Alaska fishing rules require new gear to catch fewer unwanted fish.
S. 4938 — Bycatch Reduction Act · Filed by Dan Sullivan (R-AK) · Introduced Jun 24, 2026 · Reported out
Your members of Congress
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What it does
The bill sets new rules for fishing boats in Alaska waters. Boats must install devices that detect the seafloor and keep salmon out of nets. The bill funds research on salmon and ocean health. It stops imports of seafood from boats that fish in unsafe ways. The government will give money to help fishing companies buy cleaner gear.
Who it affects
Alaska Native communities will have more fish to eat. Fishing companies must buy new equipment. The government will help pay for it.
One thing to notice
A private group will control the money for new fishing gear instead of the government.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
- Jun 24, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Jun 24, 2026 — Referred to Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation”
- Sep 16, 2026 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Ordered to be reported with an amendment in the nature of…”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
3 groups reported lobbying about this bill. They filed 3 reports from Jun 2026 to Jun 2026.
Those reports show $80,000 in lobbying spending. Each report lists about 2 bills. So that money was not all for this bill.
More groups named this bill than 61% of bills with any report.
Dan Sullivan, who sponsored the bill, received $2,114,700 from PACs for the 2026 election.
- Aleutian Pribilof Island Community Development Association — $30,000 in 1 report
- Groundfish Forum — $30,000 in 1 report
- Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers — $20,000 in 1 report
Lobbying is legal. These reports show who lobbied about this bill, not what changed.
Words to know
- devices — Equipment installed on boats to detect the seafloor or keep salmon out of nets.
- research — Study of salmon movement and how the ocean ecosystem stays healthy.
- cleaner gear — Fishing equipment that catches fewer unwanted fish and causes less ocean damage.
- lobbying — Trying to influence lawmakers about a bill. Companies and groups pay people to do this.
- PACs — Groups that collect money and give it to candidates for office.
- sponsored — To sponsor a bill is to introduce it in Congress and put your name on it.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (35,676 characters) on Sep 7, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,358 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-09-19.
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