Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation Archives

ALASKA: Diesel spill near Kodiak-area hatchery disrupts salmon fishery

September 4, 2025 — State officials say a grounded fishing vessel leaking diesel from a beach near Kodiak has prompted a commercial fishing closure as well as precautions at a salmon hatchery.

The Sea Ern ran hard aground in Izhut Bay off Afognak Island with a 12-foot gash in its bow, damaging two fuel tanks, according to a report issued Wednesday by the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation.

The U.S. Coast Guard said watchstanders received a distress call on VHF radio at approximately 6:30 a.m. Monday reporting the vessel hit a rock and was taking on water. There were three people aboard.

The good Samaritan vessel MS Kennedy responded to the distress call and recovered all three people from the vessel, the Coast Guard said. No injuries were reported.

Read the full article at Anchorage Daily News

A decade after Fukushima nuclear disaster, Alaska expands seafood monitoring

April 21, 2021 — State environmental regulators announced Monday they’re expanding radiation testing of commercially harvested Alaska seafood to include crab using a Gamma radiation detector at a state laboratory in Anchorage. That’s thanks to continued federal funding from the Food and Drug Administration.

A devastating earthquake and tsunami off the coast of Japan in 2011 killed tens of thousands and crippled the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant which released radioactive material into the air and ocean.

That led to global concern about the safety of Pacific seafood. Alaska began screening fish samples in 2014. It now routinely tests prime export products including Bristol Bay salmon and Bering Sea pollock to reassure consumers that Alaska seafood is safe.

“We have not detected any elevated levels that are deemed harmful for consumption or for the health of the animal,” Bob Gerlach told CoastAlaska.

He’s the state Department of Environmental Conservation’s chief veterinarian and runs Alaska’s seafood monitoring program. He says the agency is now finalizing plans to begin testing several species of crab to capture more of the complex marine food web.

Read the full story at KCAW

2020 SPW Registration Now Available

October 9, 2020 — The following was released by Oregon State University:

Agenda

Welcome
Oregon Regulatory Updates
- Tiffany Yelton-Bram, Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, Tim McFetridge, Water Quality Engineer, Ranei Nomura, Western Region Department of Environmental Quality
Alaska Regulatory Updates
- Jackie Ebert, Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation
EPA
- Sally Goodman, Environmental Protection Agency
Washington and BC Regulatory Updates
- Alan Ismond, P. Eng, Aqua Terra Consultants
- Steven Hammer, P. Eng, SLR Consulting
Closing remarks

Find out more

Alaska shellfish farmers and divers object to paying for federally required lab tests

March 18, 2020 — Alaska shellfish farmers and divers fear they won’t be “open for business” much longer if they’re forced to pick up the tab for federally required lab tests as outlined in Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s budget.

The Department of Environmental Conservation has proposed shifting the cost to the harvesters, which last year totaled almost a half million dollars.

Geoduck clam divers in Southeast Alaska, for example, pay about $150,000 each year to collect samples that are sent to the single federally approved laboratory in Anchorage and tested for paralytic shellfish poison and other toxins. Divers also pay $20,000 for water quality samples twice a year, and $8,000 to test for inorganic arsenic.

“And then we pay the Alaska Department of Fish and Game about $25,000 a year for them to do the management and assessment of the geoduck resource,” said Phil Doherty, co-director of the Southeast Alaska Regional Dive Association.

The geoduck divers also tax themselves 7% to cover SARDFA’s $50,000 administrative costs. In all, Doherty said it adds up to $266,00 a year.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

ROGER SENSABAUGH & BOB MIRES: Alaska’s fisheries deserve support outside election season

December 30, 2019 — It seems that at election time, our candidates will do everything they can to show themselves as big proponents of our fisheries, posing as lovers of salmon, with pictures of themselves splashed across the media holding a king or coho, while touting our commercial and sport fishing industries. Yet once election season is over, our amazing natural resources — our salmon especially — seem to be all but forgotten, slipping back into the far reaches of memory, taking a second seat to all other issues, a neglected priority.

This is too bad, because as anyone who is aware of the history of once great fisheries around the world knows, ours are but a few of the last great remaining intact salmon runs. Cook Inlet- sized populations were once the norm throughout Europe, as were runs far into the 1800’s along the northeastern seaboard of the United States. Much more recently, over the past 50 years, 300 documented runs of wild salmon in the Pacific Northwest have met their demise, many of these during our lifetime.

With current changes, such as the very real prospect of Pebble Mine, and with the lifting of restrictions on the discharge of pollutants on both a state and federal level, there is no reason to believe this will not eventually be the case here in Alaska, as well, that our salmon will not face the same fate as those around the world. We need to hold our politicians’ feet to the fire and demand that they adhere to what they say when running for office. Finally, stop just paying lip service to our salmon and adopt a “fish-first” policy.

Read the full opinion piece at the Anchorage Daily News

Proposed environmental rule changes threaten fish spawning areas in Alaska

April 9, 2019 — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, together with the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, are attempting to loosen water pollution standards in areas where fish spawn, according to Alaska Public Media.

The rule change, initially proposed in 2006, would alter how the state enforces the Clean Water Act, which is the main tool used by federal agencies to regulate water standards. The change are designed to assist the state’s mining community, which has argued the current standards set in place by the Clean Water Act are too difficult to meet.

“Alaska’s a beautiful, pristine place, and there is no pollution and certainly the background water quality is excellent,” said Frank Bergstrom, who has been active in Alaska’s mining industry for four decades. “So if you follow the Clean Water Act to the detail, you pretty much have to discharge distilled water.”

Read the full story at Seafood Source

EPA, Alaska seek to relax water pollution rules

April 3, 2019 — The Trump administration is quietly reviving a long-stalled effort by state regulators to loosen pollution standards where fish spawn. The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation proposed the rule change more than a decade ago to change how it enforces the federal Clean Water Act.

After a dozen-year hiatus, it’s making its way through the Environmental Protection Agency’s rule-making process. But opponents warn if the EPA gives the 2006 “mixing zone” rule the thumbs-up, it could help pave the way for controversial projects like Pebble Mine.

The Clean Water Act is the primary tool used by the feds to regulate water pollution. Industry often argues these standards are difficult to meet.

“Alaska’s a beautiful, pristine place, and there is no pollution and certainly the background water quality is excellent,” said Frank Bergstrom, an Alaska mining consultant with 40 years of experience. “So if you follow the Clean Water Act to the detail, you pretty much have to discharge distilled water.”

That’s overstating the state’s water quality standards. Basically the limits are designed to prevent water bodies from being degraded. But years ago, Alaska and other states took the industry’s view in mind when it came up with “mixing zones.” This compromise allows things like wastewater plants, mines and oil refineries to exceed water pollution standards in designated areas.

Read and listen to the full story at KTOO