Forrest Bowers
Acting Director · Division of Commercial Fisheries
50 articles · 7 transcripts · 1 clips
Juneau, Alaska
Forrest Bowers was raised in Kodiak and lives in Juneau, Alaska. He serves as the Acting Director of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s Division of Commercial Fisheries, where his career began more than 30 years ago as a seasonal technician.
Affiliations
Kenai kings fell short again as a local panel starts reviewing plan changes
“that action plan calls for fishery restrictions”
Fish board agrees to reconsider Area M salmon limits the state voided in May
The fish board voted 4-3 to reconsider Area M salmon limits the state voided in May. The member whose ethics violation led to that voted yes each time.
Alaska Board of Fisheries picks Bethel and Dillingham for 2028 regional finfish meetings
The Board of Fisheries will take its 2028 AYK and Bristol Bay meetings to Bethel and Dillingham, after some debate over hotel rooms and winter dining.
Fish and Game lets tenders into Kodiak's herring B season with less than two weeks left
“is managed now with several seasonal components rather than just two”
Southeast Alaska sea cucumber dive fishery opens with a 1.4 million-pound cap
Alaska opened its 2026/27 Southeast sea cucumber dive fishery Monday with a 1.4 million-pound cap, down 18% from last season, with weekly openings by area until March 31, 2027.
Southeast winter troll king season opens Oct. 11, with five inside areas closed
Southeast's winter king troll season opens Oct. 11 and runs to March 15 or a 45,000-fish cap. Five inside areas stay closed to protect wild fish.
Southeast Alaska gillnetters caught less salmon this year but expect higher pay
Southeast gillnetters caught less of every salmon species than average this year, but prices are way up, so the paycheck should be bigger. Not a bad trade.
Yakutat set gillnetters get another opening, but still can't keep king salmon
Yakutat set gillnetters get another opening starting Sunday. Other salmon are fair game. Kings still aren't, in any size, whether for sale or for dinner.
Copper River commercial salmon season closes Oct. 13 after weak sockeye and strong coho runs
Copper River's commercial salmon season ends Oct. 13. Sockeye came in at a third of forecast, kings hit an eight-year low, and coho decided to make up for it.
Bristol Bay's 2026 sockeye run falls below 50 million for first time since 2014
Bristol Bay caught the fewest sockeye since 2014 and still made more money than usual doing it. Togiak missed its escapement floor by 702 fish.
Subsistence fishing reopens on the upper Yukon, village by village
Subsistence fishing reopens on the upper Yukon in stages from Sept. 26 to Oct. 6, timed so Canadian-bound fall chum pass each stretch of river first.
Tanana subsistence and personal use fishing goes 24 hours
Tanana River subsistence fishing opens to full gear around the clock Tuesday, after six straight years of restrictions on a fall chum run that came back.
Southeast trollers got ten more days, and a smaller fleet to fish them with
Southeast trollers got ten more days for coho. There is a smaller fleet to fish them, and the harvest is still headed below the record lows.
Two Southeast geoduck beds stay closed until biomass recovers past 30% threshold
Two Southeast geoduck beds stay closed after surveys found less than a third of the clams left. Sea otters are eating them, and the quota fell 40 percent.
Southeast's shrimp season opens small as the harvest keeps shrinking
Four Southeast shrimp pot areas open Oct. 1 with little quota left, as the region's overall shrimp harvest keeps shrinking and young shrimp fail to appear.
The Yukon's fall chum run could support a fishery, none has opened
The Yukon's fall chum run is big enough to allow a commercial fishery for the first time since 2019. The state hasn't opened one or said why.
Southeast king crab reopens for a second year after a long drought
Southeast Alaska's king crab fishery reopens Nov. 1 for a second year after seven closed seasons — a modest comeback, still barely over the legal line.
Kamishak Bay pink and chum escapement runs preliminarily below goals
Pink and chum escapement in Kamishak Bay finished below their spawning targets as the Lower Cook Inlet commercial salmon season closed.
Southeast pink seining closes at 19.8 million fish; hatchery areas stay open
Alaska Department of Fish and Game closed Southeast pink salmon seining Friday after the fleet caught 18.7 million fish at the best prices in years.
Southeast Alaska's king crab fishery will open, barely clearing the bar
Southeast Alaska's commercial red king crab season opens Nov. 1 with a 213,076-pound quota, the fourth opening since 2006 and the second in a row after years of closures.
Purse seining is finished for the year in Lower Cook Inlet
Purse seining ended for the year in Lower Cook Inlet. The Outer and Eastern districts closed at 10 pm Monday, and the advisory gives no reason.
Norton Sound's commercial salmon season ends with the counting towers down
Norton Sound's commercial salmon season has ended early. With most fish counting projects down, managers say they cannot confirm a harvestable coho surplus.
Kelp that washes up on Cook Inlet beaches can now be harvested and sold
Kelp that washes up on Cook Inlet beaches can now be harvested and sold, up to 86,000 pounds. Beachcombers are still capped at 10 gallons a day.
Southeast's sea cucumber divers get a smaller catch this fall
Southeast Alaska's sea cucumber dive fishery opens Oct. 5 with a 1.4 million pound harvest cap, down 18 percent from last season.
Eshamy District stays closed as sockeye run behind target
A rule capping set gillnetters at 36 hours a week in the Eshamy District took effect in July. The district has been closed to fishing all season.
A second Southeast area hits its lingcod limit in two weeks
For the second time in two weeks, Southeast longliners must start throwing lingcod back as another area hits its seasonal limit. The state calls it routine.
Juneau-area gillnetters get another opener, but directed king fishing stays closed on low abundance
Juneau-area gillnetters get another opener through Wednesday, but directed king fishing stays closed across four Southeast districts on low king numbers.
Gillnetters near Ketchikan and Haines get an extra day on the water
Drift gillnetters near Ketchikan and Haines got an extra day on the water this week, with some inlets and canal waters closed off in exchange.
Sand Point fishermen get 61 hours on the water — in a fishery the rest of Alaska watches closely
Sand Point fishermen get 61 hours on the water — in an Area M fishery watched across Alaska for catching chum bound for the struggling Yukon and Kuskokwim.
A Petersburg-area drift gillnet fishery opens for about 40 hours
The state will open a fishing section near Petersburg to about 40 hours of unrestricted drift gillnet fishing, from Tuesday evening through Thursday noon.
ADF&G closes Northern District set gillnet fishing for 12 hours Monday
Alaska closes Northern District set gillnet fishing for 12 hours Monday to protect coho salmon escapement into Cook Inlet streams.
Weak sockeye run tightens fishing at Saltery Creek, twice in two days
A no-show sockeye run at Kodiak's Saltery Creek closes extra subsistence waters and cuts the sport limit from five fish to two, two restrictions in two days.
The state ordered Cook Inlet setnetters onto gear their permits don't allow
Alaska ordered Cook Inlet setnetters onto gear their permits don't allow, deepening a years-long squeeze on a fishery it controls in state waters.
Cook Inlet drifters get 12 more hours as Kasilof sockeye double the goal
Kasilof sockeye are running at double the escapement goal, so Cook Inlet drifters get 12 hours Monday — still two miles off the beach for the kings.
Frederick Sound chum stays below average as pink salmon rebound
Chum Slumps. Chum Slumps. Chum Slumps.
Strong escapement at one weir is driving long Alaska Peninsula openings
One weir at Orzinski counts salmon for the whole South Alaska Peninsula. It's running above average, and the openings have gotten long to match.
Togiak sockeye escapement far below goal as fishing cuts loom
Low Fish counts lead to questions on season in Togiak
Southeast's Dungeness season closes early on a 25-year-low harvest
Southeast's summer Dungeness season closes three weeks early Saturday on the worst harvest estimate in 25 years. Sea otters are part of the long story.
Sockeye keep the drift fleet fishing while the Kenai's kings stay closed
Kasilof sockeye escapement is way past the top of its goal, so the drift fleet got another opener. The Kenai's kings are so weak the sport season never opened.
ADF&G extends Northwest Stepovak commercial salmon fishing 48 hours
Alaska Fish and Game opened Northwest Stepovak commercial salmon fishing for 48 hours starting July 12 noon, allowing purse seine and set gill net boats a brief window near Renshaw and Dent points.
Alaska closes District 4 subsistence fishing for fall chum and coho starting Wednesday
Alaska closes subsistence fishing for fall chum and coho salmon in District 4 starting Wednesday because the 2026 run is projected too weak to meet Canadian treaty obligations.
Kotzebue chum fishery opened Sunday, but only one buyer is registered to purchase fish
Kotzebue chum fishery opened Sunday with five fishing windows, but only one buyer is registered to purchase fish this season.
Southeast Alaska pink salmon counts fall far below average for fourth straight week
Pink salmon catches in Southeast Alaska have plummeted to 5 to 10 percent of normal for four weeks, prompting Fish and Game to consider cutting commercial fishing openings.
Togiak sockeye count far below expectations, fishing cuts likely next week
Togiak sockeye count hit just 8,340 by mid-July, far below the 120,000 minimum needed, forcing Alaska Fish and Game to likely cut fishing time for gillnet permit holders next week.
Yukon District 3 closes to fall chum and coho subsistence Saturday as treaty goals fall short
Alaska closes fall chum and coho subsistence fishing in Yukon District 3 and Innoko River on Saturday because Canadian treaty goals will not be met.
Copper River stays closed to commercial fishing as Chinook run tracks weak
Copper River commercial salmon fishing stays closed through at least Saturday as Chinook counts track weak, though subsistence fishers get a 12-hour window Thursday morning.
Yukon Chinook count at Eagle stands at 1,633, a third of average; ADF&G launches telemetry study
Yukon Chinook salmon are running at one-third of normal, forcing subsistence closures, and ADF&G is tagging fish to find out why.
Kuskokwim subsistence fishing reopens as salmon run strong
Subsistence fishing is back open on the lower Kuskokwim as salmon run strong — and the state is managing the mainstem again after losing a long fight over who controls the river.
Bristol Bay is hauling in millions of sockeye — and it's still a down year
Bristol Bay has already landed 26+ million sockeye — a staggering haul that's somehow still a down year, running about a quarter below its 10-year average.
Too many young fish shut Sand Point's seiners out of the Shumagins
Sand Point's seine fleet is shut out of the Shumagin Islands — test nets found immature sockeye at triple the closure threshold — as a lawsuit over the rules plays out.
