Nature & Outdoors
RSSAlaska News covers outdoor recreation, trails, parks, wildlife viewing, fishing closures, and safety in Alaska's natural areas.
Sand Point fishermen get 61 hours on the water — in a fishery the rest of Alaska watches closely
Sand Point fishermen get 61 hours on the water — in an Area M fishery watched across Alaska for catching chum bound for the struggling Yukon and Kuskokwim.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Bears are still raiding the Kodiak dump, weeks after a state plan to keep them out
Bears are still raiding the Kodiak dump weeks after the state approved a plan to keep them out, because the landfill is full of fish and game waste they can't resist.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Unalaska moves to rebuild its harbor, with sea otter safeguards for the pile driving
Unalaska is set to rebuild moorage at Robert Storrs Harbor, with standard safeguards for nearby sea otters. The projected effect is minor. Comment to Sept. 10.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
The Situk's Rodeo Hole reopens Wednesday, the kings already gone upstream
The Situk's Rodeo Hole reopens to sport fishing Wednesday after five weeks closed, once surveys showed the king salmon had already moved upstream.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Troopers cite 19 anglers for fishing violations on Kenai, Kasilof
Alaska Wildlife Troopers cited 19 anglers on the Kenai and Kasilof rivers in late July and early August for fishing violations, mostly for failing to release snagged fish.
by Maggie AlaskaNewsadded 1mo ago2 min read
Prince William Sound's purse seine fleet stays closed, waiting on weather
Prince William Sound's seine fleet stays closed, grounded because the weather's too poor to fly the aerial surveys Fish and Game needs before it will open.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
A Petersburg-area drift gillnet fishery opens for about 40 hours
The state will open a fishing section near Petersburg to about 40 hours of unrestricted drift gillnet fishing, from Tuesday evening through Thursday noon.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
ADF&G closes Northern District set gillnet fishing for 12 hours Monday
Alaska closes Northern District set gillnet fishing for 12 hours Monday to protect coho salmon escapement into Cook Inlet streams.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Alaska Peninsula salmon fishing keeps opening and closing as managers work around sockeye returns
Alaska Peninsula salmon fishing keeps opening and closing — 20 advisories in this season — as managers work around sockeye returns near Port Moller.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
A sockeye surge doubles the Fish Creek salmon limit for a week
A strong sockeye run means Fish Creek anglers can keep six salmon a day through Aug. 15 — double the usual limit — before it drops back to three.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
The state closes Kuskokwim subsistence coho fishing as the run lags
The state closed subsistence coho fishing on the Kuskokwim River, cutting off a key food source mid-run as the coho run comes in far below average.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
The state will renew a Sitka hatchery's Deep Inlet lease for 10 years, not the 25 it wanted
The state will renew a Sitka hatchery's Deep Inlet net pen lease for 10 years, less than half the 25 it asked for, and the notice doesn't say why.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 1mo ago1 min read
Shaktoolik and Unalakleet subsistence fishers must pull beach seines Tuesday
Shaktoolik and Unalakleet subsistence fishers must pull beach seines by Tuesday, part of Norton Sound's king salmon conservation effort. Gillnets stay open.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Lower Cook Inlet seiners are shut down while set netters keep fishing, days before the season ends
Lower Cook Inlet's purse seiners are shut down while set netters in the same district keep fishing, right as the salmon season closes out Aug. 15.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Upper Cook Inlet reopens to a one-king limit after a spring closure
Upper Cook Inlet anglers north of Bluff Point can keep one king salmon from Aug. 16 through Sept. 15, after a closure meant to protect declining king stocks.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Kotzebue chum fishermen get a better price but have just one buyer left
Kotzebue chum fishermen are getting nearly 20 cents more a pound this season, but with only one registered buyer left, their market now hinges on a single company.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Cook Inlet's oil and gas discharge rules expired in 2021, and EPA is finally rewriting them
The rules for what oil and gas exploration can discharge into federal Cook Inlet waters expired in 2021 and have run on an extension. EPA is rewriting them.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Sitka's Coast Guard cutter dock clears review; work set for 2026
Sitka's Coast Guard cutter dock cleared its environmental review, with waterfront construction set to run from 2026 to 2028.
by Maggie AlaskaNewsadded 1mo ago1 min read
Wrangell-St. Elias weighs letting e-bikes park at Kennecott
You may soon be able to e-bike into Kennecott and park like every other vehicle, under a Wrangell-St. Elias rule change fixing an odd gap that left e-bikes out.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Troopers cite three anglers for keeping snagged sockeye on the Kenai
Alaska Wildlife Troopers cited three anglers on the Kenai River in late July for keeping snagged sockeye salmon, seizing four fish total that went to charity.
by Bill AlaskaNewsadded 1mo ago1 min read
Alaska moves to cut white-fronted goose limits again as the Y-K Delta population falls
Alaska wants to cut white-fronted goose limits in Unit 18 again as the Y-K Delta population falls, the second reduction in recent years. Comment is open through Aug. 16.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Yukon salmon conservation rules are now locked into state regulation, not left to managers' discretion
Yukon salmon conservation is now binding state regulation — fixed thresholds that keep the river's own commercial and much subsistence fishing closed.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Prince William Sound stays at one king a day through Sept. 15
Prince William Sound's king limit stays at one fish a day through Sept. 15, four harbors excepted, right as kings start showing up near Glacier Island and Pigot Bay.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
One goat fills the quota, and a whole hunting zone closes for the season
A single goat filled the entire season quota for Unit 1C's Point Windham zone, closing it to hunting Saturday night, a pocket of country so goat-scarce it allows just one animal a year.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Rockfish limit in Resurrection Bay stays at three a day through Sept. 15
Anglers in Resurrection Bay stay limited to three rockfish a day through mid-September, a cap in place since April that covers peak charter season.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Kodiak restarts landlocked silver salmon stocking after 11 years
Kodiak's road-system lakes are getting a landlocked silver salmon fishery back, the first stocking since 2015, though the fish need three years to grow to catchable size.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
A weak coho run just shut down federal commercial salmon fishing in Cook Inlet
A weak coho run just closed commercial salmon fishing in Cook Inlet's federal waters through Aug. 15, and the low cap is already squeezing state gillnetters.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 1mo ago1 min read
The Yukon River is mostly closed to salmon fishing this year
The Yukon is mostly closed to salmon fishing in 2026 — kings, chum, likely coho — with runs badly depressed and kings barred under a U.S.-Canada pact.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Ketchikan anglers can keep more kings this month, even with a slow run
Ketchikan anglers can keep more kings this month even though the run is slow, though area closures still apply and the department hasn't explained the increase.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
AFN gathers Dillingham voices on the future of subsistence
AFN holds a four-hour listening session in Dillingham on Aug. 12 to gather subsistence harvesters' input on how Alaska's subsistence future should be managed.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Want to spear whitefish by lantern light? The permit deadline is Friday
Alaska households have until Friday to enter the lottery for 400 permits to spear whitefish by lantern light on the Chatanika River this fall.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Pollock fleet holds an Anchorage job fair days before a bycatch-shaped election
Days before the final vote, the Bering Sea pollock fleet holds an Anchorage job fair — as salmon bycatch, and a new mandatory chum cap, roil the 2026 campaign.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago3 min read
New bill from Murkowski would let NOAA identify fish from the DNA they leave in the water
Fish leave DNA in the water, and a new bill would let NOAA read it to fill survey gaps — like the Aleutian king crab stock with no survey data at all.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
A sixth straight weak week points to a below-average chum run near Petersburg
A sixth straight below-average week points to a weak chum run near Petersburg, with pinks running low and mixed, as the season's test fisheries close out.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Sullivan leads a push to sanction ships supplying China's fleet
Nine senators led by Sullivan asked Treasury to sanction 29 ships supplying China's fishing fleet over its illegal catch. Treasury hasn't acted.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
In Talkeetna, a debate over whether weather or a bridge is eroding the riverbank
Weather, or a rebuilt railroad bridge? As Talkeetna's bank erodes, one river-watcher says the bridge choked the river — and that's the fixable cause.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Situk River sockeye fishery has all but ended, ADF&G says
Situk River sockeye runs have collapsed to their lowest in five years, forcing ADF&G to tell anglers the sport fishery has ended even though the daily limit stays at three fish.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Kuskokwim coho fishing slow in early August as Bethel sonar counts run low
Coho fishing on the lower Kuskokwim has been very slow in early August amid high water and low Bethel sonar counts, though escapement should still be met.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Alaska's one-boat state crab fishery reopens as offshore quota rises
Alaska's tiny state-waters golden king crab fishery reopens — one boat fished it last year — while the far larger offshore quota climbs 13%.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
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 AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read