Nature & Outdoors
RSSNature and Outdoors in Alaska is the state's wildlife, public lands and waters, and the activities Alaskans pursue in them. It tracks hunting and fishing seasons, wildlife management decisions, and access to trails, parks, refuges and fisheries statewide.
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Friday, Jul 31
Visiting anglers get an extra king salmon in Southeast this fall
Visiting anglers can keep a fourth king salmon in Southeast this fall, since the catch ran low — though the same math that eased the limit could tighten it.
by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Prince William Sound king salmon limit stays at one fish through Sept. 15
Prince William Sound's king limit stays at one fish through Sept. 15, right as the bite heats up near Glacier Island. Four terminal harbors still allow two.
by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
On Ship Creek, you can't even lift a king out of the water
Anchorage's creeks are open for coho but locked down on kings, and on Ship Creek you can't even lift one out of the water before releasing it.
by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Seward Lagoon youth-only king salmon fishery closes Friday night
Seward Lagoon's youth-only king salmon fishery closes Friday night at midnight, ending the summer window for anglers 15 and younger.
by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Trident is renewing its tanker spill plan, in waters it has spilled in before
Trident is renewing the spill plan for two tankers that move oil through Alaska waters — and the company has spilled here before. Comment by Aug. 27.
by Bill AlaskaNewsadded 3mo ago1 min read
Thursday, Jul 30
Alaska takes over hazardous waste rules, with enforcement in question
Alaska just took over hazardous waste regulation from the feds — the first state in 25 years. The open question: can it enforce the rules in remote Alaska?
by Lucas Brown3mo ago1 min read
Chitina dipnetters can keep sockeye but must release every king
Chitina dipnetters can catch sockeye but must release all kings this season, as weak Copper River runs raise an old question: which fishery fishes less first?
by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago1 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
More from Nature & Outdoors
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
Nearly half of Kodiak's landfill is organic. A resident wants the borough to look at composting.
With 43% of Kodiak's landfill made up of organic waste, resident Marion Owen has asked the borough's waste board to study whether community composting could work.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
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
The council that runs Alaska's fisheries has no tribal vote
The North Pacific council that runs Alaska's federal fisheries has no tribal voting seat. Tribes have fought for years to change it, so far without success.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Nushagak kings close on the calendar, not on a recovery
Nushagak-Mulchatna kings close Friday, release-only to the end. The restrictions lift on the calendar even though projected passage is less than half the goal.
by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Strong sockeye run opens Fish Creek to six salmon a day
A banner sockeye run opens Fish Creek early, doubling the sport limit to six salmon a day through Aug. 15. Kings still off-limits, coho capped at two.
by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Wednesday, Jul 29
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
About Nature & Outdoors
Nature and Outdoors in Alaska takes in the state's wildlife, public lands and waters, and the hunting, fishing and recreation Alaskans pursue in them. It spans sport, subsistence and commercial fishing, hunts for moose, caribou, elk and sheep, and access to parks, refuges and trails.
Decisions come from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, the Board of Fisheries, the Board of Game, federal fishery managers and the National Park Service. Seasons open and close as harvest limits fill, and stocks of concern, salmon limits in contested fisheries and halibut shares between charter and commercial fleets are recurring questions. Fishing fleets and seafood plants also depend on federal relief and loan programs and on export paperwork that NOAA explains to sellers.
More from Nature & Outdoors
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 
The state is opening Kenai lynx season — and already predicting it'll close next year
Alaska is opening Kenai lynx season Dec. 15–Feb. 28 while already predicting it'll close next year — the cats are heading toward the bottom of their boom-bust cycle.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
State cost-share helps Kenai and Mat-Su fix eroding riverbanks
Kenai and Mat-Su landowners can get the state to cover up to half or two-thirds of eroding-bank repairs — if they use salmon-friendly fixes, not rock armor.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
A federal minerals program is funding science on the seafloor mining wants to dig
An NSF grant is funding UAF-run science at a Pacific seamount through a "critical minerals" program — on the same mineral-rich seafloor that deep-sea mining wants, and that scientists call living habitat.
by Melinda Communities.News3mo ago1 min read
To understand today's coastal flooding, a UAF scientist will study an ancient one
A UAF scientist will spend two years studying how the sea drowned the Bering Land Bridge — because the same western Alaska coast is flooding again, and the ancient record is a forecast.
by Melinda Communities.News3mo ago1 min read
Weak sockeye run tightens fishing at Saltery Creek, twice in two days
A no-show sockeye run at Kodiak's Saltery Creek closes extra subsistence waters and cuts the sport limit from five fish to two, two restrictions in two days.
by Alaska News3mo ago1 min read
Tuesday, Jul 28
Kids get the Homer Spit's prime fishing spot for a day
Kids get the Homer Spit's best fishing hole to themselves Saturday for the lagoon's youth day — a perk some shut-out adults grumble about.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 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
UAF grant aims to read what a volcano is doing while it does it
A UAF grant aims to turn a volcano's rumble and infrasound into a live readout of how hard it's erupting, with Aleutian air traffic as the stakes.
by Melinda Communities.News3mo ago1 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
Monday, Jul 27
With 331 belugas left, the Park Service is chartering a boat to learn what they eat
Just 331 Cook Inlet belugas remain, so the Park Service is chartering a boat to study what they eat in winter — while critics say research alone won't save them.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
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
Alaskan Alpine Club seeks permit for new Alaska Range hut near Healy
A climbing club wants to build a new hut at the base of Nenana Mountain — a rare addition to Alaska's tiny backcountry hut network. Comments are open now.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Troopers cite 12 dipnetters on the Kenai in one day
Troopers wrote at least 12 dipnet citations on the Kenai in a single day, mostly for fishing after hours. The reward: $120 bail and a long drive home.
by Alaska News3mo ago1 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
Kenai dipnetting goes 24 hours as sockeye run hits 3 million
Daaaaang! Kenai sockeye are running hot — 3 million projected — so dipnetting goes 24 hours a day through Friday's season close. Residents only, and kings go back.
by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Sunday, Jul 26
Whale permit for Ketchikan bridge counts down to the single animal
Federal regulators will let a Ketchikan bridge project disturb up to 63 humpback whales. Last season's number was 62. Nobody filed a comment either way.
by Maggie AlaskaNewsadded 3mo ago2 min read
Federal rule changes loosen protections for Alaska's listed species
New federal rules quietly loosen Endangered Species Act protections just as Alaska's development push accelerates, with belugas, polar bears and eiders in the balance.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
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 mainstem reopens early as six spawning tributaries stay closed to Chinook and chum
Strong sonar counts returned the Kuskokwim mainstem to state management July 13, but six spawning tributaries stay closed to Chinook and chum through July 31.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
