Laine Welch
Laine Welch has covered the Alaska fish beat for print and radio since 1988. She also has worked “behind the counter” at retail and wholesale seafood companies in Kodiak and on Cape Cod. She retired in April 2022 from her Fish Factor reports, but now produces a blog at alaskafish.news.
Fish Factor: Symphony of Seafood competition has 18 entries
Past Symphony of Seafood winners include Pollock Protein Noodles, Southern Style Alaska Wild Wings, candied salmon ice cream, fish oils for pets, fish and chips meal kits, and Fin Fish earrings.
Fish Factor: Good fishing season pushes up permit prices
Optimism is the word that best sums up the attitude among most Alaska salmon fishermen after a good season, according to people in the business of buying and selling permits and boats.
Fish Factor: Most Bristol Bay salmon money won’t circulate in Alaska
The preliminary value to fishermen of the nearly 41 million salmon caught this summer at Alaska’s largest fishery at Bristol Bay is nearly $248 million, 64% above the 20-year average.
Tanner crab abundance growing in Westward region of Alaska
Unlike in the Bering Sea, there’s good news for crab in the Gulf of Alaska. A huge cohort of Tanner crab that biologists have been tracking in the Westward region for three years showed up again in this summer’s survey.
Fish Factor: Crab harvesters reeling over news of depleted stocks
Alaska’s Bering Sea crabbers are reeling from the devastating news that all major crab stocks are down substantially, based on summer survey results, and the Bristol Bay red king crab fishery will be closed for the first time in over 25 years.
Fish Factor: Bristol Bay harvester named for BOF, pending legislative approval
It took freedom of information requests, weeks of queries to administrators and more than three months past a legal deadline for Gov. Dunleavy to finally release his choice for a Board of Fisheries seat, writes Laine Welch.
Fish Factor: Commercial salmon harvest tops 201M fish
Alaska’s 2021 salmon harvest has blown past the forecast and by Aug. 27 had topped 201 million fish, well above the 190 million projected at the start of the season.
Fish Factor: Bristol Bay salmon baby food draws regional support
Bambino's launched the nation’s first subscription service with home delivery of frozen baby foods in 2015, and was the first to bring the frozen option to U.S. retail baby food aisles.
Fish Factor: Light-up gadgets reduce bycatch
Bycatch gives Alaska’s otherwise stellar fisheries management its biggest black eye, but a simple fix has recently shed light on a solution.
Fish Factor: Statewide salmon harvest far exceeds 2020 catch
Alaska’s salmon landings have passed the season’s midpoint and by Aug. 7 the statewide catch had topped 116 million fish. State managers are calling for a projected total 2021 harvest of 190 million salmon, a 61% increase over 2020.
