Prince William Sound noncommercial shrimp fishery will not reopen in 2026

Prince William Sound shrimpers got about five weeks on the water this year, and they won't get any more. The commercial fleet got nothing at all.

The noncommercial season opened May 1 and closed after June 8 — cut short from a window that normally runs through mid-September — with each person and vessel limited to two pots instead of five. Fish and Game confirmed in its report this week that the fishery "will not reopen in 2026." The Division of Commercial Fisheries separately announced the commercial shrimp pot season wouldn't open this year at all.

Access has been narrowing fast. In 2025 the noncommercial season ran May 1 through July 31 under the same two-pot limit. This year it lasted a little over a month.

What the department hasn't published is why. The report announcing the closure offers no stock assessment, no survey data and no explanation of what changed between last year and this one.

That gap is part of what critics point to. Charter and outfitting operator Saltwater Excursions argues on its regulations page that small-scale personal use and subsistence shrimping under strict pot limits would keep community access open without putting the stock at risk.

Fishermen have also asked the state to go find out. At a Board of Fisheries discussion of Prince William Sound shrimp proposals last year, Forrest Jenkins of Cordova District Fishermen United asked the department to "source more funding to gain more information through pot surveys."