Bycatch

Unharvested shrimp rolls into winter limit in a lightly fished Southeast trawl fishery

Shrimp trawlers near Wrangell and Petersburg can catch up to 250,000 pounds this winter. So few boats are fishing that their catch is confidential.

by Walter AlaskaNews6d ago2 min read

Bering Sea pollock fleet nears its 2026 limits as salmon bycatch debate continues

The Bering Sea pollock fleet nearly has its 2026 limits. Yukon tribes say salmon fishing stayed closed; a tribal group says bycatch rules are years off.

by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Glacier Fish, SeaShare present halibut donation permit to council

Glacier Fish and SeaShare asked federal regulators to let the Northern Glacier donate up to 5,000 pounds of halibut it now discards, sending the fish to Western Alaska food banks if approved.

by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Council advisers back Bering Sea crab ceilings after the state already set its catches

Federal advisers signed off on Bering Sea crab ceilings a day after the state set its catches. The unsettled part: what to do about hybrid crab.

by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Federal managers weigh permit letting a Bering Sea trawler donate halibut it now must discard

One Bering Sea trawler could give food banks the halibut it now has to throw overboard, under a federal permit open for comment through Oct. 16.

by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Pollock trawlers shut out of central Bering Sea area after hitting herring bycatch limit

Pollock fleet hit its herring bycatch cap, so part of the central Bering Sea closes to pollock trawling until March 1. Last year it closed five days earlier.

by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Fishery managers will meet on trawl seafloor contact, with no power to recommend

The Board of Fisheries took 51 seconds on three trawl proposals. Its follow-up meeting can't recommend anything and won't take testimony by phone.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago3 min readFrom Mar 20

Follows: Board of Fish Defers Trawl Gear Restrictions, Opts for Federal Coordination

State says genetics funding enabled first Western Alaska chum bycatch cap

State-funded genetic testing helped create a 45,000-fish Western Alaska chum bycatch cap. NOAA implementation is expected no earlier than 2028.

by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readFrom Sep 16

Follows: Pollock official puts bycatch impact on Western Alaska runs at 1.9%

Sullivan's bycatch bill advances from Senate committee

A Senate committee advanced Sullivan's bycatch bill, which would set trawl-gear standards, expand monitoring and fund bycatch research.

by Alaska News1mo ago1 min readFrom Sep 16

The snow crab limit is going up. There aren't more crab.

The Bering Sea snow crab catch limit would rise 13% this winter — not because there are more crab, but because scientists cut the safety margin in half.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago3 min read

Sullivan's bycatch bill reaches its first Senate committee test

Sullivan's bycatch bill gets its first committee test Wednesday. It mandates gear changes and monitoring, but doesn't ban trawling or set catch caps.

by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Bristol Bay's Nushagak opened late this year to protect its king salmon

Bristol Bay's Nushagak District opened weeks late this season to protect its struggling king salmon, delaying the fleet's access to the sockeye run.

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

In Kodiak, Sullivan and Peltola agreed on the problems and fought over the fix

Sullivan and Peltola agreed on nearly every fisheries problem in Kodiak and split on what fixing one looks like: laws passed, or fish in the river.

by Alaska News2mo ago3 min read

Bronson calls for bottom trawling ban in state waters at Kodiak fisheries debate

Dave Bronson called for banning bottom trawling in Alaska's three-mile state waters, the only gubernatorial candidate to propose the measure at a Kodiak debate.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Pollock official puts bycatch impact on Western Alaska runs at 1.9%

Pollock fishing in the Bering Sea reduces Western Alaska salmon returns by 1.9% on average, but a proposed cap on chum bycatch won't take effect until 2028 and tribal groups say it's still not enough.

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

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.

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Pollock fleet holds an Anchorage job fair days before a bycatch-shaped election

Days before the final vote, the Bering Sea pollock fleet holds an Anchorage job fair — as salmon bycatch, and a new mandatory chum cap, roil the 2026 campaign.

by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago3 min read

Regulators shift unused halibut allowance to Bering Sea trawlers

Regulators shifted unused halibut bycatch to Bering Sea trawlers' cod season, reviving the bycatch fight as halibut stocks sit near record lows.

by Bill AlaskaNewsadded 3mo ago2 min read

A halibut-bycatch report is dropped for the Bering Sea's biggest bycatch fleet

A paperwork notice drops a halibut-bycatch report on the Bering Sea fleet that kills the most halibut, just as a hard-won rule began reining that bycatch in.

by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read

Begich bill would make Alaska trawlers carry salmon excluder gear

Alaska's delegation wants trawlers to carry salmon excluders and seafloor sensors, as bycatch keeps killing Chinook from western Alaska's collapsed runs.

by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read

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.

by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read

Western Alaska leaders take food security to a circumpolar assembly

Western Alaska tribal leaders are in Nunavut for the first circumpolar Inuit assembly in nearly a decade, with food security high on the agenda.

by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read

Pollock fleet's groundfish bycatch fell below 1% in 2025, but salmon bycatch rose as warm water pushed fish onto the shelf

Pollock fleet's groundfish bycatch hit a 25-year low in 2025, but salmon catches rose as warm water pushed fish onto the shelf, alarming tribal subsistence advocates.

by Bill AlaskaNewsadded 4mo ago1 min read

Council sends Kodiak Tanner crab closure to second initial review with preliminary preferred alternative

North Pacific Fishery Management Council advanced Tanner crab protection measures to a second review, selecting non-pelagic trawl restrictions while keeping closure options open for further analysis.

by Bill AlaskaNewsadded 4mo ago4 min read

Pollock fleet asked to repeat voluntary crab closures in 2027 after proof-of-concept season

Alaska's pollock fleet will continue voluntary crab closures in 2027 after a 2026 test season showed the program works, with minimal bycatch when closures were active.

by Bill AlaskaNewsadded 4mo ago2 min read

Council votes 8-3 to study halibut bycatch rules for Golden Fleece replacement vessel

Council voted to study stripping a replacement vessel of halibut bycatch exemptions granted to the Golden Fleece in 2007, citing historic lows in Gulf of Alaska halibut stocks.

by Alaska Newsadded 4mo ago2 min read

Sullivan and Peltola, fighting over the same salmon

Sullivan introduced a bycatch bill he calls the most sweeping ever; Peltola, who's owned the salmon issue for years, counters with a tougher plan. The science is contested.

by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read

Sullivan's Bycatch Bill Wades Into Alaska's Hardest Fish Fight

Sullivan's sweeping bycatch bill targets trawl salmon catch — a real and raw grievance, even as federal science pins Alaska's river collapses mostly on a warming ocean.

by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago3 min read

A coho cap could close Cook Inlet's sockeye season early, fishermen warn

Cook Inlet boats are after sockeye, but the coho they catch by accident could shut the whole season — at a limit the feds set below their own scientists' advice.

by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min readFrom Jan 23

Alaska closes Yukon subsistence salmon fishing through early June

Alaska closed subsistence Chinook and summer chum salmon fishing across the Yukon River through early June, affecting twelve upriver communities where weak salmon runs have triggered multi-year restrictions.

by Alaska News5mo ago1 min read

Board Restricts Fishing Gear to Protect Chinook in Chignik, Area M

Alaska Board of Fisheries restricted seine net depth in Chignik to protect struggling Chinook salmon, effective 2027, after the local fleet voluntarily requested the limits.

by Alaska Newsadded 6mo ago4 min read