Why I’m speaking out about Dan Sullivan and industrial trawling in Alaska

By Michael Kampnich

You may have seen me in a new ad speaking out about Sen. Dan Sullivan and Alaska’s trawl industry. I agreed to be in that ad because I believe our elected leaders have a responsibility to put Alaska’s resources and fishing families ahead of political and industry interests.

I also agreed to do it because these concerns are not new for me. I’ve lived and worked in Alaska for 47-plus years and have seen too many of our natural resources depleted by unsustainable harvest.

I feel compelled to speak up about responsible resource management and the need to ensure future generations of Alaskans have the same opportunities I have.

I’ve worked as a logger, harbormaster, police officer and commercial fisherman. I’ve lived in Craig for over four decades and have commercial fished for more than 30 years. I’ve made my living from Alaska’s natural resources, just like countless other Alaskans.

But working in the timber industry, I learned the dangers of getting too greedy.

When I started working in the woods in Alaska in 1980, timber was booming. I loved the job because I got to spend time in the woods. But I also saw those woods disappearing. The scale we cut timber at continues to affect Alaska and the Tongass National Forest today. It will take several centuries for some watersheds to return to fully functioning Old Growth conditions. Today I am seeing that same scale of extraction in the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska trawl fisheries.

I agreed to be in this ad because I don’t want us to wait until our fisheries are irrevocably harmed before we take action. Commercial fishermen, fishing families, and coastal communities depend on healthy and abundant fisheries. So does the broader Alaska economy and culture.

For years, Alaskans have been debating the impacts of trawl fishing, including bycatch and the effects of trawl gear on the seafloor.

Now Sen. Sullivan has introduced the Bycatch Reduction Act.

Some of the reforms in his bill make sense. Stronger standards for pelagic trawl gear, better monitoring, salmon excluders and greater transparency could all help protect Alaska’s fisheries. But I think Alaskans are entitled to ask: Why now?

Former Rep. Mary Peltola, now a candidate for the U.S. Senate, introduced significant trawl and bycatch legislation in 2024. Sullivan did not introduce a Senate companion to those measures or make trawl reform a legislative priority at the time. Further, Sullivan has taken industry money for more than a decade, and now he wants to project himself as a reformer?

I have questions about that. If these reforms were important before an election year, why weren’t they a priority then?

Alaska needs elected officials who will build support for meaningful reforms, get them passed and make sure they are enforced. We need leaders who will stand up for Alaska and our resources even when there isn’t an election around the corner.

I’m not against resource industries. I’ve spent my life working in them. I know how important they are to Alaska and to the families and communities that depend on them.

But supporting an industry doesn’t mean giving it a free pass.

I learned that in the woods, and I carry that lesson with me onto the water.

• Michael Kampnich has lived in Alaska for more than 47 years, including over four decades in Craig, where he serves on the Craig City Council. He is a longtime commercial fisherman and has also worked as a logger, harbor master and police officer. Kampnich also serves on the Craig Advisory Committee, which advises on hunting, fishing and subsistence issues in Southeast Alaska. He has appeared in a current campaign ad by 907 Initiative, a progressive Alaska-based nonprofit group.