislation and finalized executive branch actions in a whole host of areas supporting healthy marine environments, sustainable fishing, healthy salmon runs, and going after illegal foreign trawl fleets, particularly from Russia and China.

• Sen. Sullivan led a years-long fight to impose a comprehensive ban on the import of Russian-origin seafood into the United States given Russia's non-reciprocal ban on the import of U.S.-sourced seafood. Sullivan initially succeeded in securing a 2022 executive order to ban Russian seafood imports, but that ban was circumvented as Russian seafood was shipped to and transformed in other countries, especially China, and then shipped into the United States almost duty-free. Sen. Sullivan then worked to secure a new December 2023 executive order and resulting U.S. Department of the Treasury determination to close this loophole. In 2025, he worked with President Trump to keep these 2022 and 2023 Russian reciprocity executive orders in place.
• Alaska Salmon Task Force Act -Signed into law in 2022 (Public Law No. 117-328). This legislation required NOAA to convene an Alaska Salmon Task Force. The task force reviewed and reported on research about Pacific salmon in Alaska, identified applied research needed to better understand salmon migrations and declining salmon returns in some regions of Alaska, and supported sustainable management of salmon.
• In 2024, Sen. Sullivan led the filing of an amicus brief in the U.S. District Court for Alaska in support of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council's approval of Amendment 123. This action established a variable limit for halibut bycatch allocated to the commercial groundfish bottom trawl "Amendment 80" sector that is determined based on halibut abundance levels annually. This lawsuit was dismissed in 2024, with the court ruling that the Council had acted lawfully in its decision.
• Fighting Foreign Illegal Seafood Harvest (FISH) Act -A bill to combat foreign illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing by blacklisting offending foreign fishing vessels and strengthening enforcement by NOAA and the U.S. Coast Guard.
• Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing Enforcement Act -A House bill (H.R. 774) signed into law in 2015 (Public Law No. 114-81). Sen. Sullivan was an original cosponsor of the Senate companion version of this legislation and is responsible for shepherding it through the Senate Commerce Committee. This legislation implemented the Port State Measures Agreement, increasedcoordination, and strengthened Coast Guard and Commerce Department enforcement against IUU fishing.
• FY 2026 National Defense Authorization Act -Signed into law in December 2025 (Public Law No: 119-60).
  • A provision by Sen. Sullivan was included in the FY 2026 NDAA to prohibit military dining facilities and commissaries from purchasing or selling seafood that originates or is processed in the People's Republic of China (PRC) to help Alaska fishermen and deny a market for Chinese fishermen.

• FY 2026 Agriculture Appropriations-Signed into law in November 2025(Public Law No: 119-37).
  • Beginning in 2023, Sen. Sullivan passed an amendment on the Senate floor to prohibit the use of funds to procure seafood from China for use in U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) programs. This amendment has been carried forward in subsequent agriculture appropriations bills, including the recently enacted FY 2026 bill.

# # #