New Bill Pushes Real-Time Genetic Testing and Private Funding to Cut Alaska Fisheries Bycatch

The Bycatch Reduction and Research Act of 2025 is aiming to tackle a major headache for Alaska fisheries: bycatch. Bycatch is the industry term for catching unintended species—like salmon or crab—while fishing for something else, like pollock. This bill is essentially a massive upgrade to how the government studies and manages this issue, pumping money into high-tech research and creating new public-private partnerships to get results.

The Science Upgrade: Tagging, Genetics, and AI

If you’re wondering where all the salmon are going, this bill wants to know too. Section 2 directs the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to invest heavily in understanding the life cycle of Alaska salmon. This isn't just desk research; NOAA must enter into partnerships—including with Alaska Natives and the fishing industry—to use satellite or intelligent tagging to map salmon migration routes in the Bering Sea, Aleutian Islands, and Gulf of Alaska. Imagine knowing exactly where those fish are swimming before a net gets dropped.

Crucially, the bill establishes a competitive grant program specifically to speed up genetic analysis. The goal is to move past waiting months for lab results and instead get real-time or near-real-time genetic stock identification. Why does this matter? If managers can identify the specific stock of salmon (say, a critically endangered river run) caught in a net almost instantly, they can close that area faster. This is the difference between shutting down a fishery based on last season’s data and doing it based on what’s happening right now. Within three years, NOAA must report on how AI can use this data for predictive modeling to identify bycatch avoidance areas.

Building a Test Lab and Easing the Financial Burden

One of the most interesting parts is Section 3, which mandates a public-private partnership to build a flume tank. Think of a flume tank as a giant, specialized water tunnel where engineers can test fishing nets and gear designs in controlled conditions. This facility will be used to test new technology aimed at reducing bycatch and minimizing damage to the seafloor from trawl gear. To support this innovation, the bill establishes a Flume Tank Assistance Fund to give grants or financial help to entities wanting to test their prototypes, including new sensors or gear designs.

But research is only half the battle; implementation is the other. Section 5 addresses the cost of adopting new, expensive gear by creating the Bycatch Mitigation and Habitat Protection Assistance Fund. This fund, which will consist of donated money, will be administered by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF)—a private entity. The NFWF will use this money to give financial assistance directly to fishermen and vessel owners to buy or modify gear to reduce bycatch and habitat damage. While this is a welcome financial relief for the industry, using a private foundation for administration means this money won't have the same stringent federal oversight as direct government grants, which is something to watch.

The Transparency Trade-Off

For those who track policy transparency, there are a few notable provisions. On one hand, Section 4 requires NOAA to publish the current observer coverage requirements for high-volume federal fisheries online in plain language. This helps fishermen and the public clearly understand the rules for monitoring what comes out of the ocean.

On the other hand, Section 2 reconstitutes a key advisory group—the Alaska Salmon Research Task Force becomes the Bycatch Reduction and Research Task Force—but explicitly states that the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) does not apply to this new body. FACA is the law that requires advisory committees to hold open meetings, publish minutes, and operate transparently. Exempting this task force, which will be making priority recommendations for future federal research, reduces public and media scrutiny of its decisions, which is a significant trade-off for the sake of speed or flexibility.