Alaska Board of Fisheries Archives

ALASKA: Board of Fish rejects proposals to reduce hatchery pink and chum production

March 27, 2026 — The Alaska Board of Fisheries last weekend voted down three proposals to limit hatchery production of pink and chum salmon. Those hatcheries are mostly in Southeast Alaska and Prince William Sound. They’re run by private nonprofits, and the state manages their permits.

There are currently 11 hatcheries permitted to take 1.39 billion pink salmon eggs and 15 hatcheries permitted to take 939 million chum salmon eggs.

The Fairbanks Fish and Game Advisory Committee sought a 25% reduction in egg production per hatchery permit. That’s a proposal that they’ve recommended before.

Board of Fish member Mike Wood of Talkeetna discussed the pros and cons.

“By cutting 25% of hatchery production in areas like Prince William Sound or Southeast, is the squeeze worth the juice with the impacts that it would have on these small boat fishermen, on an industry that we really need to rely on in this state?” he asked.

Read the full article at KCAW

ALASKA: Board of Fisheries overhauls commercial drift fleet management plan

March 26, 2026 — Upper Cook Inlet’s commercial driftnet fishing fleet has a new rulebook for the salmon fishing season that starts in July. That’s after the Alaska Board of Fisheries, which oversees state-managed waters, significantly altered the fleet’s season parameters during its meeting in Anchorage last week. Some Kenai Peninsula fishermen are unhappy with the changes.

The changes were spurred by a proposal from Andy Couch, a fishing guide in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, although the version approved by the board was ultimately a dramatic rewrite of the submitted language. Couch told commissioners the Upper Cook Inlet’s drift fleet is preventing coho salmon from getting to the Deshka and Little Susitna Rivers. That’s where Couch guides.

“Northern Cook Inlet coho salmon escapements have declined with increased use of the central district drift gill net fleet to harvest large returns of Kenai and Kasilof river sockeye during the past three years,” he said.

The state’s management plan for Cook Inlet’s central district drift gillnet fishery is outlined in Alaska Administrative Code. Cook Inlet is carved into chunks of fishing grounds that may be opened or closed by the Department of Fish and Game.

Board members weren’t scheduled to hear proposals impacting Cook Inlet fisheries during its 2026 meeting. That’s because the board meets on three-year cycles, and Cook Inlet issues aren’t scheduled to be taken up until 2027. But the board agreed to take up the proposal as a supplemental issue.

The new rules let the fleet potentially fish eight more hours per week, but restrict the fleet’s fishing grounds.

Read the full article at KDLL

ALASKA: New proposals would protect Alaska waters from bottom trawling

March 23, 2026 — Three proposals before the Alaska Board of Fisheries, which took place March 17-21 in Anchorage, would require that bycatch mitigation tools recognized as best practice be used in groundfish harvesting within state waters.

These proposals are not intended to prohibit pelagic trawling or shut down a fishery, but to keep trawl gear off the ocean bottom, where it is not legally allowed, according to the Alaska Healthy Habitat Alliance (AHHA).

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

ALASKA: Board of Fish to consider limiting pink and chum hatchery production and changes to trawl gear

March 19, 2026 — The Alaska Board of Fisheries is meeting Tuesday through Saturday in Anchorage at the Egan Civic and Convention Center to consider changes to statewide finfish fisheries. Board members are appointed by the governor. They consider changes to the state’s fish regulations after listening to opinions from Alaska’s Department of Fish and Game and the public.

Three proposals are seeking to limit hatchery production of chum and pink salmon in the state. There are about 30 salmon hatcheries, mostly in Southeast and Prince William Sound. Almost all of them are private nonprofits permitted by the state.

Read the full article at Alaska Public Media

ALASKA: Board of Fish to consider limiting pink and chum hatchery production and changes to trawl gear

March 17, 2026 — The Alaska Board of Fisheries is meeting Tuesday through Saturday in Anchorage at the Egan Civic and Convention Center to consider changes to statewide finfish fisheries. Board members are appointed by the governor. They consider changes to the state’s fish regulations after listening to opinions from Alaska’s Department of Fish and Game and the public.

Read the full article at KFSK

ALASKA: Aleutians East Borough files ethics complaint after Board of Fisheries Area M decision

March 9, 2026 — The Aleutians East Borough is asking the state to investigate whether a member of the Alaska Board of Fisheries acted ethically during a vote on restrictions to the Area M salmon fishery.

Borough Mayor Alvin Osterback and representatives from several tribes in the region say they filed a complaint with the Alaska Department of Law on Feb. 23. They say a member of the Alaska Board of Fisheries had a conflict of interest when he cast a tie-breaking vote last month in favor of restricting the Area M fishery.

The complaint argues that Curtis Chamberlain of Anchorage should have recused himself because he is an attorney at the Calista Corporation, a Western Alaska Native corporation that has advocated for stricter limits on the fishery.

Read the full article at KYUK

ALASKA: Alaska Natives, advocates hail state’s new restrictions aimed at helping chum salmon recover

March 5, 2026 — The Alaska Board of Fisheries is cutting chum salmon fishing by 30 per cent in southwest Alaska.

Alaskan Native communities, who have been facing increasing food insecurity from lack of salmon in the Yukon River for years, say the move is a good first step.

In the interior of Alaska, along the Yukon River, is Beaver, a remote village that has relied on chum salmon for years as a main food source. The closest grocery store is in Fairbanks, 170 km due south by plane, and food has to be flown in at a high price.

Rhonda Pitka is the Chief of the Village of Beaver. She said 2019 was the last good fishing year before the “Yukon River salmon crash.”

“The salmon sustained us for so long. It was our lifeline,” she said. “We live in these incredibly cold communities in the winter. So when we were fishing in the summer we will put enough away for all winter long and then we would have enough to share with our relatives in their communities.”

Read the full article at CBC

ALASKA: Alaska Board of Fisheries votes to reduce Area M salmon fishing times

February 27, 2026 — The Alaska Board of Fisheries has approved some of the most severe restrictions on salmon fishing in the Area M fishery in decades.

On Feb. 25, the board approved a proposal to reduce June salmon fishing times in the area along the western Alaska Peninsula and Eastern Aleutians in a 4-3 vote. It pencils out to a loss of 136 hours for the drift fleet and 94 hours for the seine fleet. The reductions come during periods when vulnerable chum salmon stocks are present, but also when commercial fishermen are busy scooping up sockeye.

It’s a move welcomed by Western Alaska tribes and stakeholders who have faced years of record-low chum salmon returns on the Kuskokwim River, and complete salmon fishing closures on the Yukon River.

But they also say the reductions don’t go far enough. The original version of the approved proposal was submitted by Bethel’s tribe, and it called for a 10-day consecutive closure in the June fishery.

Read the full article at KYUK

ALASKA: Legislation would loosen restrictions on Board of Fisheries members’ deliberations

February 26, 2026 — During his 20 years as a member of the Alaska Board of Fisheries, Petersburg commercial fisherman John Jensen relied on a lifetime of experience harvesting salmon, crab and other shellfish as he voted on statewide fisheries regulations.

But he couldn’t always weigh in with his wisdom. Jensen couldn’t participate in the board’s deliberations on state management of fisheries in which he’d declared a conflict of interest.

A Kodiak legislator is looking to change that this year.

“I can’t begin to explain how frustrating it was to sit on the board when you have 150 proposals and you’re out of the discussion for 50 of them,” Jensen said during an interview with the Daily Sitka Sentinel on Feb. 17.

A bill pending in the Alaska Legislature would allow fishermen who serve on the Board of Fisheries to take part in board deliberations on regulations that may affect their fishing operations.

The bill would allow those members, as well as Alaska Board of Game members, to deliberate, debate and discuss with their colleagues at the table — but not vote — on proposals that could affect them personally or financially.

Members would continue to be prohibited from voting on proposals in which they have declared a conflict of interest, which would be a personal decision based on each board member’s financial or family interests.

Read the full article at Wrangell Sentinel

ALASKA: Science symposium emphasizes Indigenous knowledge, finfish, kelp

February 9, 2026 — Gulf of Alaska maritime issues, from halibut and herring to kelp farming, were on the agenda during the four-day Alaska Marine Science Symposium in Anchorage from Jan. 26-30.

The importance of engaging Indigenous knowledge in policy making for fisheries management in Alaska was the focus of a presentation by Hekia Bodwitch of the University of Alaska Southeast, and Alex Jenkins of the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

They noted that historically western government leaders and scientists have excluded Indigenous peoples from policymaking and research, and that uneven power dynamics persist today.

In their studies they examined perceived successes, shortcomings and limitations of recent initiatives in Alaska’s fisheries management focused on engaging Indigenous knowledge. These efforts included those of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council and the Alaska Board of Fisheries. Their study involved interviews with more than 30 fishery policymakers and advisors, as well as analyses of policymaking meetings.

Those interviewed spoke of barriers to change stemming from legal frameworks, political-economic dynamics, and policy implementation challenges.

Some of these challenges reflect a mismatch between how Indigenous knowledge is typically shared and public testimony processes. Those interviewed also emphasized that Indigenous peoples remain underrepresented in policymaking, while their participation is essential in order to engage Indigenous knowledge to effect meaningful change.

Read the full article at The Cordova Times