The Secretary of Commerce on June 26 announced 22 appointments to the nation’s eight regional fishery management councils. The Secretary selects members from nominations submitted by the governors of fishing states, territories, and tribal governments.

For the North Pacific Council, five seats are appointed to represent Alaska and two from the state of Washington.

Typically, a governor’s top choice is a shoo-in for a council seat – but that’s not the case this year.

Forrest Bowers of Juneau will fill the one Alaska seat currently coming open on the North Pacific Council. Bowers was the second choice of Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy who advanced three nominees in March to the Commerce Department. The third nominee was Israel Peyton, a former director of ADF&G’s Sport Fisheries Division, and current member of the Board of Fisheries.

Dunleavy’s favored option was Märit Carlson-Van Dort, an Alaska native from Chignik and the current chair of the Alaska Board of Fisheries. But Carlson-Van Dort’s appointment was likely derailed over her being named in conflict of interest claims in a formal complaint filed in March 2026 with the Alaska Attorney General’s office.

Bowers has been the Acting Director of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s Commercial Fisheries Division since 2025 and was the “comm fish” division’s Deputy Director for nearly a decade. Overall, Bowers has served more than 30-years with ADF&G, beginning as a seasonal technician in Kodiak.

Bowers will replace Rudy Tsukada of Anchorage who is stepping down after one three-year term. Tsukada is the Chief Operating Officer of Coastal Villages Region Fund (CVRF), one of six Community Development Quota groups in Western Alaska that receives shares of Bering Sea crab and groundfish to provide economic and social benefits to the remote regions.

Goen goes; WA seat on NPFMC goes to Chad See

Washington Governor Bob Ferguson nominated Jamie Goen, executive director of the trade group Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers, for a second term on the North Pacific Council, but the commerce secretary instead chose Chad See, Ferguson’s second choice.

See has been executive director of the Freezer Longline Coalition since 2012. Its website says: “Our members include 10 Alaska and Washington-based entities who in 2025 operated 15 active freezer longline vessels in the fishery. Members are comprised of private, family-owned businesses, an Alaska Native Corporation and Community Development Quota (CDQ) organizations who support coastal communities across western Alaska.”

Five of the six CDQ groups operating in Alaska are members of the Coalition.

Both Chad See and Forrest Bowers will take their seats on the NPFMC in August. They serve a three-year term and may be reappointed to three consecutive terms.

The NPFMC includes 11 voting members: six from Alaska (including the ADF&G Commissioner), three from WA (including one state agency official), one state agency offical from Oregon and one federal seat held by the Alaska Administrator for NOAA Fisheries.

Each year, the Secretary of Commerce appoints approximately one-third of the total 72 appointed members to the eight regional councils. The Secretary selects members from nominations submitted by the governors of fishing states, territories, and tribal governments.

The Secretary appoints council members to both state-specific and regional seats—also known as obligatory and at-large seats. They serve a three-year term and may be reappointed to three consecutive terms.