Healthy Fish Habitat

What's at stake

Fish do not exist separately from habitat. Salmon need cold, connected rivers and wetlands. Many marine species depend on estuaries, eelgrass, kelp, seafloor structure, and other productive habitats during key parts of their life cycle. When habitat is damaged or neglected, the effects can persist for years, leading to weaker runs, lower productivity, and reduced resilience for fishing communities.

What good habitat stewardship looks like:

• Protecting the waters, wetlands, and marine habitats that support fish at every life stage
   

• Recognizing that habitat health is directly tied to future fishing opportunity
   

• Requiring decision-makers to consider long-term ecosystem impacts, not just short-term development gains
   

• Supporting restoration where important fish habitat has already been degraded
   

• Using science, local knowledge, and on-the-water experience together in habitat decisions
   

• Making sure public resources are managed for long-term abundance, not gradual decline

• Will you defend clean water, healthy streams, and marine habitats that sustain fisheries?
   

• How will you ensure habitat damage isn’t treated as an acceptable cost of business?
   

• Do you support restoration and stewardship where important habitat has been harmed?
   

• Will you support management decisions that account for long-term fish productivity and ecosystem health?
   

• How will you ensure fishing communities have a voice in habitat decisions?

Why good habitat stewardship matters to Alaska communities:

• It supports strong salmon runs and productive marine fisheries
   

• It protects the ecological foundation that fishing families and coastal economies rely on
   

• It helps sustain food security, culture, and local harvest opportunity
   

• It gives future generations a better chance to continue fishing and living from Alaska waters
   

• It reinforces Alaska’s identity as a place where stewardship still matters

Bottom line

Fish habitat is not an abstract issue. It is the foundation of Alaska’s fisheries. Voters should support leaders who understand that protecting habitat means protecting the future of fish, fishermen, and coastal communities.