Fishing

Tim Berry, a Michigan resident visiting Juneau, fishes on a dock Monday near the Douglas Island Pink and Chum Inc.’s Macaulay Salmon Hatchery. A ban catching king salmon near the hatchery and some other Juneau waters is in effect until Aug. 31. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

Local king salmon ban not expected to have big impact on summer fishing, but long-term concerns remain

Ban due to 2020 landslide that caused hatchery pipeline break, disrupting multiyear spawning cycle

Tim Berry, a Michigan resident visiting Juneau, fishes on a dock Monday near the Douglas Island Pink and Chum Inc.’s Macaulay Salmon Hatchery. A ban catching king salmon near the hatchery and some other Juneau waters is in effect until Aug. 31. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Buck Laukitis’ boat, the Oracle, sits in Homer in May before unloading its catch of halibut. (Nathaniel Herz/Northern Journal)

As salmon season kicks off, some Alaska fishermen fear for their futures

Some signs of recovery for $6 billion industry a year into crisis, but major threats persist.

Buck Laukitis’ boat, the Oracle, sits in Homer in May before unloading its catch of halibut. (Nathaniel Herz/Northern Journal)
A king salmon is laid out for inspection by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game at the Mike Pusich Douglas Harbor during the Golden North Salmon Derby on Aug. 25, 2019. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire file photo)

Emergency order bans king salmon fishing in many Juneau waters between June 24 and Aug. 31

Alaska Department of Fish and Game says low projected spawning population necessitates restrictions

A king salmon is laid out for inspection by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game at the Mike Pusich Douglas Harbor during the Golden North Salmon Derby on Aug. 25, 2019. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire file photo)
Gov. Mike Dunleavy speaks to reporters during a news conference Feb. 7. (James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)

Gov. Dunleavy picks second ex-talk radio host for lucrative fish job after first rejected

Rick Green will serve at least through Legislature’s next confirmation votes in the spring of 2025.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy speaks to reporters during a news conference Feb. 7. (James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)
Low clouds hang over Kodiak’s St. Paul Harbor on Oct. 3, 2022. Kodiak is a hub for commercial fishing, an industry with an economic impact in Alaska of $6 billion a year in 2021 and 2022, according to a new report commissioned by the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute. (Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

Report portrays mixed picture of Alaska’s huge seafood industry

Overall economic value rising, but employment is declining and recent price collapses are worrisome.

Low clouds hang over Kodiak’s St. Paul Harbor on Oct. 3, 2022. Kodiak is a hub for commercial fishing, an industry with an economic impact in Alaska of $6 billion a year in 2021 and 2022, according to a new report commissioned by the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute. (Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
Compromise isn’t always possible, but when it is Alaskans benefit greatly when posturing is replaced with good-faith negotiations that yield results that help Alaskans. (Photo by Jeff Lund)

I Went to the Woods: The future of fish

The Forest Service cabin was a sauna so I went outside, stood at the edge of the lake and listened. We had hauled in some… Continue reading

Compromise isn’t always possible, but when it is Alaskans benefit greatly when posturing is replaced with good-faith negotiations that yield results that help Alaskans. (Photo by Jeff Lund)
Fishing boats are lined up on Oct. 3, 2022, at a dock at Kodiak’s St. Paul Harbor. Alaska’s fishing industry is being battered by competition from vast quantities of Russian fish, inflation that has reduced seafood demand and other factors. State legislative leaders are proposing a task force to come up with some policy responses to help the industry and those who depend on it. (Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

Leading Alaska legislators propose task force to help rescue a seafood industry ‘in a tailspin’

Russian fish flooding global markets and other economic forces beyond the state’s border have created dire conditions for Alaska’s seafood industry. Now key legislators are… Continue reading

Fishing boats are lined up on Oct. 3, 2022, at a dock at Kodiak’s St. Paul Harbor. Alaska’s fishing industry is being battered by competition from vast quantities of Russian fish, inflation that has reduced seafood demand and other factors. State legislative leaders are proposing a task force to come up with some policy responses to help the industry and those who depend on it. (Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
Deckhands stack nets on a boat before heading out to sea to fish salmon on Thursday, June 22, in Kodiak. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

Commercial fishermen need more support for substance abuse and fatigue, lawmakers say

Sullivan among congressional members seeking changes, more funding for occupational safety program.

  • Dec 11, 2023
  • By Patrick Whittle Associated Press
  • NewsFishing
Deckhands stack nets on a boat before heading out to sea to fish salmon on Thursday, June 22, in Kodiak. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)
Strips of chum salmon hang on a drying rack on Aug. 22, 2007. A new study by federal and state biologists identies marine heat waves in the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska as the likely culprit in the recent crashes of Western Alaska chum salmon runs. (Photo by S.Zuray / U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)

Study points to concurrent marine heat waves as culprit in Western Alaska chum declines

Successive marine heat waves appear to have doomed much of the chum salmon swimming in the ocean waters off Alaska in the past year and… Continue reading

Strips of chum salmon hang on a drying rack on Aug. 22, 2007. A new study by federal and state biologists identies marine heat waves in the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska as the likely culprit in the recent crashes of Western Alaska chum salmon runs. (Photo by S.Zuray / U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)
Greg Bowen on the back deck on the crab hold of the fishing vessel Trinity, captained by Nick Nelson and owned by Norval Nelson and Barbara Cadiente-Nelson. The family, who worked with Bowen for 25 years, described him as a highly skilled “skiff man,” setting the seine net and keeping the seiner off the bottom, off of rocks, and from rolling over when filled with salmon. (Photo courtesy of Barbara Cadiente-Nelson.)

Murder conviction brings closure to commercial fisher’s neighbors, family, friends

Greg Bowen is remembered as an adopted tribal member, basketball player, father and friend.

Greg Bowen on the back deck on the crab hold of the fishing vessel Trinity, captained by Nick Nelson and owned by Norval Nelson and Barbara Cadiente-Nelson. The family, who worked with Bowen for 25 years, described him as a highly skilled “skiff man,” setting the seine net and keeping the seiner off the bottom, off of rocks, and from rolling over when filled with salmon. (Photo courtesy of Barbara Cadiente-Nelson.)
Meta Mesdag, owner of Salty Lady Seafood Co., works alongside sons Emmett, 16, and Kai, 13. A harmful algae bloom shut down the farm for half of the 20-week season, which means working into the winter. (Meredith Jordan/ Juneau Empire)

Pushing to expand mariculture in Alaska (Part 1): A day in the life of a Juneau oyster farming family

Salty Lady Seafood is working through the winter this year

Meta Mesdag, owner of Salty Lady Seafood Co., works alongside sons Emmett, 16, and Kai, 13. A harmful algae bloom shut down the farm for half of the 20-week season, which means working into the winter. (Meredith Jordan/ Juneau Empire)
Fishing boats line the docks in Kodiak’s St. Paul Harbor on Oct. 2, 2022. Fish-harvesting employment has been declining since 2015, with multiple factors at play, according to an Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development analysis. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

Alaska seafood harvesting jobs decline as fish crashes, pandemic and other factors take toll

Alaska fish-harvesting employment declined in 2022, a continuing yearslong slide caused by a variety of factors, according to an analysis by the state Department of… Continue reading

Fishing boats line the docks in Kodiak’s St. Paul Harbor on Oct. 2, 2022. Fish-harvesting employment has been declining since 2015, with multiple factors at play, according to an Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development analysis. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
Crew members adjust the net as it releases fish aboard the Northern Hawk factory trawler on Saturday, Aug. 5 in the Bering Sea. (Photo by Loren Holmes/Anchorage Daily News)

With little movement on salmon bycatch, Alaska advocates look to Biden administration for action

Amid catastrophic shortfalls in salmon harvests in some of Alaska’s rural, Indigenous communities, advocates have pleaded for a crackdown on unintentional catch of those same… Continue reading

Crew members adjust the net as it releases fish aboard the Northern Hawk factory trawler on Saturday, Aug. 5 in the Bering Sea. (Photo by Loren Holmes/Anchorage Daily News)
A red king crab is seen in the water at Kodiak in 2005. Surveys this year indicated that stocks in the Bering Sea are strong enough to allow a small Bristol Bay red king crab fishery after two years of closures. (Photo by David Csepp/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)

As the once-lucrative Bering Sea crab harvest resumes, Alaska’s fishers face challenges

In the short term, Alaska crab fishers and the communities that depend on them will get a slight reprieve from the disastrous conditions they have… Continue reading

A red king crab is seen in the water at Kodiak in 2005. Surveys this year indicated that stocks in the Bering Sea are strong enough to allow a small Bristol Bay red king crab fishery after two years of closures. (Photo by David Csepp/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)
Meredith Jordan/ Juneau Empire A manager at Alaska Glacier Seafood shows a filleted sea cucumber ready for further processing.

Sea cucumber season off to a good start

Divers seeing much better prices than last year to start

Meredith Jordan/ Juneau Empire A manager at Alaska Glacier Seafood shows a filleted sea cucumber ready for further processing.
A Chinook salmon is seen in an undated photo. (Photo by Ryan Hagerty/USFWS)

Salmon drift gillnet season ends with a hint at final numbers

King goals expected to be met in six of 11 index locations

A Chinook salmon is seen in an undated photo. (Photo by Ryan Hagerty/USFWS)
A person walks across the dock at St. Paul Harbor, Thursday, June 22, 2023, in Kodiak. Alaska fishermen will be able to harvest red king crab, the largest and most lucrative of all the Bering Sea crab species, for the first time in two years, offering a slight reprieve to the beleaguered fishery beset by low numbers likely exacerbated by climate change. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel, File)

Alaska fishermen will be allowed to harvest lucrative red king crab in the Bering Sea

Catch allowed after two canceled seasons; snow crab fishery to remain closed for second year.

A person walks across the dock at St. Paul Harbor, Thursday, June 22, 2023, in Kodiak. Alaska fishermen will be able to harvest red king crab, the largest and most lucrative of all the Bering Sea crab species, for the first time in two years, offering a slight reprieve to the beleaguered fishery beset by low numbers likely exacerbated by climate change. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel, File)
Deckhands stack nets on a boat before heading out to sea to fish salmon, Thursday, June 22, 2023, in Kodiak, Alaska. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

As climate change and high costs plague Alaska’s fisheries, fewer young people take up the trade

KODIAK — Lane Bolich first came to work in Alaska for the freedom and excitement that comes with being a fisher. A self-described adrenaline junkie,… Continue reading

  • Sep 26, 2023
  • By Joshua A. Bickel Associated Press
  • NewsFishing
Deckhands stack nets on a boat before heading out to sea to fish salmon, Thursday, June 22, 2023, in Kodiak, Alaska. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)
Author Tele Aadsen performing at her first FisherPoets Gathering in 2012. Her book, “What Water Holds,” is a collection of essays she wrote for the annual festival over the next 12 years. (Photo courtesy Pat Dixon)

A commercial fisherman who knows her way around salmon and essays

Author Tele Aadsen signing book of essays at Hearthside downtown

Author Tele Aadsen performing at her first FisherPoets Gathering in 2012. Her book, “What Water Holds,” is a collection of essays she wrote for the annual festival over the next 12 years. (Photo courtesy Pat Dixon)
Doug Vincent-Lang, commissioner of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, explains the state’s position on fisheries management on the Kuskokwim River during a press conference Friday in Anchorage. Gov. Mike Dunleavy announced during the event the state is seeking summary judgment in a lawsuit by the federal government that accuses the state of illegal subsistence management practices. (Screenshot from official video by the Governor of Alaska)

Dunleavy, Taylor push to get Kuskokwim case tossed

Jurisdictional battle with feds could have long-ranging implications

Doug Vincent-Lang, commissioner of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, explains the state’s position on fisheries management on the Kuskokwim River during a press conference Friday in Anchorage. Gov. Mike Dunleavy announced during the event the state is seeking summary judgment in a lawsuit by the federal government that accuses the state of illegal subsistence management practices. (Screenshot from official video by the Governor of Alaska)