By Alex Jackson and Taylor Lundgren
We’ve spent our careers on the water.
We’ve fished alongside Alaska fishermen from every corner of the state. Longliners. Seiners. Crabbers. Trawlers. We don’t always agree on management issues, allocation decisions, or policy priorities. That’s nothing new.
But one thing has always united us: We understand that Alaska’s fisheries are strongest when decisions are guided by science, data, and a commitment to continuous improvement – not when fishermen are encouraged to see one another as the enemy.
That’s why we were disappointed to read recent attacks on Alaska’s pollock fishery from fellow members of Alaska’s commercial fishing community.
Reasonable people can disagree about management decisions. We should debate science. We should ask hard questions. We should continually look for ways to reduce impacts, improve monitoring, and make our fisheries even better.
That’s exactly what Alaska’s fisheries management system has done for decades.
What concerns us is a growing tendency to portray one fishery as the source of every challenge facing Alaska’s oceans.
The reality is far more complicated.
Salmon returns, crab abundance, ocean temperatures, predator-prey relationships, changing ecosystems, international fishing pressure, and shifting ocean conditions are all part of the conversation. Serious scientists spend years studying these complex interactions because there are rarely simple answers.
Yet increasingly, some voices have chosen a simpler approach: identify a villain and build a campaign around it. Today that villain is often the pollock fleet. Tomorrow it may be another fishery.
That’s a dangerous road for Alaska’s fishing industry.
The Alaska pollock fishery is among the most studied, monitored, and transparent fisheries in the world. The fleet operates under extensive observer coverage, strict bycatch limits, area closures, habitat protections, and continuous scientific review. It has invested millions of dollars in improving gear, reducing bycatch, and supporting research.
Is it perfect? Of course not.
No fishery is.
But perfection has never been the standard. Continuous improvement is.
And that’s where Alaska’s management system has succeeded. When science identifies concerns, fishermen adapt. Managers adapt. Technology improves. The system evolves.
That’s not a weakness. It’s a strength.
What worries us more than disagreements among fishermen is the growing effort to turn those disagreements into permanent divisions.
Alaska fishermen face enough challenges already. We compete in global markets. We deal with changing ocean conditions. We navigate increasing regulatory pressures and rising operating costs.
The last thing we should be doing is helping create a narrative that pits one group of Alaska fishermen against another.
We don’t have to agree on everything.
But we should be able to agree on this: Alaska’s fisheries are strongest when policy is guided by science, transparency, and collaboration—not by campaigns designed to divide the very people whose livelihoods depend on the resource.
For generations, Alaska fishermen have proven that conservation and commercial fishing can coexist. We should continue building on that legacy together, rather than tearing each other apart.
Alex Jackson is the owner/operator of the F/V Karen Evich, and Taylor Lundgren is the owner/operator of the F/V Temptation.
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