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: Tanner crab harvesters will get $8.10 a pound
$8.10 per pound! That’s the jaw-dropping advance price being paid to Kodiak fishermen for Tanner crab in the fishery that opened Jan. 15.
Fish Factor: There’s a whole lot of fishing going on
Wow, there is a lot of fishing going on across Alaska! Salmon is the heart of Alaska’s seafood industry, but winter is when the fishing action really begins. Hundreds of boats are out on the water on the first day of each new year, beginning a predictable rhythm for the seafood industry as millions of pounds of fish begin to cross the docks around the clock at Alaska’s working waterfronts.
Picks and Pans: The best and worst in the 2021 seafood industry
Since 1991 the weekly Fish Factor column has highlighted Alaska’s seafood industry with its annual “Picks and Pans — a no-holds-barred look back at some of the year’s best and worst happenings, and my choice for the year’s biggest fish story.
Fish Factor: New legislation would enhance salmon research
An Alaska Salmon Research Task Force Act was introduced in Congress last week by Alaska Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan that, if passed, aims to gain better understanding about causes of salmon declines, especially in the Northwest regions.
Fish Factor: Sockeye salmon prices near record highs, boosting harvester paychecks
Strong global and U.S. demand for sockeye salmon has pushed prices to near record highs and boosted fishermen’s paychecks.
Fish Factor: Pollock down, Pacific cod up in allowable 2022 harvests
Fisheries are driven by numbers and there will be more ups than downs in 2022 catches for Alaska fishermen based on poundages set by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council.
Fish Factor: Harvest boost anticipated in Pacific halibut fishery
The Pacific halibut stock appears to be on an upswing and could result in increased catches for most regions in 2022.
Fish Factor: 1M+ pounds of old Alaska fishing nets, lines recycled
Over one million pounds of old fishing nets and lines from Alaska have made it to recycling markets so far, where they are remade into plastic pellets and fibers.
Fish Factor: Preliminary data shows dockside value of 2021 catch was nearly $644M
According to preliminary harvests and values by region from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, a catch of nearly 234 million salmon had a dockside value of almost $644 million, and weighed in at 858.5 million pounds.
Fish Factor: Dungeness in GOA now state’s largest crab fishery
It’s hard to believe, but Dungeness crab in the Gulf of Alaska is now Alaska’s largest crab fishery – a distinction due to the collapse of stocks in the Bering Sea.
