The lawsuit alleging a conflict of interest in the Aleutians East Borough Alaska management program of Group M has been dropped after the state opted to rescind the regulations.
“The people of this Borough have stewarded these waters for generations,” Mayor Alvin Osterback of the Aleutians East Borough said in a release. “We know what responsible management looks like, and we know when the process has failed us. The State’s agreement to void all five regulations is the acknowledgment this region deserved: that the process was broken, and that we were right not to accept it.
The Aleutians East Borough in Alaska filed a formal ethics complaint with Alaska Attorney General Cori Mills alleging the board’s vote on five regulations was “unlawful” under Alaska’s Administrative Procedure Act and Executive Branch Ethics Act. The Attorney General of Alaska agreed, disapproving all five commercial salmon fishing regulation challenges in question on 20 May 2026.
The Area M adaptive conservation management program was developed with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) in 2022 to protect salmon populations from further strain in the area. It includes several measures to mitigate bycatch, reduce overfishing, provide real-time data reports on fishing quotas, and ultimately issue stop-fishing requests when applicable. Aleutians East Borough reported that since 2022, the Area M adaptive management program has reduced the average annual June chum harvest by 50 percent, compared to the five-year average before the program’s existence.
“The fishermen I represent have spent years working side by side with state biologists, building a conservation program grounded in trust, transparency, and shared goals,” President of Area M Seiners Association Kiley Thompson said in a release. “That is how fisheries management is supposed to work. We expected nothing less from the Board of Fisheries. This outcome makes clear that public process and public trust are not optional, and that those who disregard them will be held accountable.”
In a letter, Mills said the regulations were “based on a previous, undisclosed Order of Corrective Action issued under the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act,” and issued an Order of Corrective Action to confirm the ethics violations as both “valid and decisive.” The disapproved regulations may not be filed nor take effect unless the board readopts them through the same process, from the start.
“The State’s decision to invalidate all five regulations: Proposals 126, 127, 141, 147, and 148 removes the most damaging restrictions on the Area M fishery before they could take effect in June 2026,” a release from Saving Seafood said. “Proposals 126 and 127, adopted by a 4 - 3 vote, would have dramatically reduced open fishing time and area for commercial purse seine and gillnet gear in the South Alaska Peninsula. Proposal 141 imposed closures during the post-June fishery tied to chinook catch thresholds. Proposals 147 and 148 changed maximum net depths for both gear types, with those changes set to take effect in 2027.”
“The permit holders I represent have built their lives and their families’ futures around this fishery. When a flawed process threatens that, we have an obligation to stand up and fight back. Today, that fight paid off, and it sends a clear message that the integrity of the Board of Fisheries process matters to fishing families who depend on it,” President of Concerned Area M Fishermen Steve Brown said in a release.
