Deep reporting and strong visuals connect fish sticks and the Bering Sea to U.S. elections

Climate reporter Annika Hammerschlag spent days on a trawling boat in the Bering Sea to develop an immersive, visually stunning package on how a heated fishing debate off Alaska’s coast is a central issue in this election cycle.

The way Alaskan pollock is caught, using trawling boats that, in addition to pollock, pull up a lot of unwanted catch and disrupt ecosystems, is deeply contentious in Alaska. Hammerschlag spent months building trust and relationships on both sides of the debate, which helped her secure nearly unheard-of access aboard a Bering Sea trawler, and several days with an Alaska Native family along the Yukon River. The access provided her with the ability to report on all aspects of the process and its impact, including seeing bycatch happen firsthand and the ways trawl operators try to reduce it, and how the loss of salmon is affecting Native communities nutritionally, culturally and across generations.

Hammerschlag spent countless hours dissecting and understanding the data behind the fishing issues, vital reporting to tell a fair story, and collaborated with Climate team members Teresa de Miguel and Aya Diab, who helped produce video edits. Amy Shafer oversaw the text edits for each story and worked closely with Hammerschlag on this extremely delicate story, while visual artist Kevin Vineys produced a graphic to help visualize the salmon decline. All these pieces came together to engage readers in a comprehensive package.

The reporting reflects AP’s commitment to helping readers understand election issues, and in this case how they connect to the environment, through firsthand accounts of the people living with the consequences as well as the industry under scrutiny.

Judges were impressed by the breadth of the immersive, multi-format story, for which Hammerschlag produced not only a well-crafted narrative but also stunning photos and video, while also operating a drone.

For delivering an arresting piece of multiformat journalism amid challenging conditions, Hammerschlag is this week’s Best of AP — Second Winner.