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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Sunday, Jul 26
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
Saturday, Jul 25
Frederick Sound chum stays below average as pink salmon rebound
Chum Slumps. Chum Slumps. Chum Slumps.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
A permit to study 14 Alaska marine mammal species is up for comment
A Fairbanks firm wants a federal permit to study 14 Alaska marine mammal species. NOAA is taking public comment through Aug. 26.
by Maggie 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
Friday, Jul 24
The North Slope's fuel farms sit on thawing ground
The state is renewing spill plans for eight North Slope fuel farms sitting on ground that is thawing and eroding out from under them.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Mercury in Western Aleutian sea lion pups exceeds safety thresholds, prompting $1.5M NSF study
Mercury in endangered Aleutian sea lions has doubled in a decade, and pups now top safety limits. Scientists want to know why before it reaches people.
by Melinda Communities.News3mo ago1 min read
Thursday, Jul 23
Cook Inlet clammers need a permit, and the east-side beaches stay empty
You now need a permit to dig razor clams on Cook Inlet — though on the Kenai's east-side beaches, closed since 2015, there is almost nothing left to dig.
by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
More from Nature & Outdoors
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
A dog reported killed in the Bear Valley bear attack turned up alive
The dog reported killed in Saturday's Bear Valley bear attack is alive and unhurt — another hiking party found it and brought it home.
by Maggie 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 
Fish Creek dipnet fishery opens Sunday for Alaska resident dipnetters
More fishing more fish
by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min readFrom 
Bristol Bay sockeye limit stays at 10 fish through year's end in Wood River and Nushagak-Mulchatna drainages
Bristol Bay doesn't seem to be having the problems with fish the rest of the state is.
by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
High water has Southcentral anglers waiting it out
Flooding has Southcentral anglers mostly sidelined — weirs underwater, creeks blown out, and 12-foot waves hitting the Kenai dipnet beaches.
by Bill 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
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
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
Chatanika River whitefish spear lottery opens July 27
Everyone loves the lottery - this one for Fish
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Ketchikan Creek opens to dip netting for hatchery king salmon
Kings are closed across much of Alaska, but Ketchikan Creek just opened to dip netting for hatchery Chinook. Wild ones go back. Residents only, net in hand.
by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Aleutians East newsletter flags fisheries as defining issue in 2026 Alaska races
Aleutians East Borough won a legal fight over salmon fishing rules in May and is now directing voters to check where candidates stand on fisheries in the 2026 governor, Senate, and House races.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
Kodiak boats have nowhere legal to store hazardous waste
Kodiak boats make hazardous waste year-round, but the island collects it twice a year — and nowhere on Kodiak can legally hold it in between.
by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min readFrom 
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
Wednesday, Jul 22
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
Whale permit for Juneau's fifth cruise dock issued with no public comment
Juneau has fought over its fifth cruise dock for six years. When the feds asked about letting construction disturb whales and sea lions, nobody said a word.
by Alaska Newsadded 3mo ago1 min read
Nine years of one-year permits in the waters where the North Slope hunts
Federal regulators are weighing a ninth straight one-year permit letting Navy research disturb whales and seals in the Beaufort and Chukchi — the waters where North Slope communities hunt.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Three salmon runs are down at once on Prince of Wales
Kings, coho, and pinks are all below average on Prince of Wales, and coho harvest is half last year's. The island needs rain to move fish into the creeks.
by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Past three miles, Alaskans fish like nonresidents
Alaskans lose resident fishing limits the moment they cross into federal water — and keeping a big lingcod inshore can shut you out of the EEZ entirely.
by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Chitina's dipnet window shrinks to 48 hours as sockeye falter
Chitina dipnetters get 48 hours next weekend, half the window two weeks ago, after last week's sockeye count came in 26,000 fish short.
by Bill 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
Too few goats, too easy to reach: South Baranof stays closed
South Baranof stays closed to goat hunting a second year running — too few goats, and too easy to get to, which is exactly the problem.
by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
EPA proposes a $5,859 penalty over Dutch Harbor discharges
EPA wants $5,859 from UniSea over discharges into a Dutch Harbor bay that Unalaska residents use for subsistence. Public comment closes August 19.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago1 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 
Chisana caribou subsistence hunt opens Aug. 10 with six-bull quota
Federal subsistence permits for Chisana caribou opened July 20, with hunting August 10 through September 30 or until six bulls are taken, limited to residents of five named Unit 12 communities.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min readFrom 
Hilcorp seeks 50 megawatts of new power at Milne Point
Hilcorp wants about 50 megawatts of new turbine power at Milne Point — three big turbines and 185,000 gallons of fuel. Comments close 30 days from July 18.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Tuesday, Jul 21
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
No Juneau beach is tested for the toxin in clams
No Juneau-area beach is regularly tested for the toxin in clams that can stop your breathing — and cooking does not destroy it.
by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
Five muskoxen are stuck on a 15-acre island, so Alaska is opening a hunt
Five muskoxen wandered onto a 15-acre island with no water and no way off. Alaska can't afford to move them, so it's opening a hunt instead.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
