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 Jul 13
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.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
ADF&G issues four commercial salmon emergency orders across Alaska Peninsula, Kuskokwim, and Kotzebue areas in three days
ADF&G issued four emergency orders in three days for salmon fisheries. • Sand Point and Port Moller openings target sockeye and mixed stocks. • Kuskokwim Bay and Kotzebue Sound orders adjust chum salmon harvest rules. • Fishermen must track shifting schedules as run conditions dictate changes.
by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
Five commercial fishers cited in single-day Bristol Bay closed-water sweep
Alaska Wildlife Troopers cited five commercial fishers on July 15 for fishing in closed Bristol Bay waters during the sockeye run, with all five scheduled for arraignment Aug. 5.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
PWS sockeye season ends with low returns as fleet pivots to coho
Prince William Sound sockeye season ended with historically low returns, forcing commercial fishers to chase coho in August to recover lost income.
by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
Southeast troll Chinook season stretches into mid-July with half the quota still in the water
Southeast Alaska's commercial Chinook troll season is running longer than expected because fewer boats are fishing and catch rates are slow, leaving about half the quota still available in mid-July.
by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
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.
by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Two Washington men cited for fishing closed waters in Egegik
Two Washington men were cited for commercial fishing in closed Bristol Bay waters near Egegik on July 10, facing arraignment in August.
by Bill AlaskaNewsadded 3mo ago1 min read
Kotzebue Sound fishing ban near airport runway takes effect with July 10 commercial opening
Kotzebue's first commercial salmon opening July 10 now runs under a permanent fishing ban near the airport runway that blocks both commercial and subsistence nets to keep birds away from planes.
by Bill AlaskaNewsadded 3mo ago1 min read
More from Commercial Fisheries
BSAI Pacific cod trawl season ends early for AFA catcher/processors
NMFS shut down directed Pacific cod fishing for AFA trawl catcher/processors in the Bering Sea starting Monday, July 20, after the sector hit its annual allowance.
by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
Comment window opens on Alaska fishing license transfer paperwork renewal
Alaska commercial fishers have until mid-August to comment on federal fishing license transfer forms, with the only change being that paperwork can now be submitted by email instead of by mail.
by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
NMFS proposes removing economic data reporting requirements for BSAI trawl and crab programs
Federal fisheries managers proposed eliminating economic reporting requirements for Bering Sea trawl and crab harvesters, citing limited usefulness and cost savings.
by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
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.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Two Illinois men cited for unlicensed crewmember violations in Naknek-Kvichak Bay
Alaska Wildlife Troopers cited two Illinois men for employing unlicensed crew members during Bristol Bay salmon fishing on July 12, when new Board of Fisheries regulations took effect.
by Bill AlaskaNewsadded 3mo ago1 min read
A collapsing salmon season could force Cordova to cut services this winter
Cordova's budget runs on fishing-fleet fuel taxes. With Prince William Sound's pink salmon a no-show, a council member is warning of service cuts this winter.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
The West Coast dips into the halibut stock Alaska shares
The West Coast opens its third halibut period July 21 — a small slice of the same coastwide stock Alaska's fleets and subsistence users draw from.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Bristol Bay enforcement program yields 11 citations across Naknek and Nushagak districts
Alaska Wildlife Troopers cited 11 people in Bristol Bay's Naknek and Nushagak districts for commercial fishing violations including closed-period fishing and unlicensed crew.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo 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
Ketchikan anglers catch a rare break on king limits
Good king news for once: Ketchikan visitors can now keep two a day, and hatchery-fed Herring Bay is basically a free-for-all — while the wild-stock rules stay locked down.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
A small gold permit, on a river fighting for its future
A routine gold-mining permit on a Susitna tributary is a small piece of a much bigger fight over a salmon river conservationists just named one of America's most endangered.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
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.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
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.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Commercial fishing opens in Kuskokwim Bay as subsistence fishing closes
Commercial fishing opened in Kuskokwim Bay's Districts 4 and 5 through July 17, with subsistence fishing closed until the 18th — a real trade-off in a region built on salmon.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
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.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Week of Jul 6
Kodiak's seiners can fish — but not for a single king
Kodiak's seine grounds keep opening, but every king that hits the net has to go back — a quiet measure of how far Alaska's king runs have fallen.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Yukon summer chum run tops 900,000 projection, opening subsistence windows across drainage
Summer chum salmon run on the Yukon River is tracking above 900,000 fish, more than double the spring forecast, opening subsistence harvest windows across most of the drainage through late July.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min readFrom 
Chignik Bay District gets 48-hour window before Chinook plan closes it again Monday
Chignik Bay District opened Saturday for exactly 48 hours of commercial salmon fishing before closing again Monday under a plan designed to protect failing Chinook runs.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
One town, six citations: Homer stands out in Bristol Bay
Six people from Homer turned up in a single batch of Bristol Bay fishing citations — more than any other town. Whether that's coincidence or something more isn't yet clear.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Troopers are running an enforcement blitz on Bristol Bay's peak season
Troopers cited four more in Bristol Bay last week — mostly for improperly marked boats, the very violation Fish and Game flagged as a season priority. Part of a bigger crackdown.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
North Pacific council demands OLE justify enforcement fees billed to Alaska catch-share programs
North Pacific Fishery Management Council ordered NOAA to prove fees charged to Alaska catch-share programs are actual incremental costs, not general agency overhead.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min readFrom 
The offshore fleet that sees Bristol Bay's salmon run coming
200 miles out in the Bering Sea, research boats catch a glimpse of the world's biggest sockeye run a week before it arrives — and that early-warning window is now closing for the season.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Naknek River sockeye may fall short of forecast
Even in a 45-million-fish Bristol Bay year, the Naknek River is running weak — forcing managers to ration fishing time to protect the spawning run.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Alaska seafood exporters get EU paperwork reprieve through 2026
Alaska's seafood-to-Europe shipments dodge a July 10 paperwork cliff — NOAA bought exporters 18 more months before the new EU catch forms bite.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Bristol Bay's sockeye run is coming in stronger than forecast
Scientists raised Bristol Bay's sockeye forecast 16% to 48.2 million — a strong run pouring in as the fleet swells, though still below the bay's recent record years.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Deshka king run collapse forces Cook Inlet closures amid allocation fight
The Deshka king run is projected to come in at under half its minimum goal, and ADF&G is closing fisheries to save what's left.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Bristol Bay Eastside salmon fishery under rapid-sequence emergency orders
ADF&G is issuing rapid emergency orders for Bristol Bay Eastside salmon fisheries. The shifting schedule forces fishers to react to real-time sockeye run data.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Southeast Alaska pink and chum test fisheries run below average ahead of peak season
Southeast Alaska test fisheries show pink and chum salmon running below average, signaling a weaker return ahead of peak season in Frederick Sound and lower Stephens Passage.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Week of Jun 29
Alaska Wildlife Troopers issue 13 citations across Bristol Bay in 10-day enforcement push
Alaska Wildlife Troopers issued 13 citations to commercial fishers in Bristol Bay's Egegik and Nushagak districts between June 26 and July 1 for closed-period and closed-waters violations.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
ADF&G extends Districts 6 and 8 drift gillnet fishery 48 hours with mesh and area limits
ADF&G extended the Petersburg-area drift gillnet fishery 48 hours through Saturday noon with a 6-inch mesh cap and subarea closures in District 8 to protect Chinook salmon escapement.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Kuskokwim subsistence households face empty freezers as salmon closures hold
Federal salmon closures on the Kuskokwim through July 31 are leaving subsistence households with few chances to harvest fish for winter, forcing families to buy more groceries as prices rise.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Egegik and Kvichak stocks rise at Bristol Bay's Port Moller intercept
Egegik and Kvichak sockeye stocks are now dominating the catch at Bristol Bay's Port Moller intercept station, shifting the mix managers use to decide commercial fishing openings in early July.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Nushagak king salmon run on pace for near-record low season
Nushagak king salmon run is on pace for one of its weakest seasons since 1980, triggering a subsistence closure and forcing commercial fishermen to sell or donate all kings starting July 12.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
