Commentary: Dunleavy’s super-special election year bycatch task force
Commercial fisherman Alexus Kwachka writes: The abundance of species like king salmon, halibut and crab have plummeted far faster than the allowable trawl bycatch of them has been reduced. There is no denying the harmful, cumulative impacts of this practice on the people and communities of Alaska.
Fish Factor: ASMI updates snapshot of Alaska fisheries
Where do most Alaska fishermen live? Which Alaska region is home to the most fishing boats? The answers can be found in an easy to read, colorful economic report by the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute for 2019/2020 that includes all regions from Ketchikan to Kotzebue.
Ketchikan under reconsideration for BOF meeting
The location for the Southeast and Yakutat finfish and shellfish meeting in March is up for reconsideration by the Alaska Board of Fisheries.
USDA grant will fund mariculture processing blueprint
A $500,000 grant to the Southeast Conference from the U.S. Department of Agriculture is earmarked to create a blueprint for a mariculture processing facility on Prince of Wales Island.
Copper River, PWS fisheries approved for disaster relief
Copper River and Prince William Sound salmon fisheries are among 14 Alaska fisheries disasters from 2018 to 2021 approved on Jan. 21 by Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo for relief funds from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Vessels sought for PWS Tanner crab test fishery
State fisheries officials are accepting bids through noon on Feb. 17 for vessels to conduct a test fishery using pot gear to harvest up to 30,000 pounds of Tanner crab in the Prince William Sound area.
NOAA researcher: Goal is to offer seafood harvesters more resilience to climate change
Social scientist Marysia Szymkowiak’s research focus with Gulf of Alaska seafood harvesters is a lot of talk: telephone interviews and virtual workshops to learn how they feel their coastal communities can best adapt to climate change.
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.
ADF&G predicts largest ever GHL for Sitka Sound herring fishery
State fisheries biologists have set a guideline harvest level for the 2022 Sitka Sound sac roe herring fishery at 45,164 tons of mature herring,...
ASFT report emphasized value of Southeast Alaska ecosystem
Wild salmon. Clean water. Clean air. Carbon storage. Climate change mitigation. Tourism, commercial fisheries — and billions of dollars in economic benefit. Since 2018, the Alaska Sustainability Fisheries Trust (ASFT) has quietly published reports that upend managers’ historical ways of thinking about Southeast Alaska and the Tongass National Forest — and redefine priorities for management now and in the future.
