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.
ADF&G faces research project funding
Fisheries fare better than most people in terms of Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s budget cuts. Just
under $1 million was cut from the commercial fisheries division of the Alaska
Department of Fish and Game, leaving it with an $85 million budget, half from
state general funds.
Sharing of local fish taxes so far escapes veto axe
One fisheries item that appears to have escaped Gov. Mike
Dunleavy’s veto pen so far is his desire to divert local fish taxes from
coastal communities...
Pink salmon dominate early harvest
The biggest fish story
for Alaska’s salmon season so far is the early plug of pinks at the South
Alaska Peninsula. By June 28, over 8
million pink...
New law creates headache for fishing vessel owners
A
well-intended new Alaska law has gone awry from a botched roll out that has
turned thousands of Alaskan fishing vessel, tender, barge and sport fish
operators...
Salmon season is off to a mixed start
Salmon dominates the summer fishing headlines, but it’s among many other fisheries going on throughout the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea. Alaska’s salmon season...
NOAA misses another deadline on pink salmon disaster funds
Alaska fishermen are still awaiting disaster relief funds for the
2016 pink salmon run failure, which was the worst in 40 years.
Congress approved $56 million...
As salmon abundance declines, the catch remains near all-time high
Salmon abundance in the North Pacific has declined slightly over the past decade, but salmon catches remain near all-time highs.
Young takes aim at offshore fish farms
In his 46 years as Alaska’s lone representative in Congress, Rep. Don Young helped toss out foreign fishing fleets from Alaska’s waters with the onset of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act in 1976, and today he is intent on doing the same with offshore fish farms.
Strong showings for young crab in upcoming Bristol Bay fishery
Bering Sea crabbers saw upticks in crab recruits during a good fishery for the 2018/2019 season, along with strong prices.
Fisheries scientists question Pebble draft EIS
Bulldozers, blasters, excavators, vibrators, jaw crushers, drillers, graders, crushers, huge trucks and other heavy equipment are tools of the trade when building and operating large mines — and they all kick up a lot of dust.
