During annual addresses to the Alaska state legislature in March, both of the senators representing the state in U.S. Congress took time to acknowledge the challenges facing Alaska’s seafood sector.
In his address, U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) said he was still pushing for the inclusion of fisheries support in the U.S. Farm Bill, the main piece of legislation governing the United States’ agricultural policy and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The legislation is due for renewal, and the commercial fisheries sector is trying to push for more fisheries support in the bill to raise the profile of seafood within USDA.
“It’s time to go on offense with regard to our fishermen,” Sullivan said. “I just talked to the President of the Senate about this. Think about it. Our fishermen are the farmers of the sea. American farmers get loans from the federal government. They get crop insurance and help when extreme weather hurts their harvests. They get federal relief when foreign markets are closed. Why shouldn’t the farmers of the sea get the same treatment from the federal government? I think they should.”
In her address, U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) acknowledged that the stated policy priorities of U.S. President Donald Trump – such as reducing fentanyl trafficking, the restructuring of international trade relationships, and increased defense spending by U.S. allies – will change things for Alaskans over the next two to four years.
“Some of it will be difficult; I’m acknowledging that Alaskans are out of jobs, projects are stuck or canceled, there is volatility in the markets, the potential for trade wars or the collapse of international partnerships, to name a few,” Murkowski said. “Some of it has been difficult for a while – like in our fisheries, which need every bit of help we can give amid Russia’s war on fish, trade manipulations, lawsuits from extreme environmental groups, and climate change. This has been hard.”
Still, Murkowski said some things will get better, expressing optimism for increased federal support to modernize the state’s fishing infrastructure.
“As we push to bring back our fish and crab, we recognize we have the ability to modernize,” Murkowski said. “We need to reinvest. We need to recapitalize an aging fleet. The president’s push for more domestic shipbuilding can be great for us, and it can extend to Ketchikan, Seward, and more. So, these are good areas of cooperation.”
Murkowski also took credit for working with U.S. Treasury Secretary Howard Lutnick and Secretary of State Marco Rubio to ensure black cod and halibut seasons opened earlier this month, despite concerns that dysfunction within the Trump administration would severely delay the opening.
“That was caught up in a process that most fishermen will not know. They don’t care to know how the sausage is made; they just want to know they’ll be able to get out on the water and be able to do their fishing,” Murkowski said. “We were able to do that for them, so that was a good win.”
“My team and I have made sure the new administration is focused on opening fisheries on time this spring,” Sullivan added.
Murkowski also praised the efforts of the state legislature’s Joint Legislative Task Force on Alaska’s Seafood Industry, which was established last year to address the myriad challenges facing the state’s seafood industry. According to an economic snapshot produced by NOAA, Alaska’s commercial seafood sector saw its profitability decline by 50 percent from 2022 to 2023. At the same time, the sector suffered a USD 1.8 billion (EUR 1.7 billion) loss. Murkowski attended one of the task force’s meetings in January.
“Thank you for the good recommendations to help our fish, fishermen, fish processors, and coastal communities,” Murkowski said to lawmakers who serve on the task force. “We need to take your recommendations and help you with implementation.”
In his comments, Sullivan also pointed to the state’s dwindling salmon runs as an area that needs federal attention.
“We also continue to focus like a laser on fully addressing the disastrous salmon runs we’ve had on many of our iconic rivers – the Yukon, Kuskokwim, and the Kenai, just to name a few,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan also claimed success for his years-long effort to block fish from Russia from being exported to the U.S. Sullivan worked with then-President Joe Biden in 2023 to close a loophole allowing Russian seafood to enter the U.S. if it was processed in a third country, despite an overall ban on Russian seafood.
“The end result of this advocacy – and it’s been years of my team advocating on this – is that more Americans are now buying Alaskan 'freedom fish' because we’ve shut down 'communist fish' from China and Russia!” Sullivan said. “We’re going to continue to focus on that, and that is good news for our state. But there is a lot more to do with regard to our fishermen and coastal communities.”
Earlier this year, Sullivan pushed then-nominee Lutnick to stop “communist fish” from Russia and China from being exported to the U.S.
