Hundreds of fishery stakeholders and scientists will gather in Anchorage next week as the state Board of Fisheries (BOF) begins its annual meeting cycle with a two-day work session.
Halibut catches fluctuate based on the ups and downs of the stock from California to the farthest reaches of the Bering Sea. If the numbers decline, so do the catches of commercial and sport fishermen.
The nation’s farmers of the sea are hoping for a helping hand from Uncle Sam to train future generations of fishermen. It would mirror programs in place for nearly 160 years for U.S. farmers and ranchers.
“Unpredictable” is the way salmon managers describe Alaska’s 2019 salmon season, with “very, very interesting” as an aside.
Federal agencies are meeting now through next March to define U.S. dietary guidelines for 2020-2025, and a high powered group of doctors and nutritionists are making sure the health benefits of seafood are front and center.
Now the shuffling begins at Alaska fisheries offices around the state as the impacts from back and forth veto volleys become more clear.
Underwater and out of sight are the makings of a major Alaska industry with two anchor crops that clean the planet while pumping out lots of cash: shellfish and seaweed.
Investment that comes from within, not from without, is the motivation behind a boot camp that will jump start and nurture businesses in communities throughout Bristol Bay.
While Joshua Slocum is famous as the first person to sail alone around the world, he also led the first American commercial salmon fishing venture in Cook Inlet, in 1871. Fishing off the Kasilof River with double-ended sailing dories, which later evolved into the famed Bristol Bay double end…
The Alaska Chamber of Commerce touts itself as “the voice of Alaska business” but seafood industry and coastal community members are largely left out of the conversation. The Chamber isn’t entirely at fault; it appears that most of those members are not speaking up.
It’s been one year, so how’s that trade war with China working out for the nation’s seafood industry?
KODIAK — As Alaska lawmakers continue their struggle to keep the state afloat, commercial fisheries dodged a bullet that would have removed millions of dollars from its budget.
KODIAK — Fisheries fared better than most people in terms of Governor Mike Dunleavy’s budget cuts.
KODIAK - One fisheries item that appears to have escaped Governor Mike Dunleavy’s veto pen so far is his desire to divert local fish taxes from coastal communities into state coffers.
KODIAK — The biggest fish story for Alaska’s salmon season so far is the early plug of pinks at the South Alaska Peninsula.
A well-intended new Alaska law has gone awry from a botched rollout that has turned thousands of Alaska fishing vessel, tender, barge and sport fish operators into lawbreakers.
KODIAK — Salmon dominates the summer fishing headlines, but it’s among many other fisheries going on throughout the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea.
KODIAK — More Alaskans are turning to seaweed farming as the state’s fledgling mariculture industry expands to more regions. Shellfish growers also are finding that an oyster/aquatic plant combo boosts their bottom line.
KODIAK — From the fish camps of the Yukon and Kuskokwim Rivers, to the gillnets of Bristol Bay, to the bear and angler-packed banks of Juneau’s Sweetheart Creek, salmon connect people to the land, the water, the seasons, and each other. Those connections create a culture that inspired author…
KODIAK — Salmon abundance in the North Pacific has declined slightly over the past decade, but salmon catches remain near all-time highs.
KODIAK — In his 46 years as Alaska’s lone representative in Congress, Don Young helped toss out foreign fishing fleets from Alaska waters with the onset of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act in 1976, and today he is intent on doing the same with offshore fish farms.
KODIAK — Bering Sea crabbers saw upticks in crab recruits during a good fishery for the 2018/2019 season, along with strong prices.
KODIAK — Bulldozers, blasters, excavators, vibrators, jaw crushers, drillers, graders, crushers, huge trucks and other heavy equipment are tools of the trade when building and operating large mines — and they all kick up a lot of dust.
KODIAK — Why should every Alaskan budget watcher care about the price of fish?
KODIAK — Nearly all Alaska salmon permits have gone up in value since last fall and buying/selling/trading action is brisk.
KODIAK — Protein Noodles by Trident Seafoods took top honors at the 26th annual Alaska Symphony of Seafood, winning first place in the retail category and the Seattle People’s Choice award.
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KODIAK — If you’ve fished around Frazer Lake on Kodiak Island over the last 20 years, odds are you’re familiar with jack salmon — a salmon, usually sockeye or a king, that returns to its natal stream after an abnormally short time at sea. For sockeye, that’s one year; for kings, one to two. …
KODIAK — More shipping containers filled with plastic fishing nets, crab lines and other gear left Dutch Harbor last week for recycling plants in Europe, and two more will soon follow from that port and Kodiak.
KODIAK — Alaska salmon fishermen harvested 114.5 million fish during the 2018 season for a payout of $595 million at the docks. That’s down 13 percent from the value of last year’s salmon catch.
KODIAK — Values for Alaska salmon permits have remained stagnant all year, except for two regions, and costs for halibut quota shares have plummeted.
KODIAK — “With fisheries, it’s almost the forgotten resource of our state as an economic driver. It’s almost like they are an afterthought. We have to realign that,” said Mark Begich, Democratic candidate for Alaska governor, as we readied for an interview during his trip to Kodiak last week.
KODIAK — Alaska appears to be an exception in terms of gender parity at all levels of its seafood industry.
KODIAK — Each new year of offshore salmon fishing is a new challenge.
KODIAK — Alaska’s salmon fisheries continue to lag alarmingly in several regions, with overall catches down by a third from the same time last year.
KODIAK — Sockeye salmon catches often add up to half of the value of Alaska’s total salmon fishery, and the so-called reds dominate the season’s early fisheries starting in mid-May.
Alaska pollock is the nation’s largest food fishery, usually producing more than three billion pounds each year. The flaky whitefish dominates in fish sticks, fast food sandwiches and surimi “seafood salad” blends — but most Americans don’t even know what a pollock is.
Puppy Love will soon be putting more people to work in Seldovia, a town of less than 300 people at the tip of the Kenai Peninsula.
In the late 1800s, the Hansen family, including seven brothers, arrived from Norway and began new lives in Seattle. The young brothers were smart and not afraid of work, and soon they were successfully fishing for salmon in Puget Sound on boats they designed and built themselves.
Shellfish, sea cucumbers, geoduck clams, seaweeds and biofuels are crops envisioned by a group of Alaskans who are crafting a framework for a statewide mariculture industry expansion.
Salmon is the heart of Alaska’s fisheries — it almost singlehandedly spawned the push for statehood nearly 60 years ago. A new Alaska Salmon Fellows program wants to make sure Alaskans are poised to “shape the future” of the cultural fish and it is investing in the people to do so.
More Pacific halibut will go to market this year due to an overall boost in the harvests for the West Coast, British Columbia and Alaska. The coastwide catch of 31.4 million pounds reflects a 5.1 percent increase, and for the first time in decades, not a single fishing region met with a decl…
Candied salmon ice cream. poke snack kits, salmon bisque baby food, fish skin tote bags and pet oils …
As lawmakers convene this week in Juneau, Alaska’s fishing industry sees a glimmer of hope that its budget won’t be gutted again.
Fishery advocates are hoping for the speedy delivery of a letter to state lawmakers that asks them to dust off a law pertaining to fish habitats.
The start of 2017 marks the 26th year for this weekly column that targets news for and about Alaska’s seafood industry. The goal is to make all readers more aware of the economic and cultural importance of our state’s first and oldest industry.
Giving to the less fortunate is the true meaning of the Christmas season, and giving Alaska seafood has never been easier.
Bering Sea fish stocks are booming but it’s a mixed bag for groundfish in the Gulf of Alaska.
Alaska seafood goes to roughly 120 countries around the world and competes in a rough-and-tumble commodities market. Looking ahead to next year, sales conditions are looking positive for Alaska salmon, with some mixed market outlooks for other main species.
Alaska’s university system is ramping up programs to train the next generations of fishery and ocean specialists, and plenty of jobs await.
It was fast and furious for Alaska’s premiere crab fishery with the fleet catching the nearly 8 million pound red king crab quota at Bristol Bay in less than three weeks.
Alaska’s Rep. Don Young seems happy to be the stalking horse for the softened Magnuson Stevens Act, the law that governs our nation’s fisheries. But the revised version eviscerates the Alaska Model of fisheries management and does not reflect the majority view of Alaskan fishermen. More impo…
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