Southeast Alaska sea cucumber dive fishery opens with a 1.4 million-pound cap

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game opened the 2026/27 Southeast Alaska commercial sea cucumber dive fishery at 8 am Monday, Oct. 5, making 1,397,600 pounds available. The season runs week to week: the department will announce openings weekly until each area's guideline harvest level is reached or March 31, 2027, whichever comes first.

That total is 18% smaller than last season's 1,706,100-pound guideline harvest level. Last season's harvest also fell short of its cap: 142 divers made 1,122 landings and harvested 1,518,700 pounds, 11% below the guideline harvest level and worth about $4.4 million, according to the department's 2025/26 season summary, before the fishery closed April 29.

Area caps set how long each district stays open. The West Shore of Gravina Island carried an 81,900-pound cap and fished during specified periods Monday and Tuesday. Southeast Baranof, which takes in Patterson Bay, Deep Cove and Port Lucy, carries a 26,100-pound cap.

Hand-picking is required, and mixed gases and saturation diving are prohibited, which the department says leaves sea cucumbers in deeper waters a refuge. The rules cap each permit holder at 2,000 pounds of eviscerated sea cucumbers per fishing period and allow only two permit holders to land from any registered vessel per period.

A 2025 Alaska Board of Fisheries regulation lets the department extend the season to April 30, 2027, by emergency order if harvest remains and permit holders have a viable market.