Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Chum Salmon Cap Genetics topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
State-funded pilot shows in-season genetics could inform Bering Sea chum cap; funding remains uncertain
Summary
Presenters told the House Special Committee on Fisheries that a Bristol Bay Science and Research Institute pilot proved weekly in-season genetic testing is viable and could support targeted management of Western Alaska chum salmon — but continued funding is uncertain and final federal action on a chum cap is expected in December 2025.
A pilot project to provide weekly, in-season genetic information on chum salmon in the Bering Sea succeeded in demonstrating technical viability, presenters told the House Special Committee on Fisheries on May 1 — but future funding remains uncertain.
"They're convinced they're gonna basically be able to have in season estimates on a weekly basis," Commissioner Doug Vincent-Lang said, summarizing the Bristol Bay Science and Research Institute (BBSRI) report. Former Bycatch Advisory Council chair Linda Kozak told the committee the state provided a legislative grant to BBSRI in 2024 to test the in‑season genetics concept.
Representative Bryce Edgmon noted a $500,000 line in the House FY25–FY26 operating budget to support a second year of BBSRI work; Kozak and the commissioner said some partial funding exists to carry the pilot into July but that continued state and federal funding is uncertain. "This is gonna be a lean and mean year for a lot of budget items, so there's no guarantee that it even gets to the governor's desk," the commissioner said.
Council members and the department described two anticipated uses for in‑season genetics: (1) determining the stock of origin of chum and Chinook salmon taken as bycatch and (2) enabling more geographically and temporally targeted management measures, rather than a single broad cap. Linda Kozak said genetic work helps explain where Western Alaska chum are harvested in space and time, which can inform measures to reduce takes of those stocks.
The North Pacific Fishery Management Council conducted an initial review of a scientific analysis of a chum cap earlier in 2025 and is tentatively scheduled to take final action in December 2025. Kozak and the commissioner said genetic information has already helped narrow where Western Alaska chum are primarily harvested (noting the B‑season and the Unimak district as areas of concern) and that in‑season genetic estimates could feed into management triggers or area/time incentives being considered by the council.
BBSRI’s pilot sampled fish brought to processing plants and demonstrated feasibility; presenters noted logistical constraints on true real‑time onboard testing because chum salmon are relatively rare in pollock catches (one chum per many thousands of pollock in some hauls) and most reliable samples are obtained when fish are offloaded.
Kozak recommended that the committee invite BBSRI executive director Jordan Head to brief the committee on the institute’s methods and findings. The pilot’s organizers and the department stressed that further work is needed to refine stock‑of‑origin assignments and to design sampling that accurately represents where fishing effort occurred.
