McDonald's fish supplier industry faces backlash over salmon deaths

Criticism is growing around Alaska pollock fishing that supplies major buyers including McDonald’s, after salmon run collapses intensified disputes over bycatch. Alaska Pollock ranks as the world’s second-largest fishery and is used for products such as Filet-O-Fish sandwiches, fish sticks and imitation crab. Ocean researchers largely attribute the decline in western Alaska salmon to rising sea temperatures and shifting ocean conditions, but critics argue that managers still control bycatch mortality. In the past decade, Bering Sea pollock trawlers averaged about 18,000 Chinook and 288,000 other salmon annually, mostly chum. Communities along the Yukon River say conservation burdens fall on those dependent on net checks, processing and smokehouses.