Orcas in Alaska are stealing commercial fish, disrupting fisheries despite new deterrents.

Orcas in Alaska’s Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska are increasingly preying on commercial fish catches, particularly halibut and black cod, disrupting fishing operations. The Unalaska pod and others target fish from longlines just as they’re hauled, causing significant losses. Fishers are testing a metal “shuttle” device to retrieve halibut before whales can steal them, while some have switched to slinky pots for black cod—though orcas have adapted to breach these too. In trawl fisheries, a new echoreflective web fence aims to deter orcas, showing promise but still failing in some cases, with one whale dying in 2024 due to improper use. Though no orcas have been caught in deep-water trawling in 2025, the conflict persists amid nearly 1,000 fish-eating orcas in the Bering Sea, posing a major challenge for Alaska’s fishing industry.