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The Unuk River is one of the transboundary watersheds of Southeast Alaska. (U.S. Geological Survey Alaska Science Center photo)

News

Southeast Alaska tribes seek Canadian recognition due to transboundary issues

A group of Southeast Alaska tribes is asking Canada to recognize their right to have a voice in…

A Chinook salmon is seen in an undated photo. (Photo by Ryan Hagerty/USFWS)

News

Conservation group wants Alaska king salmon listed as an endangered species

Climate change, government management, competition from hatchery fish cited as reasons.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials work at the Ouray National Fish Hatchery in Utah. (Photo provided by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)

News

Analysis of Northwest, other salmon hatcheries finds nearly all hurt wild salmon populations

More than 200 studies across 40 years reveals impacts of large-scale hatchery programs

Salmon fisherman stack their nets June 22 in Kodiak. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel, File)

News

Alaska fishers, consumers likely to see higher seafood prices due to expanded Russian products ban

Political and industrial leaders praise Biden’s order, citing abusive practices by Russia and China.

Spawning chum salmon swim in a spring feeding the Tanana River, a tributary of the Yukon River. Crashes in Western Alaska chum and Chinook salmon runs are tied to rapid warming that is having myriad effects across the Arctic, as described in the 2023 Arctic Report Card released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. (Photo by Seth Adams/University of Alaska Fairbanks)

News

Alaska salmon woes, extreme precipitation, tundra shrub growth part of Arctic transformation

NOAA’s 2023 Arctic Report Card highlights challenges posed by rapid climate change in Alaska

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)

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…

A Chinook salmon is seen in an undated photo. (Photo by Ryan Hagerty/USFWS)

News

Salmon drift gillnet season ends with a hint at final numbers

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

Alaska salmon troller Bay of Pillars in Chatham Strait. (Photo courtesy of NOAA Fisheries)

News

Dispute about salmon and whales between Alaska and Washington again before federal regulators

NMFS seeks input for environmental impact statement in wake of court rulings.

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)

News

A commercial fisherman who knows her way around salmon and essays

Author Tele Aadsen signing book of essays at Hearthside downtown

Norval Nelson, owner and operator of Star of the Sea, and his wife, Barbara Cadiente, clean and prep the boat in Aurora Harbor on Wednesday, the same day the Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced commercial crab fisheries would remain closed again this year. (Meredith Jordan/Juneau Empire)

News

Commercial crab fishery closed for 2023-2024 season

News comes atop plummeting prices for chum and pink salmon for professional fishers

Allison Lihou, John Diamond and Brian Thomason (aboard boat) turn in five salmon, including four scholarship fish, to dock volunteers Jason Bailey (orange jacket) and Bobby Dilg at the Douglas Harbor station during the 77th annual Golden North Salmon Derby on Sunday. (Meredith Jordan / Juneau Empire)

News

Updates from the 77th Annual Golden North Salmon Derby

24.4-pound king is top catch at 6 p.m. Sunday deadline, more than 3 pounds heavier than runner-up.

Bjorn Dihle stands in front of acid mine drainage at British Columbia’s Tulsequah Chief mine, which has been abandoned and leaching acid mine drainage into the transboundary Taku River watershed for more than 65 years. The Taku, a wild salmon river, flows into Alaska and empties into the ocean just south of Juneau. (Photo by Chris Miller/csmphotos.com)

Opinion

Opinion: Powerful interests should stop targeting Alaska hook and line fishing

They should start targeting the real threat to wild salmon: habitat destruction

The Golden North Salmon Derby returns this weekend for the 77th edition as the same charitable event, with bigger prizes. (Meredith Jordan / Juneau Empire)

News

Salmon Derby expects to bring on the coho and some king

Popular charitable competition swims off starting Friday

A king salmon is laid out for inspection by 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)

Opinion

My Turn: Decline of king salmon fishing in Southeast Alaska started many decade ago

From the reports I’ve heard about the July 1-14 commercial troll opening, the king salmon for some of…

Captain Joe Emerson catches a salmon aboard his boat the TommyL II using a line-caught method, also known as trolling for his co-owned Southeast business Shoreline Wild Salmon. Shoreline was recently recognized by Good Housekeeping Institute Nutrition Lab as one of the best seafood delivery services currently in business. (Courtesy Photo / Joe Emerson)

News

Southeast salmon business hooks national attention

Shoreline Wild Salmon delivery service feted by Good Housekeeping.

Waterways in Southeast Alaska are seen from the air in this 2021 photo by a member of the Central Council Tlingit Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska. The Native tribe is among many in the U.S. and Canada seeking faster and more definitive action by the two countries to cleanup polluted mining sites and safeguard areas against harm from future industrial activity. Complaints about contaminated sites in some border areas, including the Tulsequah Chief mine in British Columbia about 20 miles from Alaska near Juneau, have gone largely unaddressed for many years. (Courtesy Photo / CCTHITA)

News

U.S.-Canada summit leads to renewed calls for transboundary mining cleanups

Indigenous leaders — including Rep. Peltola, U.S. and Canadian tribes — seek joint oversight of areas

Smoked salmon and salmon spread, Mickey’s Fishcamp, Wrangell Alaska. (Courtesy Photo / Vivian Faith Prescott)

News

Planet Alaska: Salmon gratitudes

What are we grateful for today? Is it our heritage, our homes, our art, elders, our food?

Sockeye salmon return to Steep Creek to spawn. Alaska’s overall commercial salmon harvest across all species is currently up 15% from 2021 (2020 for pinks) with Bristol Bay and the Prince William Sound largely carrying the weight while other regions lag, according to data from the most recent Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute weekly salmon harvest update. (Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire)

News

Statewide salmon harvest on the upswing compared to last year, species vary in harvest success

See the salmon stats here.

2022 marks the 76th year the Goldern North Salmon Derby has existed in Juneau. The derby, which also doubles as a fundraiser, has raised nearly $2 million and given scholarships to more than 300 local high school and graduate students. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)

News

A dawdling derby

This year’s salmon derby seemed to lack numbers, participants according to officials

Colby Nelson throw one of the 11 fish he and Patrick Willis caught on Saturday for the derby. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)

News

A slow derby doesn’t stop local fishermen

Slow and steady wins the… salmon derby.