A federal district court judge has denied a claim made by two regional tribal consortiums in Western Alaska that fisheries management in the Bering Sea violated environmental law.
United States District Court Judge Sharon Gleason denied the claims made by the Association of Village Council Presidents (AVCP) and Tanana Chiefs Conference (TCC) in a judgement on March 11.
The Association of Village Council Presidents – the regional tribal consortium for the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta – and the Tanana Chiefs Conference – the regional tribal consortium for much of western Interior Alaska – had sued the National Marine Fisheries Service, which manages fisheries in the federal waters outside of Alaska. Two fisheries trade organizations with ties to the pollock industry – the At-Sea Processors Association and United Catcher Boats – joined in defense of federal fisheries managers.
The tribal organizations, along with the City of Bethel, claimed that recent groundfish harvest management in the Bering Sea wasn’t properly taking into account major changes to the ocean ecosystem, including fisheries collapses on the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers, and thus violated federal law under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
They argued that fisheries managers relied on outdated environmental impact assessments when setting management goals for Bering Sea groundfish harvest.
According to the judgement, between 2023 and 2025, federal fisheries managers relied on an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), from 2007. That analysis laid out a strategy for determining annual harvest that allowed managers to consider new circumstances or information and decide whether those factors warranted new environmental analysis.
But Judge Gleason found that the fisheries management agency followed the proper legal steps to consider supplemental information. Gleason wrote that federal fisheries managers make decisions based on their expertise, and that they did not miss procedural steps in determining whether or not to do a new environmental impact assessment or to supplement a 2007 environmental impact assessment.
In a written statement, a representative for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries wrote that the agency appreciated the court's decision.
"These fisheries are managed sustainably," they wrote, "and NOAA Fisheries and the North Pacific Fishery Management Council continually improve management to account for new information."
The statement added that the North Pacific Fishery Management Council is currently considering new measures to minimize chum salmon bycatch in pollock fisheries.
Andrea Keikkala, the executive director of intervenor-defendant United Catcher Boats, wrote in a joint statement with the At-Sea Processors Association that she was "pleased that the court has recognized the robust scientific processes underpinning federal fisheries management."
It’s not yet clear whether the plaintiffs in the case plan to appeal the decision.
Representatives for plaintiffs AVCP and TCC said in a written statement that the decision was met with "disappointment," and wrote that it was "significant" that the court acknowledged the connection between federal fisheries management decisions and Western Alaska salmon decline.
The City of Bethel’s legal council directed requests for comment to legal representatives for the tribal organizations.
