Vegan proposal? Peltola wants people and fish to peacefully ‘coexist’

By SUZANNE DOWNING

June 24, 2026 – Senate candidate Mary Peltola has built much of her political brand around fish. Her campaign slogan is “Fish, Family, Freedom,” a phrase prominently featured throughout her Senate campaign and policy messaging.

Now, a social media post from Peltola is creating a laugh among Alaskans for a line that many find puzzling. In a post accompanied by underwater footage of salmon, she wrote: “I have a plan to make sure the human being and the fish can coexist peacefully.”

It’s a curious statement in a state where fishing is not a hobby, but a way of life, a commercial industry, a subsistence tradition, and, for many families, what’s for dinner. Is she advocating for veganism? That’s the only possible way one could peacefully coexist with fish.

The idea of humans and fish “coexisting peacefully” sounds more like something out of a children’s environmental cartoon than a fisheries policy platform. Alaskans do not generally coexist peacefully with fish. We catch them. We club them. We bleed them. We fillet them. We smoke them. We freeze them. We serve them with tartar sauce.

The fish, for their part, are not exactly committed to peaceful coexistence either. Sharks have been known to view humans as lunch. Piranhas are not famous for diplomatic relations. Even Alaska’s salmon are harvested by the millions every year because that’s what fisheries are for.

Of course, Peltola’s comment was likely intended as a lighthearted way of expressing support for sustainable fisheries and conservation. Fisheries management is one of her signature issues, and she frequently emphasizes protecting salmon runs and Alaska’s fishing heritage.

But political messaging can sometimes wander into the realm of the absurd.

After all, if humans and fish are truly meant to coexist peacefully, somebody forgot to tell the halibut being hauled onto charter boats this summer and clubbed over the head. And nobody has informed the king salmon destined for smokehouses across the state.

Alaskans generally understand the relationship between people and fish quite well. It is not warfare, but neither is it peaceful coexistence. It is stewardship, harvest, conservation, commerce, subsistence, and food.

Which raises an obvious question: If the goal is peaceful coexistence with fish, where exactly does fishing fit into the plan?

Then again, Democrats and their allies in the media are the ones who came up with the phrase “mostly peaceful protests” pertaining to inner city riots. Perhaps the term “peaceful” is elastic.