Commercial Fisheries
RSSCommercial fisheries in Alaska is the harvest and sale of wild seafood, from salmon, crab and groundfish to halibut and herring. The Board of Fisheries and the North Pacific Fishery Management Council set catch limits and bycatch rules for salmon, crab, pollock and halibut fleets statewide.
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Week of Aug 3
New EU paperwork could slow Alaska seafood shipments starting in September
New EU paperwork starting Sept. 3 could slow Alaska seafood shipments to Europe, though the strictest new rules hit farmed fish, not the wild-caught catch that is most of Alaska's harvest.
by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
A Homer seafood plant would pass to Silver Bay amid an OBI takeover
A Homer Spit seafood plant would pass to Silver Bay as it absorbs OBI statewide — a deal some fishermen and workers fear could erode local wages.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 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
Cook Inlet drift fleet limited to Area 3 for a single 12-hour opener Thursday
Cook Inlet drift gillnetters get just one 12-hour opener in Area 3 Thursday, driven by coho conservation — a federal EEZ closure and state limits are squeezing the fleet's access as coho harvest runs over its cap.
by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
Bering Sea cod trawl fee drops to 2.09% after fishery value jumps
Federal cost recovery fees on Bering Sea cod trawlers dropped from 3% to 2.09% after the fishery's value jumped 42%. But fishermen still want to know what the fees pay for.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Week of Jul 27
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
A paperwork snag with Europe threatens a major market for Alaska seafood
Europe is a major buyer of Alaska seafood, and a paperwork snag with the EU — one NOAA's own systems can't yet handle — is threatening some of those sales, with the clock running out Nov. 30.
by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
Bristol Bay hit its sockeye forecast. Prices are a different story.
Bristol Bay caught nearly as many sockeye as last year but is running 40% behind on value. Strong run, soft prices.
by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
More from Commercial Fisheries
Third gear cut in a week leaves setnetters absorbing a weak Susitna run
Fish and Game has cut Northern District setnet gear three times in a week over a weak Susitna sockeye run, leaving about 530 family permit holders to absorb it.
by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
NOAA scouts new fish-farm zones as Gulf of Alaska planning proceeds
NOAA is asking where to scout the next commercial fish-farm zones. The Gulf of Alaska is already in planning, and this round could expand it.
by Alaska News3mo ago1 min read
State opens comment on $5.8 million Cook Inlet setnet relief plan
Cook Inlet's East Side setnetters get to weigh in on splitting $5.8 million in disaster relief, arriving two-plus years after the 2023 season that earned it.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Homer fisherman cited for fishing closed waters in Bristol Bay
A Homer fisherman cited for fishing closed waters in Egegik heads to court Aug. 7 — a case that lands on Bristol Bay's tight fishing clock and who it's built to protect.
by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min readFrom 
Bering Sea crab fee drops by half, but the itemization fight remains
The Bering Sea crab fee dropped by half — but because the fishery earned more, not because the fleet can finally see what it's being charged for.
by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min readFrom 
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
NOAA asks how to simplify import rules Alaska waited a decade for
Import rules Alaska harvesters waited ten years for took effect Jan. 1. Seven months later, NOAA wants to know how to make them easier to run.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago1 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
Coming up
NPFMC Joint, BSAI and GOA Groundfish Plan Team Meetings
Alaska Fisheries Science Center, 7600 Sand Point Way N.E., Building 4, Seattle, WA (Joint and BSAI teams in the Traynor Room, 2076; GOA team in Room 2079), and Zoom (registration on the eAgenda)
Meeting
Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission Public Meeting
Meeting
North Pacific Fishery Management Council Scientific and Statistical Committee Meeting
Meeting
NPFMC SSC December 2026
Meeting
Written Comment Deadline: NPFMC Joint, BSAI and GOA Groundfish Plan Team Meetings
Public notice
About Commercial Fisheries
Commercial fisheries in Alaska take in the harvest and sale of wild seafood, including salmon, crab, pollock, cod, halibut, sablefish, herring, rockfish and scallops. Fleets work from Bristol Bay and the Bering Sea to the Gulf of Alaska, Kodiak, Prince William Sound, Norton Sound and Southeast.
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game and the Board of Fisheries manage state waters, while the North Pacific Fishery Management Council and NOAA set rules for federal waters. Seasons open and close as catch limits are reached, and managers set quotas, bycatch caps and observer coverage for each fleet.
Recurring questions include declining stocks such as Bering Sea snow crab, salmon bycatch in the pollock fleet, how quota is divided among gear groups and regions, and access to markets abroad. The Coast Guard patrols the fishing grounds, and fisheries connect closely to sport fishing, subsistence and the wider environment.
More from Commercial Fisheries
Portland fisherman cited for fishing during a closed period in Kvichak Section
Alaska Wildlife Troopers cited a Portland fisherman for illegal netting in Bristol Bay. This is one of 11 recent enforcement cases.
by Bill AlaskaNewsadded 3mo ago2 min read
Alaska opens all of Togiak to fishing with the sockeye count far below goal
Alaska is opening the whole Togiak District to commercial fishing with the sockeye count at a fraction of its goal — and no stated reason why.
by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
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.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Week of Jul 20
Copper River stays closed to commercial fishing as sockeye run under forecast
Copper River stays shut to commercial fishing as sockeye lag forecast; the only opening on the books is a 12-hour subsistence period Monday morning.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
A routine Yakutat fishing closure lands on a shrinking fleet
Yakutat's dusky rockfish season closed on schedule — routine, except for a shrinking small-boat fleet counting the ways left to make a living.
by Bill AlaskaNewsadded 3mo ago1 min read
Kuskokwim Bay subsistence fishing closes so commercial boats can fish
Kuskokwim Bay subsistence fishing closes Monday through Friday so the same waters can open to commercial fishing — the latest such swap this month.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Southeast shrimp fishery closes, and three areas won't reopen
Southeast's commercial shrimp fishery closes in eight areas July 31, and three won't reopen this fall or winter as shrimp numbers keep sliding.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Frederick Sound chum stays below average as pink salmon rebound
Chum Slumps. Chum Slumps. Chum Slumps.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
A Kodiak king salmon collapse is squeezing everyone who fishes
Just 93 king salmon reached the Karluk to spawn last year, against a goal of 3,000-plus. That collapse is why Kodiak's fleet is fishing on the clock.
by Bill AlaskaNewsadded 3mo ago1 min read
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.
by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Togiak sockeye escapement far below goal as fishing cuts loom
Low Fish counts lead to questions on season in Togiak
by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min readFrom 
Two Washington men cited for fishing Bristol Bay while it was closed in Naknek
Two Washington men — one 67, one 21 — got cited for fishing Bristol Bay's Naknek District while it was closed, plus three more counts each.
by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min readFrom 
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
Yakutat's Pacific ocean perch season closes after filling its quota
Yakutat's Pacific ocean perch season closed Wednesday after filling its 1,923-ton quota — the second West Yakutat rockfish fishery to wrap in a week.
by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
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.
by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
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.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
West Coast sablefish season loses its time-of-day rules Aug. 6
West Coast sablefish fishers stop watching the clock on Aug. 6 — the noon-to-noon season rules are gone. New federal fees arrive later, in 2027.
by Alaska News3mo ago1 min read
Yakutat's dusky rockfish season closes after filling its 150-ton share
Yakutat's dusky rockfish season is done for the year — 150 metric tons and out, right on the same July schedule as last year. Bycatch retention still allowed.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
The sea lions in Congress's salmon bill breed in Southeast Alaska
A House bill would expand sea lion removals to protect Columbia River salmon. The Steller sea lions involved breed on rookeries in Southeast Alaska.
by Maggie AlaskaNewsadded 3mo ago2 min read
Delta Junction man cited for fishing closed waters and gillnet violation in Nushagak
A Delta Junction man was cited for fishing in closed waters and violating gillnet rules in Bristol Bay on July 4, one of 11 citations troopers issued during peak sockeye season.
by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min readFrom 
Alaska's fishermen got left out of an $11 billion farm rescue
Washington's $11 billion disaster package covers crop farmers. Alaska's fishermen got a new USDA office and the phrase "farmers of the sea."
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
A storm hits Norton Sound just before Friday's gillnet opening
A Bering Sea storm hits Norton Sound Thursday with 45 mph gusts and 9-foot seas, a day before a 24-hour commercial gillnet opening.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
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.
by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min readFrom 
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.
by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
