Doug Vincent-Lang
Commissioner · Alaska Department of Fish & Game
50 articles · 7 transcripts · 3 clips
Affiliations
Mountain goat hunt south of Tracy Arm closes early after hunters reach limit
Hunters have reached the mountain goat limit south of Tracy Arm, so the state shuts that hunt Friday night, 17 days early. The same thing happened last year.
Ambler Road hunting closure up for Nov. 20 vote traces to a confidential agreement
The Board of Game votes Nov. 20 on closing a strip along the Ambler Road to hunting and trapping. A confidential road memo called for backing one.
Kuukpik and SAExploration seek state permit for a winter seismic survey near Nuiqsut
“We strongly encourage the Service to finalize the ITR.”
Fish board to weigh resident-first kings, Homer Spit nets and helicopter anglers
Alaska Board of Fisheries meets Dec. 1-4 in Seward on 50 Lower Cook Inlet proposals: resident king salmon priority, Homer Spit closures, helicopter limits and hatchery plans.
No Kuskokwim River commercial fishery this year: a full look at the 2026 salmon season
The state offered no commercial salmon fishing on the Kuskokwim River this year, a first since at least 1998, while subsistence harvests came up short.
Federal managers close subsistence elk hunt on Afognak refuge lands for the season
Federal managers closed Afognak refuge elk hunting for the rest of 2026 after harvest hit 15% of the Waterfall Lake herd.
Conservation group plans to sue over Alaska Peninsula and Kodiak salmon fisheries
“We do not take such unfounded allegations lightly. As we did with the previous unjustified actions by this group, we will defend Alaska’s fisheries.”
Fish board member found in ethics violation makes the order public before Area M vote
The state found fish board member Curt Chamberlain's ethics disclosure incomplete and voided five Area M rules. He released the order Wednesday and disputes it.
Fish board adds eight Upper Cook Inlet king stocks and Little Susitna coho to concern list
“We don't think they're at risk of extinction, but we certainly aren't meeting yield requirements right now.”
Fish and Game closes eastern Afognak elk hunt Wednesday as harvest nears objective
Hunters reported 15 elk on eastern Afognak against a harvest objective of 16, so Fish and Game is closing the late registration hunt there Wednesday night.
Alaska Board of Fisheries urged to add a second vote on the final text of fishing rules
Alaska fishing rules become law before the board sees their final text. The Department of Law wants a second vote on it, after 30 days of public comment.
Late elk hunt won't open on western Afognak after hunters near the harvest limit
Afognak elk hunters already reported 51 of the 54 elk Fish and Game planned to allow, so the late registration hunt won't open on the island's west side.
Alaska faces $45 million SNAP bill unless error rate drops below 6%, commissioner says
Alaska's health commissioner says the state has until year's end to cut its SNAP error rate from 20% to under 6%, or the next governor gets a $45 million bill.
Goat hunt north of Port Valdez closes Wednesday night after harvest tops the limit
Hunters north of Port Valdez reported 9 goat points against a cap of 8, so Fish and Game is shutting the hunt Wednesday night, 10 days early.
Yakutat-area moose hunt west of the Dangerous River closes after hunters reach 30 bulls
Thirty bulls down on the west side of the Dangerous River, and that's the limit. Moose hunting there, near Yakutat, ends Saturday at 11:59 pm sharp.
Fish and Game closes Hodzana Hills caribou hunt as Dalton snowmachine access opens
Winter snowmachine use opens on Dalton corridor trails Nov. 1, so Fish and Game is closing the small Hodzana Hills caribou herd's hunt the night before.
Fish and Game reopens Baranof Island's Necker Bay goat zone after clerical error
Fish and Game reopened Necker Bay's mountain goat hunt zone Sept. 8 after discovering a clerical error had wrongly closed it, with zero goats actually harvested against a quota of two.
Eagle Glacier to Sawmill Creek goat hunt in Unit 1C closes Sunday night
Alaska closes the Eagle Glacier to Sawmill Creek goat hunt in Unit 1C after Sunday, October 4, through June 30, 2027, citing low population counts and poor recovery since a severe 2006/2007 winter.
Registration permits open Friday for Chugach mountain goats after drawing hunt falls short of quota
Chugach goat hunters who struck out in the drawing get another shot: Unit 14A registration permits open Friday after drawing hunters took just 7 of 12 goats.
Mountain goat hunt south of Port Valdez closes Thursday night after hitting harvest limit
Hunters south of Port Valdez have until Thursday night to finish the RG245 goat hunt. Four goats already hit the limit, and more hunters are still out there.
Lake George mountain goat hunt closes early Tuesday after hunters reach harvest limit
The Lake George goat hunt closes Tuesday night, two weeks early. Hunters have already used up every point the state set aside, and some are still out there.
Trawl meeting in Anchorage Oct. 16 will take no remote testimony
Fishery managers will spend a day in Anchorage on trawl nets touching the seafloor. No votes, no remote testimony, and written comments close Oct. 9.
Board of Fisheries committee weighs how to let the public weigh in on last-minute rewrites
“So either we got to extend the meeting, you know, to accommodate that or we have to readjust the— take away some of the public opportunity early on”
Fish and Game proposes flagging struggling salmon runs a year earlier so the public can weigh in
“the determination of a stock of concern, 1 year in advance of the meeting”
Bering River moose hunt closes after hunters reach 15-bull cap
The Bering River moose hunt closes Friday at its 15-bull cap. The herd behind it is estimated at 213 animals, against an objective of 300 to 350.
Goat hunt RG249 north of Valdez Arm closes
Goat hunting north of Valdez Arm closes Tuesday night, four months early. Hunters have reported five of the seven goat points allowed this season.
Last Unit 22 bull moose hunt closes early as quota fills
The Seward Peninsula's fall moose hunt is over, closed area by area as quotas filled. One section shut three days in. The winter hunt opens Jan. 1.
State says genetics funding enabled first Western Alaska chum bycatch cap
“That distinction matters.”
A goat season that runs to January is closing after six days
A goat hunt east of Unakwik Inlet closes Sunday, six days into a season that runs to January. The department says 30 days is closer to normal.
Copper River Delta moose hunt closes six weeks early at 24 of 25 bulls
Bull moose hunting on the Copper River Delta closes Wednesday night, six weeks early, after hunters took 24 of the 25 bulls the state allowed.
Spend $3 million on students now, or save it for next year's hole
“and that's really a sea change because you go back 10 or 20 years and for every vacancy in elementary there were, you know, 20, 30, 40, 50 viable candidates”
Bear Mountain goat zone on Baranof closes Sept. 18 after quota fills
Bear Mountain is the fourth Baranof goat zone closed this season — on quotas built from surveys the state hasn't flown island-wide since 2023.
The any-bull option closes in Unit 13C after three moose filled the quota
The any-bull option closes in Unit 13C at midnight Tuesday after three bulls filled the quota. The subunit's allotment dropped from five last year.
Moose hunting closes early west of the Darby Mountains
Moose hunting west of the Darby Mountains closes Sunday, a day early, as the last of several quota-driven closures around Nome this season.
A third Baranof Island goat zone closes early as the state guards the herd
Baranof Island's Lisa Creek goat zone closes Sept. 13 after two billies filled its quota — the third zone shut down early this year over population worries.
State opens four-permit muskox hunt in Unit 26B as herd falls to 220
Alaska will issue four bull muskox permits in Unit 26B starting Oct. 1, even though the herd has crashed to 220 animals, well below the 300-animal management target.
Two bulls close the bow-only moose hunt at Eklutna Lake, with hunters still out
Two bulls came out of the Eklutna Lake country and the bow hunt is over. That is roughly half a ton of meat taken off a herd of about seventy.
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.
Unit 22C bull moose season closes 12 days early, after two days
Bull moose season in Unit 22C on the Seward Peninsula closes Sept. 2, twelve days early, after hunters are expected to fill the 30-bull quota in just two days.
Fortymile caribou Zone 2 closes Sept. 5 as fall quota nears
Hunters in the roadless Fortymile range have until Sept. 5 to take a bull before Zone 2 closes — the fall quota of 100 is nearly met. Zone 3 stays open.
Hunters near Nome have one last day for a bull moose before the season closes early
Hunters near Nome have one last day for a bull moose before the season closes more than two weeks early, with the area's 17-bull quota set to fill.
A Fortymile caribou hunt closed after just 48 hours as the quota filled fast
A Fortymile caribou hunt near the Steese Highway closed after just 48 hours as its quota filled fast, drawing a complaint over the short window.
The Fortymile road hunt lasted 48 hours, exactly as predicted
The road-accessible Fortymile caribou hunt opened Aug. 20 and closed 48 hours later, exactly as the state biologist predicted before it began.
Fish and Game plans to cut about 50 of its own rules by year's end
“identified approximately 338 discretionary requirements under Fish and Game regulations in Title 5 of the Alaska Administrative Code”
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.
Two Fortymile caribou zones will close after just 48 hours
Alaska closes Fortymile caribou hunt in Zones 1 and 4 on Aug. 21, just two days after opening, expecting to fill the 190-bull quota in that window.
One goat fills the quota, and a whole hunting zone closes for the season
A single goat filled the entire season quota for Unit 1C's Point Windham zone, closing it to hunting Saturday night, a pocket of country so goat-scarce it allows just one animal a year.
Twenty ptarmigan a day, most of the year, across the Interior
Interior ptarmigan hunters get 20 birds a day from August through February across Units 12, 20 and 25C, with big stretches of lightly hunted country to work.
Mountain goat area west of Harlequin Lake closes tonight after a long population slide
The mountain goat area west of Harlequin Lake closes to RG170 hunters tonight — goat numbers there crashed from 122 to a dozen over the years, and a recent rebound hasn't convinced the state.
Most of the deer Alaska moved to the Kenai died over winter. The state is trying again.
“The goal of this is to provide hunting opportunity and food security for Alaskans,”
