Statement follows NOAA Fisheries issuance of positive 90-day finding on a petition to list Chinook Salmon as threatened or endangered 

WASHINGTON – This last week, following the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announcement of a study into the merits of listing Gulf of Alaska King Salmon as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), Representative Mary Peltola (AK-AL) released the following statement:

While I understand that NOAA has to follow its process, I sincerely hope the regulators and scientists will remember that rural Alaskan communities have relied on and lived alongside these salmon for millennia. 

Our communities are built around fish – listing Gulf of Alaska King Salmon as threatened or endangered risks that long-standing relationship. We can’t ignore the freefall our fishing families are experiencing because of declining salmon runs, but we must manage salmon to have high escapement, and traditional knowledge needs to be incorporated with western science.

Subsistence fishermen who rely on these salmon to feed their families and communities throughout the winter shouldn’t be left in the cold while this administration and Lower 48 environmentalists take another resource away from Alaskans. The far-reaching, negative impacts of this potential listing underlines how urgently we need to act to protect our fish in more concrete ways, like restricting bottom trawling and reducing bycatch. 

Recent reports show that listing King Salmon could pose risks to fishing and everyday construction.

Earlier last week, Rep. Peltola introduced the bipartisan Bycatch Reduction and Mitigation Act and the Bottom Trawl Clarity Act. Read more here.

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  chinook, endangered, king, peltola, subsistence