Fish Factor: Lawmakers push to get tough on trade policies
Seafood is Alaska’s biggest export by far and lawmakers are getting tough on trade policies that unfairly trounce global sales.
Fish Factor: Alaska seaweed farming shows great potential
The U.S. grows less than one-hundredth of one percent of the world’s $6 billion seaweed market but Alaska has the goods to grow into a major contributor.
Fish Factor: Alaska seafood industry wants Russia’s seafood out of US
“If they don’t buy from us, we shouldn’t buy from them,” Alaska’s seafood industry has grumbled since 2014 when Russia abruptly banned all food imports from the U.S and several other countries. Then, as now, the face-off stemmed from Russia’s invasion and subsequent takeover of chunks of Ukraine which prompted backlash and severe sanctions.
Fish Factor: Bycatch Review Task Force hard at work
Gotta give the Dunleavy Administration credit for being the first to try and get to the bottom of one of Alaska’s most troubling fishing issues: bycatch.
Fish Factor: Robust return of salmon to hatcheries in 2021 paid out $142 million
Salmon returning home to Alaska hatcheries again accounted for nearly one-third of the 2021 statewide catch for commercial fishermen at 64 million fish. It was the 8th largest hatchery homecoming since 1977 and at a payout of $142 million, the salmon produced 25% of the overall value at the Alaska docks.
Fish Factor: Herring harvesters anticipate record catch, but shortage of buyers
The arrival of herring signals the start of Alaska’s spring fisheries and this year’s catch levels from each of the three main areas are record breakers.
Alaska Fish News: State attracts 20 Alaska aqua-farm applications
Twenty applications for Alaska aquatic farm permits were received by the state by the April 30 deadline. That’s the highest number in 17 years, said Flip Pryor, statewide aquaculture section chief at the Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game which issues the permits.
