Gulf of Alaska
NOAA Ocean Exploration, Seascape Alaska
Overview
Oceana is working to limit bottom trawling in the Gulf of Alaska to ensure the survival of corals, sponges, and other ancient seafloor habitats, and the ocean life they support.
The Gulf of Alaska is the last and largest region along the entire Pacific Coast of North America that is largely wide open to industrial bottom trawling. Trawling in the Gulf of Alaska threatens deep-sea corals, sponges, and other vital ocean habitats.
What is Bottom Trawling?
Bottom trawls are large, weighted nets that extend hundreds of feet wide at the opening and narrow toward the back. They are towed behind a fishing vessel for miles along the ocean floor to catch fish such as flounder and sole. Yet, bottom trawls also destroy living marine life and seafloor habitats in their path. This habitat destruction and bycatch have cascading impacts throughout the ocean ecosystem.
When disturbed by bottom trawling, up to 90% of a coral colony dies, and up to two-thirds of sponges are damaged. Deep-sea corals and sponges, some of the oldest animals on Earth, grow at the rate of just a few millimeters each year, meaning even a single pass of a bottom trawl can flatten centuries of growth.
Why Protect Habitat in The Gulf of Alaska from Bottom Trawling?
The Gulf of Alaska is home to amazingly diverse and productive ocean habitats that are threatened by bottom trawling. In May 2022, Oceana completed 23 dives in the Gulf of Alaska with a Remotely Operated Vehicle and drop cameras. Oceana discovered beautiful coral gardens, sponges, and sea whips — and also coral rubble on the seafloor, the result of industrial bottom trawling.
Destruction of Alaska’s Seafloor Habitats
Along with spectacular coral gardens, the Gulf of Alaska contains kelp forests, eelgrass meadows, and deep-sea sponges — living habitat used by fish, marine mammals, and other animals for feeding, breeding, and refuge. These, along with physical features of the seafloor like rocky reefs, pinnacles, or sand and cobblestone, are home to invertebrates and fish like crab, pollock, Pacific cod, halibut, sablefish, and a wide diversity of Northeast Pacific rockfishes.
The Clock is Ticking
The National Marine Fisheries Service estimates that in the last 20 years, at least 26% of the seafloor in Alaska has been dragged by trawl gear in waters shallower than 3,000 feet deep. Thousands of square miles of the Gulf of Alaska seafloor are trawled each year.
Bycatch in Alaska Bottom Trawling
Trawling results in significant bycatch — that is, the capture of non-targeted species including fish, crabs, and marine mammals. While some bottom-dwelling animals, like small crabs, snails and sea stars, may pass under or through trawling gear, they’re often destroyed in the process. Everything brought to the surface that is not the intended catch is most often discarded, dead or dying, or ground into fishmeal. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), trawl vessels discard an estimated 24 million pounds of bycatch in the Gulf of Alaska each year on average.
WATCH: Explore with Oceana.
A recent expedition reveals never before seen coral gardens in the Gulf of Alaska.
Did You Know?
Over 150,000 lbs. of living seafloor habitat including corals and sponges are caught as bycatch every year by trawl fisheries in the Gulf of Alaska.
Healthy Fisheries Leads to Healthy Economies
Gulf of Alaska fisheries — particularly salmon, halibut, and sablefish — directly employ 14,500 people and provide the equivalent of 6,000 full-time jobs. Limiting the impacts of bottom trawling will protect fish populations, benefitting local fishermen who live and spend their money within the community. While trawl vessels remove huge amounts of groundfish, they only provide a small proportion of the Gulf of Alaska fishing jobs.
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Oceana’s “Freeze the Footprint” Solution
In other parts of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Arctic oceans, Oceana has worked with fishery managers, fishermen, Indigenous communities, and other organizations to limit bottom trawling to areas that have already been trawled, ensuring untrawled vibrant habitats remain intact. Our “Freeze the Bottom Trawl Footprint” proposal (check out this interactive summary) was presented to the North Pacific Fishery Management Council (NPFMC) in November 2025. Since then, it has protected more than 2.9 million square kilometers (1.12 million square miles) of U.S. ocean waters. The proposal comprises three key directives:
1. Freeze the Footprint of Existing Bottom Trawling
Federal fishery managers must freeze the footprint of bottom trawling in the Gulf of Alaska and prevent trawling from expanding into areas known to have sensitive habitats like coral and sponges, or areas that may have sensitive habitats but have not been studied or mapped.
2. Protect Priority Habitats Within the Trawl Footprint
Along with freezing the trawl footprint, ecologically important habitat features that fall within existing trawl grounds — including rocky reefs, coral and sponge gardens, sea whip groves, and submarine canyons — should also be protected. Conservation areas can be carefully designed to protect these sensitive habitats while avoiding active fishing grounds, consistent with NOAA’s Deep-Sea Coral and Sponge Strategic Plan.
3. Reduce Bycatch and Establish 100% Observer Coverage in Gulf of Alaska Trawl Fisheries
Fishery observers are trained scientists who identify, count, and monitor what fishing vessels catch — a crucial element of managing bycatch in bottom trawl fisheries. Yet only about one in five Gulf of Alaska bottom trawl trips are observed, meaning roughly 80% of trips occur without direct monitoring of what is caught and discarded. Making matters worse, vessels without an observer on board take longer trips and return with 30% more catch on average than observed trips — a phenomenon known as the “observer effect,” where vessels behave differently when being monitored. Fishery observers are needed on all Gulf of Alaska trawl vessels, and fishery managers must also establish caps on the amount of bycatch trawlers are allowed to catch.
Reports and Fact Sheets
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Are there corals in Alaska?
A: Yes! While most people think of warm places like Australia or the Caribbean when they think of corals, the cold, deep waters off Alaska are also home to vibrant and spectacular coral gardens. These living creatures are incredibly important as habitat for fish and invertebrates.
Q: How much of the Gulf of Alaska seafloor is open to bottom trawling?
A: Around 91% of the Gulf of Alaska region, from Yakutat to the eastern Aleutian Islands, remains open to bottom trawling. By comparison, 46% of the Bering Sea and less than 5% of the Aleutian Islands regions remain open to bottom trawling.
Q: What animals live in deep-sea coral gardens?
A: Coral gardens are home to a variety of marine life, from seafloor creatures like basket stars, anemones or sea stars, to shellfish like shrimp or crab, as well as many commercial fish species like rockfishes, cod, and flatfishes. Gardens of large sponges, often found with corals, are used by fish and other invertebrates for shelter, breeding, and feeding.
Q: What is Essential Fish Habitat (EFH)?
A: “Essential fish habitat” is a legal term describing the habitat essential for the feeding, breeding, and growth of managed fish species. The National Marine Fisheries Service is required by law to identify these habitats, minimize fishing impacts on the habitat, and identify actions to conserve and enhance such habitat. Corals and large sponges in the Gulf of Alaska are EFH for Atka mackerel, Pacific cod, and many different types of rockfish.
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