Commercial Fisheries

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

Sand Point salmon fishery gets 131-hour opening in Stepovak sections

Sand Point salmon fishery opens for 131 hours Thursday through Tuesday in five Stepovak sections for purse seine and set gillnet permit holders.

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Southeast geoduck season set at 264,000 pounds, first opening planned Oct. 7

Alaska cut Southeast geoduck harvest to 264,000 pounds this season, down 40% from last year, with the first opening set for October 7 pending toxin tests.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 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

Bering Sea halibut boats would get a catch cap double the rest of Alaska

Bering Sea halibut boats have gone five years with no catch limit. Regulators want to fix that, at roughly double what the rest of Alaska lives with.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min readFrom Sep 3

Bering Sea pollock companies are hiring at an Anchorage event

Companies that catch and process Bering Sea pollock are hiring at an Anchorage job event Oct. 29, for jobs that pay a share of the catch.

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

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.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Chignik opens four districts to salmon fishing for 48 hours starting Monday

Alaska opens four Chignik districts to commercial salmon seining for 48 hours starting Monday as the region's weak king salmon run strains both fishing crews and conservation goals.

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Follows: Chignik fishermen get a five-day opening, but most of the area stays closed on weak runs

Norton Sound commercial salmon fishing closed for the rest of 2026

Norton Sound's commercial salmon fishery is closed for the rest of 2026 after most of the state's fish-counting projects failed, leaving too much uncertainty.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min readFrom Aug 31

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.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Follows: Kamishak District closed to seining after survey found fewer pinks

Federal money will put naloxone and first aid training on remote Alaska fishing boats

A nurse whose son died of an overdose at sea started mailing naloxone to fishing boats. Federal money will now expand it across remote Alaska.

by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

NMFS closes directed perch fishing in the Western Aleutian district

Federal fisheries closed directed Pacific ocean perch fishing in the Western Aleutian district through year-end Friday after the trawl fleet's 214-metric-ton annual allowance was reached.

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

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.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

NOAA would let one boat take far more western halibut to get anyone fishing it

Alaska's halibut is not getting caught. NOAA wants to let a single boat take much more of the western quota to get somebody out there fishing it.

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

A court struck down a fishery council's power. Alaska's council has the same one.

A court found a Gulf fishery council's veto unconstitutional — and Alaska's council holds the same power, behind the CDQ program and other fishing regimes.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago3 min read

Kodiak salmon fishing extended into Sunday across multiple districts

Alaska Department of Fish and Game extended Kodiak commercial salmon fishing into Sunday across multiple districts, with closing times varying by area between 6 p.m. Saturday and 6 p.m. Sunday.

by Bill AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago2 min read

Follows: Kodiak salmon fishing extended again, running through Wednesday evening

The paperwork behind 65 villages' share of the Bering Sea is up for renewal

Sixty-five Western Alaska villages hold a share of the Bering Sea. Keeping the paperwork current takes 36 hours a year, and it is up for renewal.

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Alaska seafood headed to Europe needs a new certificate starting today

Alaska seafood bound for Europe needs a new health certificate as of today, declaring no antibiotics were used for growth and none reserved for human medicine.

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

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.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Southeast seiners get one 15-hour opening, in Sitka Sound

Southeast seiners get one 15-hour opening in Sitka Sound this week and nothing else. The fleet has thinned to 75 boats from 121 a week earlier.

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Norton Sound summer crab harvest reaches 111% of quota

Norton Sound's summer king crab fishery landed $3.5 million worth of unusually big crab this year, even as the overall harvest limit fell 65 percent from 2025.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

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.

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

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.

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Follows: With monitoring down, the state is using a commercial opening to gauge coho

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.

by Alaska News2mo ago1 min read

Kodiak salmon fishing ends Monday evening in Eastside and Northeast districts

Kodiak's east side closes Monday while the west and north hold through Wednesday. Karluk's king escapement last year was the second lowest on record.

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Deep Inlet closes to common property salmon fishing for broodstock

Alaska closed Deep Inlet to commercial salmon fishing Monday to let a hatchery collect broodstock, with no reopening date set, cutting off Sitka fishermen from a key fishing ground.

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Follows: Deep Inlet reopens to the commercial fleet after the hatchery takes its cut

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.

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Kodiak seiners got four more days, or one, depending where they were

Kodiak seiners on the west and north sides got four more days Saturday. Four Alitak sections got one. The order gives no reason for the split.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Follows: Kodiak salmon fishing extended again, running through Wednesday evening

NMFS closes Central Gulf cod for hook-and-line vessels 50 feet and up

On Sept. 1, Alaska's largest hook-and-line boats lose Central Gulf cod for the year, while smaller boats gain new cod access in state and Bering Sea waters.

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Rules on remote Alaska communities' fishing quota return to council

Federal fishery managers revisit rules on how small, remote Alaska communities hold and trade halibut and sablefish quota, at an October meeting in Anchorage.

by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Small cod boats return Sept. 1 in the Bering Sea and Aleutians

Small cod boats get their Bering Sea fishery back Sept. 1 after seven months out, with quota shifted from two fleets that will not catch theirs.

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

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.

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Three Afognak sections close as Kodiak gets a 102-hour opening

Three Afognak sections closed Wednesday evening while the rest of Kodiak got periods of up to 102 hours. The Chinook nonretention rule still stands.

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Follows: Kodiak salmon fishing extended again, running through Wednesday evening

A Hoonah oyster farm wants to grow to about 10 acres

A Hoonah oyster farm wants to add two parcels and renew its state lease for 20 years, bringing the site to about 10 acres. Comments close Sept. 28.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Central Aleutian perch fishery closes early for a second straight year

Central Aleutian trawlers lose Pacific ocean perch at noon Thursday, four months early — the second straight year the fishery has closed ahead of schedule, and faster than last year.

by Alaska News2mo ago1 min read

Ninth Circuit upholds federal Cook Inlet salmon management against drift fleet challenge

Cook Inlet drift fishermen lost again in federal court. The fight over who actually gets the fish moves back to the Alaska Board of Fisheries.

by Bill AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago2 min read

Petersburg-area gillnetters get one more day before the fishery closes

Drift gillnet fishermen near Petersburg get one more day before Districts 6 and 8 close Thursday — the second short extension this month for the fishery.

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

With monitoring down, the state is using a commercial opening to gauge coho

Norton Sound gillnetters get one 24-hour coho opening this weekend. With monitoring projects mostly down, the state is using it to gauge abundance.

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Yakutat scallop fishery closes as harvest reaches 145,000-pound cap

Yakutat's commercial scallop fishery closes Wednesday as the fleet hits its 145,000-pound limit — a small statewide fishery worked by just two boats.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Cook Inlet pot boats get back into state-waters cod on Sept. 1

Cook Inlet's jig-only Pacific cod season closes Sept. 1 and reopens to all legal gear, leaving 339,000 pounds of unharvested quota available to pots, jigging machines, and troll gear through year-end.

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read