Pribilof Islands Invasive Rodent Biosecurity
Current understanding
The Pribilof Islands (Alaska) have a longstanding prohibition on landing dogs, established to protect the islands’ seabird colonies and fur seal rookery from disease and predation. NMFS administers this regime and is opening a narrow exception to allow certified rodent detection dogs to inspect arriving vessels and cargo, addressing the risk that rats or other invasive rodents could establish on the islands and devastate ground-nesting seabird populations. Status: final rule creating the certified-dog exception; effect on local subsistence and commercial fishery operations is expected to be minimal (added inspection step), with no direct food-price impact.