ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The White House this month issued an executive order to support the sportfishing industry by, among other things, paving the way for increased harvests of sharks and pinnipeds, including sea lions and seals.

The order specifically aims to help saltwater anglers, offshore boaters and charter operators — an industry in Alaska that, with its copious fish populations, generates thousands of jobs and more than $1 billion in economic impact, according to the state Department of Fish and Game.

If all of its provisions are enacted, fishing groups say, the directive could improve fish abundance in Alaska by reducing predation by marine mammals. It could also lead to potential conflicts with federal laws that currently protect the animals.

With the stated goal of “restoring American saltwater angling and recreation,” a $1.2 trillion national industry, the order signed by President Donald Trump on Sept. 17 lays out various steps to aid anglers, including modernizing data collection, expanding mobile reporting and incorporating real-time catch information.

It orders state and federal agencies to collaborate more and says officials should take the economic value of recreational fishing into greater account in federal fishery decision-making.

Agencies should “transition habitat restoration metrics toward production-based goals” under the order.

Habitat restoration projects are typically measured by the amount of habitat restored rather than fish population size and other indicators of an ecosystem’s health, said John Chu, chief spokesperson for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s fisheries division, or NOAA Fisheries.

“This shift ensures restoration efforts are enhancing fish populations and providing more recreational opportunities for the outdoor community,” Chu said by email.

The executive order directs NOAA to work with private companies to develop new methods of detecting marine mammals. Strong detection could potentially reduce ship strikes and marine mammals’ ability to interfere with commercial fishing gear or catches.

While the order also aims to fast-track artificial reef and habitat creation, the provision that’s caught the attention of marine conservation advocates deals with sharks and pinnipeds.

A section dubbed “managing predators” calls on Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to create an interagency task force to tackle “rising rates of shark and pinniped depredation.”

Lutnick must work with his counterparts at the State and Interior departments to actively address international and domestic barriers to “sustainable shark fisheries” to the extent possible under the law, according to the order.

While Alaska waters are home to multiple shark species, three are most common: Pacific sleeper sharks, salmon sharks and spiny dogfish. Great white sharks sometimes show up in Alaska along with blue sharks and six-gill sharks, according to NOAA.

Besides sharks, Alaska also has abundant populations of Steller sea lions and seals, although the western population of sea lions is listed under the Endangered Species Act.

Sharks, sea lions and seals are known to prey on popular fish species targeted by sport and commercial fishermen, namely salmon and halibut.

Seals like to munch on juvenile out-migrating salmon as well as returning adults. Other predators targeting salmon include salmon sharks, Steller sea lions and orcas, according to the Department of Fish and Game’s top official.

“There is evidence that marine predators eat more salmon than are harvested by humans,” Fish and Game Commissioner Doug Vincent-Lang said by email.

He didn’t cite the source of such evidence. But research has indicated that in some areas along the West Coast and Alaska, marine mammals, especially orcas, consume more chinook salmon than humans harvest.

Vincent-Lang said he sees “much opportunity” in the executive order for Alaska, particularly in terms of managing marine predators.

“Marine predation is a significant issue in Alaska. We see a need to revise the Marine Mammal Protection Act to manage marine mammals as a functional part of the ecosystem rather than for their optimal population number,” he said.

Animals like sea lions and seals are protected by the Marine Mammal Protection Act. With some exceptions, the 1972 federal law bars the hunting, harassment, collection or killing of marine mammals in U.S. waters or by U.S. citizens on the high seas. Alaska Native people are exempt from the restrictions for the most part.

The executive order is being slammed by shark lovers and marine ecosystem activists.

Alaska-based ocean advocate Rick Steiner is among them. Steiner compared the shark and pinniped provision to Alaska’s controversial and often-litigated predator control programs that kill wolves and bears to boost prey populations like moose and caribou.

“It’s certainly designed to increase shark culling, essentially, both internationally and in U.S. waters,” said Steiner, a retired University of Alaska professor. “Once this interagency task force establishes its policies on sharks and such, it could be that charter boats would start targeting sharks and retain them onboard.”

Steiner believes it’s conceivable that the administration could greenlight the killing of marine mammals by boat owners for interfering with commercial or recreational fishing operations.

The executive order is one more example of the Trump administration’s “ideological disdain for conservation, science, regulation and the law,” he said by email.

Others said the order is more likely to impact marine mammals that prey on weak or recovering salmon runs in Lower 48 states, like California, Oregon and Washington, or other species popular with anglers in New England, the Mid-Atlantic states and Florida, with large sportfishing industries.

It may also be more relevant in Hawaii than Alaska, said Andy Mezirow, a sportfishing operator from Seward who formerly served on the North Pacific Fishery Management Council.

“There are places like Buoy 10 in the Columbia River or, you know, in Hawaii where almost every fish gets eaten by a shark or a porpoise or something, and in those places it’s more of a tangible problem. Here our predators are pretty well fed and we generally don’t have those sorts of things happening like it happens in the Lower 48,” Mezirow said by phone Tuesday.

One positive outcome that could emerge for Alaska is increased funding for projects that increase fish abundance, Mezirow said.

Because the order directs Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Brian Nesvik to free up funds from the Sport Fish Restoration and Boating Trust Fund, Alaska could see a cash infusion for things like bank restoration or walkway projects along the Kenai River, new launch ramps, improved facilities, artificial reefs and habitat creation in spots that would support popular fish species.

The fund has generated more than $12 billion for fish abundance and habitat restoration projects since it was created in 1950. The revenue comes from taxes the public pays on purchases of sportfishing gear, import duties on boats and tackle, and certain fuel taxes.

“If someone could access that money, you know, and get it, you could really improve the circumstances around sportfishing in Alaska,” said Mezirow.

Kim Landeen, executive director of Southeast Alaska Guides Organization, said she’s encouraged by certain aspects of the executive order. She pointed to its emphasis on gathering stronger data and focusing on the economic engine that sportfishing and guiding drive.

The executive order represents an opportunity to improve the information going into fisheries management, better understand the economic and community value of recreational fishing, “and focus more directly on what ultimately matters: healthy, abundant fisheries, for all users,” Landeen said by email.

McKinley Research Group found that guided sportfishing in Southeast Alaska in 2024 generated about $202 million in direct spending, supported roughly 1,750 jobs, $65 million in labor income and $271 million in total economic output.

Landeen said the Southeast guide organization looks forward to being at the table when federal agencies determine what implementing the order looks like in Alaska.

(Paula Dobbyn is an Anchorage Daily News reporter covering homelessness and related issues in a role supported by the Alaska Community Foundation. She’s a veteran reporter who has worked for Honolulu Civil Beat, ADN, KTUU and Alaska Public Media. Dobbyn has also served as the Snedden Chair of Journalism at UAF. Contact her at pdobbyn@adn.com.)

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