Adam Trombley: Dave Bronson is wrong

By ADAM TROMBLEY

April 30, 2026 – For 2 1/2 years I worked for Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson, first as his Executive Director of Community Development and then as his Chief of Staff.

We had disagreements, but never have I witnessed a policy perspective more wrong than his current approach to trawling and fisheries management in Alaska.

Dave’s position on pollock trawling is not just misguided—it’s damaging and irresponsible. It threatens the livelihoods of 65 Western Alaska communities that depend on this sustainable fishery. We’re talking about the lives of thousands of Alaskans.

Let’s deal in facts, not rhetoric.

The Eastern Bering Sea pollock industry pumps $80 to $100 million annually back into these communities through the CDQ program—private-sector dollars that fund port upgrades, job training, scholarships, housing, and essential services. Dave fails to realize that the CDQ program isn’t some government handout; it’s a self-sustaining economic development program that keeps these villages alive without relying on endless taxpayer support.

The fishery is rigorously sustainable. Over the last decade plus, National Marine Fisheries Service scientists estimate adult pollock biomass at 15 to 25 billion pounds in the Eastern Bering Sea. The allowable biological catch has ranged from 3 to 6 billion pounds; the industry harvests less—typically 2 to 3 billion pounds.

On bycatch, let’s stop the fear-mongering and look at the data, including genetic testing. From 2011 to 2023, genetic testing shows that only 47.9% of Chinook salmon bycatch in the Eastern Bering Sea pollock fishery was bound for Western Alaska rivers. Total reported Chinook bycatch over those13 seasons: 238,224 fish. Western Alaska share: 114,082 fish heading to 82 rivers— assuming equal river distribution, that’s roughly 107 fish per river per year.

Using the same genetic data, the Eastern Bering Sea pollock fishery’s impact on Southcentral Alaska Chinook salmon is minimal. From 2011 to 2023, only 2.9% of the Chinook bycatch in the Eastern Bering Sea pollock fishery was bound for Southcentral rivers (including the greater Cook Inlet region, Kenai, and Kasilof rivers), totaling just 7,074 fish. After accounting for natural ocean mortality, this bycatch reduced adult returns to all Southcentral river systems to only 4,820 Chinook over 13 years — roughly 20 fish per river per year. By comparison, Kenai River Chinook counts have fluctuated between 22,133 fish in 2017 and 6,623 in 2024 and average about 14,000 fish per year over the last decade. Bycatch from the Eastern Bering Sea pollock fishery is not contributing in any impactful way to the fluctuations in Southcentral Chinook salmon returns.

Dave has claimed Adam and Eve wouldn’t have allowed trawling in the Garden of Eden. But even they would have recognized that removing 107 to 20 of fish per river annually isn’t crashing any fishery.

For 50 years, the Eastern Bering Sea pollock industry has harvested a consistent 2 to 3 billion pounds annually, with bycatch rates remaining stable (high of 2.05 percent in 2020, low of 0.15 percent in 2012). Meanwhile, Yukon fall chum returns have swung wildly: 556,000 in 1992, up to 1.6 million in 1995, crashing to 350,000 in 1998, spiking to 2.1 million in 2005, down to 591,000 in 2009, peaking at 2.3 million in 2017, then collapsing to 146,000 in 2021. The industry is steady. The salmon returns are not. When one factor stays consistent for decades and the other doesn’t, the cause isn’t trawling—it’s something else. Blaming the pollock fleet is convenient, not credible.

Dave’s message to these 65 communities boils down to this: sorry, but you’re done. Close up your village’s economic engine, abandon your jobs and way of life, and live on the government dime. What’s Dave’s replacement plan if trawling is banned? No one has heard it—because it doesn’t exist. He’s called this a moral issue, but taking away people’s livelihoods, their communities, and their self-reliance is the real moral failure.

It’s easy to stake out a position from polling data and soundbites. It’s very different to fly to Toksook Bay or Eek, look people in their eyes and tell them your plan is to eliminate their jobs and economy.

Dave says his views come from research and conversations with experts on both sides. I’ve had three heart procedures and talked to plenty of experts too—but that doesn’t qualify me to rewrite cardiac policy. Real decisions must be driven by data, rigorous science, and evidence—not personal conviction or populist outrage

The pollock fishery isn’t the villain here. It’s a proven, sustainable engine for Western Alaska.

I only wish Dave – and the other gubernatorial candidates who are spouting similar anti-trawl messaging – would listen to the CDQ success stories, examine the science and understand how incredibly harmful their anti-science, anti-business and anti-development message would damage Alaska if their plan became reality.

Alaska deserves better.

Adam Trombley is director of community engagement for Alaska Coastal Villages Region Fund. CVRF is one of Alaska’s Community Development Quota (CDQ) groups.