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.
Trade war impacts seafood going to and from China
Trump’s trade war now includes tariffs on seafood going to and from China.China is Alaska’s biggest seafood buyer purchasing 54 percent of Alaska seafood...
Fish Factor: Sockeye salmon running way below average
Sockeye salmon catches often add up to half of the value of Alaska’s total salmon fishery, and the so-called reds dominate the season’s early...
Fish Factor: China’s new tariff on seafood raises concerns
Shockwaves rocked the Alaska seafood industry when China announced on June 15 that it will add an additional 25 percent tariff on seafood imports...
Fish Factor: Alaska Net Hack Challenge coming to Anchorage
Plastics in recycled fishing nets are being used to make an amazing array of products around the globe and Alaska plans to get in...
Markets are standing by for Alaska hagfish
Hagfish is the real name for what is commonly called slime eels and it could become a viable fishery with ready markets standing by.Little...
Fish Factor: Nice pay day coming for salmon harvesters
Forces are aligned for a nice pay day for Alaska’s salmon fishermen.There is no backlog from last season in cold storages, a lower harvest...
Fish Factor: Fishing families study coming to Kodiak
The way that fisheries are managed determines the daily tempo for fishing families’ lives. Managers set the dates and times, the when’s and where’s...
Fish Factor: Projections out for summer fishing season
Alaska’s 2018 salmon season officially got underway this week with the first 12-hour opener on May 17 for sockeyes and kings returning to the...
Fish Factor: Commercial fishing ranks high as a dangerous job
Commercial fishing remains one of the most dangerous jobs in the nation, with a fatality rate that is 23 times higher than for all...
Fish Factor: Funding shuffle bodes well for ADF&G
A shuffle in some funding leaves Alaska’s commercial fisheries division in good shape to manage the resources and target important projects across the state.At...
