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 3
Pollock fleet asked to repeat voluntary crab closures in 2027 after proof-of-concept season
Alaska's pollock fleet will continue voluntary crab closures in 2027 after a 2026 test season showed the program works, with minimal bycatch when closures were active.
by Bill AlaskaNewsadded 4mo ago2 min read
Council votes 8-3 to study halibut bycatch rules for Golden Fleece replacement vessel
Council voted to study stripping a replacement vessel of halibut bycatch exemptions granted to the Golden Fleece in 2007, citing historic lows in Gulf of Alaska halibut stocks.
by Alaska Newsadded 4mo ago2 min read
North Pacific council directs Ecosystem Committee to revise 2004 groundfish policy goals
The North Pacific Fishery Management Council is updating 2004 groundfish goals. Tribal groups want stronger protections for salmon.
by Alaska Newsadded 4mo ago3 min read
A fisherman feared lost, as Bristol Bay's run shows strain
A crew member is feared dead after going overboard near Egegik Bay, as record-low sockeye counts force fishery closures and troopers cite fishermen across Bristol Bay.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Thursday, Jul 2
In Koyuk, old fuel tanks left petroleum in the ground. Now someone will measure it.
Two old fuel tank farms left petroleum in the ground in Koyuk, part of a statewide legacy of thousands of contaminated sites. A federal grant will assess how bad it is.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Wildlife Troopers cited a Bellingham fisherman for allegedly fishing in Bristol Bay
A Washington fisherman was cited for allegedly fishing across a closed boundary in Bristol Bay — the invisible lines that keep the world's biggest sockeye run from being overfished.
by Bill AlaskaNewsadded 4mo ago1 min read
Weak Copper River runs bring king closures and a Chitina dipnet shutdown
Copper River salmon are running weak, so kings are now off-limits in Upper Copper sport fishing from July 6, and the Chitina dipnet closes July 6–12.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
A Ketchikan-area geoduck farm wins a 20-year lease renewal
Geoducks are giant, long-necked clams that can live past 100 and sell for a fortune. A Ketchikan-area farm that grows them just locked in 20 more years.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
More from Nature & Outdoors
Fishing Prince of Wales for kings? The nonresident limit just dropped.
Nonresident king limits on Prince of Wales tightened July 1. Two ADF&G documents disagree — the annual cap may be as low as one fish — so confirm the number before you keep one.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
One place near Anchorage where you can still keep a king
ings are closed across the Mat-Su and Northern Cook Inlet — except Eklutna Tailrace, a stocked fishery where you can still take one home while the wild runs stay shut.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Lingcod is open outside Seward but closed inside Resurrection Bay
Lingcod season is open outside Seward, where fishing should be hot — but inside Resurrection Bay you can't even cast for one. And bring 'em back whole.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Alaska's kings are down almost everywhere — here's the picture
From the Yukon to Kodiak to Prince William Sound, Alaska is closing or tightening king salmon fishing nearly statewide — a slow-motion decline now measured in decades, not seasons.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago3 min read
Volunteers wanted to rebuild the Ermine Hill Trail to Kesugi Ridge
Alaska Trails wants a weekend crew to fix a footbridge on Ermine Hill, one of the best routes up Kesugi Ridge. Steep hiking, big Denali views, bring gloves.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Anchorage hunters can zero rifles at free sight-in day July 8
Alaska Fish and Game hosts a free rifle sight-in day July 8 at Rabbit Creek Shooting Park, 4 to 8 p.m., with a gunsmith and chronograph on site.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Wednesday, Jul 1
Cordova's fishermen are getting a new dock — and losing "the slowest crane in harbor"
Cordova cleared the way for a new offloading dock at Camtu's Alaska Wild Seafoods — retiring what one council member called "the slowest crane in harbor."
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
The West Coast halibut fleet left most of its quota for the July 7 opener
The West Coast halibut fleet caught just 27% of its quota in the first opener, so about 191,000 pounds are still up for grabs when boats head back out July 7.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo 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
Alaska now makes Dall sheep hunters pass a perfect-score test
Alaska now makes full-curl sheep hunters ace a 20-question quiz before hunting — because the herd is down 40 to 70 percent and every misjudged ram counts.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Ship Creek closes for 10 days as a king shortfall hits the hatchery
Anchorage's Ship Creek closes to all fishing July 3–13. A weak king return isn't meeting hatchery broodstock goals that supply fisheries across Southcentral, not just the creek.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Tuesday, Jun 30
Policing the world's biggest salmon rush
Amid Bristol Bay's 44-million-fish sockeye run, troopers cited five commercial fishermen for closed-period, gear-spacing, and grounding violations — the rules that keep a frenzy fair.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Two Kasilof dipnetters cited for dipnetting's most common mistake
Two Kasilof dipnetters were cited 12 minutes apart for the same slip: not recording their sockeye in ink — the most common dipnet ticket there is. Write it down.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Monday, Jun 29
Peltola tours the Interior on fish and costs — into a contested field
Peltola toured Interior Alaska on salmon and cost-of-living — but it's a campaign swing, not a coronation: Sullivan works the same ground and the same bycatch issue.
by Maggie AlaskaNewsadded 4mo ago2 min read
In Juneau, the shellfish rules just moved in opposite directions
Juneau's shellfish rules split around July 1: personal-use king crab reopens for residents, but shrimping in Section 11-A and Tenakee Inlet stays closed with no date set.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Alaska's fall hunt is coming, and hunters still don't know the rules
Fall hunts are almost here, but Alaska's season rules are stuck in legal review with no end date, and harvest tickets are delayed. Last year's rules apply for now.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Bring it back whole: a catch rule for Craig and Klawock anglers
Fishing out of Craig or Klawock? Certain fish have to come back whole — so the dock crews counting them can do the sampling that keeps the fishery healthy.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
On the Wood River, so many sockeye are coming back that the state wants you to keep more
Good news for once on the water: the Wood River sockeye run near Dillingham is so strong the state doubled the limit to 10 fish a day, through year's end.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Alaska Native groups take the salmon crisis to a national tribal stage
Four Alaska Native groups took the salmon crisis to the national tribal stage, pressing for a bigger Native role in managing runs that have collapsed on the Yukon and Kuskokwim.
by Maggie AlaskaNewsadded 4mo ago2 min read
Sunday, Jun 28
Dipnetting the Kasilof? Record and clip before you stash your fish
Record and clip each salmon before it goes in your cooler, or risk a summons like the Wasilla man cited at Kasilof on June 27.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Bristol Bay's sockeye season opens as Nushagak kings raise concern
Bristol Bay's sockeye season is open and the fish are pouring in — a roughly 45-million run. The shadow: depleted Nushagak kings swim the same waters as the nets.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Saturday, Jun 27
Kodiak Borough weighs tax on recreational harvest
Kodiak Borough is exploring a flat fee on fish boxes and game containers from recreational harvests, modeled on Sitka's $10 per box tax, and could adopt it by ordinance without a public vote.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
A fin whale's death near Seward reopens Alaska's vessel-speed debate
A pregnant fin whale that died of a vessel strike was found on a Royal Caribbean ship's bow near Seward. Investigators haven't said which vessel struck it.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Federal migratory bird subsistence rules take effect across Alaska
Alaska's spring subsistence bird harvest is older than the U.S. — and a 1916 treaty effectively banned it until 1997. This week's update continues a hunt Native communities never gave up.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
How Kodiak lives safely among the world's biggest bears
Kodiak shares its island with the biggest bears on Earth — up to 1,300 pounds — and a free Saturday Q&A teaches the skills that keep maulings remarkably rare.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
A new cruise terminal could rise in a humpback whale feeding ground near Juneau
The feds want comment on a Douglas Island cruise terminal whose two years of pile driving could "harass" 10 marine mammal species in a humpback feeding ground.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
ADF&G opens comment on three federal fishery disaster spend plans
Alaska Fish and Game is taking public comment on how to spend three federal fishery disaster grants, but hasn't yet posted listening session dates or details on the total money involved.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
NSRAA shuts Southeast Cove, Crawfish Inlet to common-property chum all season
NSRAA closed Southeast Cove and Crawfish Inlet to common-property chum fishing all season, cutting purse seine access at two northern Southeast harvest areas.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Friday, Jun 26
North Pacific Fisheries Management Council limit golden king crab catch limits
We're you planning on eating all that crab on your plate? No no, I'm sorry, I'm not trying to be pushy or anything, I was just curious.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
A quiet change to how Alaska's bird seasons get set
The feds are slowing how often they rewrite migratory bird hunting rules — a wonky change that lands hardest in Alaska, the only state with a legal subsistence spring hunt.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
On Admiralty Island, undoing the clearcuts at Cube Cove
The Forest Service closed part of Admiralty Island while crews blast out logging-era debris at Cube Cove — undoing old clearcut damage to give the salmon their streams back.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Interior loses its salmon fishing — pike it is
The Tanana drainage just lost king and chum fishing entirely, leaving Interior anglers chasing pike scattered across a flooded Minto Flats — work for it, with big flashy spoons.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Sullivan and Peltola, fighting over the same salmon
Sullivan introduced a bycatch bill he calls the most sweeping ever; Peltola, who's owned the salmon issue for years, counters with a tougher plan. The science is contested.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
