House fisheries panel hears results of in‑season chum salmon genetics pilot; BBSRI says weekly reporting is feasible

House Special Committee on Fisheries Chair Stutes convened the committee in Juneau on May 8, 2025, to hear a presentation from Jordan Head, executive director of the Bristol Bay Science and Research Institute, on a pilot program that produced weekly in‑season genetic estimates of chum salmon bycatch in the Bering Sea pollock trawl fishery.

The work matters because post‑season genetic analyses from NOAA, which arrive months after a season ends, do not allow managers or the fleet to adapt during a fishing season to reduce take of vulnerable Western Alaska chum salmon stocks. BBSRI told the committee its 2024 feasibility effort showed weekly reporting can be done and closely matches NOAA’s seasonal estimates.

Jordan Head said the project was funded largely through a state direct legislative grant administered in 2024 and executed with collaborators including NOAA and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. "This project, like, madam chair said, was funded largely through a state of Alaska direct legislative grant through senator Hoffman's office," Head said. He described three components of the pilot: intensified port sampling at shore‑side processing plants, on‑site genotyping in a temporary lab in Dutch Harbor, and weekly stock composition analysis performed in collaboration with NOAA.

BBSRI reported that in 2024 it placed port samplers at the five shore‑side plants receiving pollock deliveries (Alyeska, Northern Victor, Uniseet, Westward in Dutch Harbor and one plant in Akutan, Trident). Its crew sampled about 91% of the roughly 1,000 vessel offloads in the shore‑side sector and collected more than 7,000 tissue samples—about 32% of the approximately 22,000 chum salmon landed in that sector—far above the roughly 1‑in‑30 sampling rate NOAA typically uses. Head said BBSRI’s genetics team genotyped roughly 3,000 chum during the season, and that BBSRI conducted independent quality control by sending subsets of samples to both ADF&G’s genetics lab and NOAA’s Alaska Fisheries Science Center for verification; those independent checks confirmed BBSRI’s results.

Head summarized the main finding: the aggregated, in‑season results were similar to NOAA’s post‑season estimate, with Western Alaska chum stocks making up about 14–15% of the shore‑side sector bycatch in 2024. He emphasized, however, that the Western Alaska component varied week to week: "the proportion of Western Alaska chum started out relatively low at about 5 to 8% over the first several weeks before dipping to its low of just under 5% in week 32," he said, noting later increases occurred when overall bycatch volume was low.

Head explained why shore‑side sampling was chosen for the pilot: the shore‑side sector contributed the largest share of chum bycatch and the highest share of Western Alaska chum bycatch, and it was logistically feasible to place samplers at plants and run a central lab in Dutch Harbor. He described lab operations: BBSRI set up a genotyping lab in Dutch Harbor that began trials July 1, completed optimization by about July 17, cleared a backlog, and thereafter returned weekly results with about a three‑day turnaround from the end of a statistical week to laboratory completion. He said BBSRI is planning steps to reduce that lag in 2025, including hiring additional genotypers.

Committee members asked operational and funding questions. Representative McCabe asked whether handheld sequencers on vessels could provide real‑time data; Head said current technology and marker requirements make that impractical today: many stock assignments require on the order of 80–90 genetic markers rather than the one or two markers that rapid test strips or small PCR devices typically detect. He said greater on‑vessel capability would be desirable but is likely further down the road.

On data distribution, Head said the 2025 plan is to publish weekly public updates (bbsri.org/inseasondata) and to provide data feeds to industry monitoring services so fleet managers can incorporate in‑season stock composition estimates. "We're working with C‑State on ways to feed this information directly into their management system," he told the committee, noting ongoing conversations with industry representatives.

On funding, Head said BBSRI had about $260,000 remaining from the 2024 legislative grant to start the next season and that the institute had secured a committed landing‑tax contribution from the Bristol Bay Development Corporation (a CDQ partner). He said a $500,000 request to the state is included in the operating budget (a correction he made during the hearing) and described a separately submitted federal Congressional Directed Spending request through Senator Murkowski for FY26 that could cover multiple years if funded. He added that without new funds BBSRI could operate into July but might be unable to complete the full season.

Representatives and the chair discussed broader context: chum bycatch in recent years has included large proportions of Asian hatchery fish and Gulf of Alaska/Pacific Northwest hatchery fish, so total bycatch declines do not necessarily mean reduced take of Western Alaska chum. Head gave the 2011–2023 breakdown cited in his slides: Asian stocks averaged about 52% of annual bycatch, Pacific Northwest and Gulf of Alaska stocks together averaged about 27%, Southwest Alaska about 2% on average, and coastal Western Alaska stocks averaged roughly 19% but with high interannual variability.

Head asked for continued state and federal support to integrate the in‑season genetics tool with management and industry operations, while underscoring the economic role of the pollock fishery. He referenced Department of Revenue shared‑tax figures showing roughly $9 million in shared tax revenues to Akutan and Unalaska (noting the pollock fishery is a major contributor though not the only source) and said the CDQ program supports substantial regional jobs and spending.

No formal motions or votes were taken by the committee on the presentation. Committee members expressed interest in follow‑up oversight and invited BBSRI to return with progress updates; Chair Stutes closed the session and adjourned the committee at 11:33 a.m.