Saving Seafood

ALASKA: Gradual improvements in Bering Sea crab stocks allow for Alaska harvest increases

October 9, 2025 — Snow crab stocks in Alaska’s Bering Sea, which crashed a few years ago, have recovered enough to allow a modest harvest starting in mid-October.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game on Monday announced that fishermen will be allowed to harvest 9.3 million pounds of Bering Sea snow crab from Oct. 15 to May. The harvest cap is about twice the 4.72 million pounds allowed in the past season, which followed an unprecedented two-year period of closed harvests.

The Bering Sea snow crab harvest closures came after catastrophic losses that scientists have attributed to an intense, multiyear marine heatwave that started in 2018.

Read the full article at Anchorage Daily News

ALASKA: Alaska’s Bristol Bay sockeye run and harvest increased this year, with fish sizes a bit bigger

September 30, 2025 — The commercial salmon harvest in Alaska’s Bristol Bay, site of the world’s largest sockeye salmon runs, held a mixture of good news and bad news this year.

The run of sockeye salmon, also known as red salmon, exceeded preseason expectations and totaled 56.7 million fish, the seventh highest since 2005, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game reported in its preliminary summary of the summer harvest. The commercial sockeye harvest was also bigger than expected, totaling 41.2 million fish. That was 18% above the preseason forecast and 23% higher than the recent 20-year average.

The total amount of money paid to fishers delivering their catches totaled $215.3 million, about 7% above the 20-year average of $200.7 million, the department said in its summary.

The bad news is that while Bristol Bay sockeye salmon continued what has been a streak of huge runs — and while sockeye dominate the commercial harvest — other salmon species there continued to falter. Bristol Bay’s harvest of chinook, also known as king salmon, hit a 20-year low this year, totaling only 6,148 fish, compared to the most recent 20-year average of 33,469 chinook, the department reported.

Read the full article at Alaska Beacon

ALASKA: Commissioner’s permit available for new GOA tuna fishery

September 22, 2025 — A brand-new Pacific tuna fishery is open in the eastern Gulf of Alaska and state fisheries officials are anticipating a commercial harvest coming soon.

“It is very exciting; we are hoping to see some tuna harvested in the Sitka area,” said Rhea Ehresmann, Region 1 groundfish project leader for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G).

Pacific tuna species are not currently covered by federal fisheries management in Alaska waters, so they are being managed by the state. Commercial fishermen eager to target, retain and sell Pacific tuna must apply for a commissioner’s permit and possess a valid Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission (CFEC) vessel license and miscellaneous saltwater finfish interim use permit for the gear type used for directed fishing – in this case hand troll, power troll, or mechanical jig.

Pacific tuna caught as bycatch in the salmon troll fishery may be retained using the fisher’s CFEC salmon troll permit card, but salmon trollers must also apply for a commissioner’s permit, Ehresmann said.

The permits are issued with specific stipulations – such as dates the permits are valid, legal gear types, area restrictions/closed waters, requirements for logbooks and fish tickets, and restrictions on bycatch of other species.

Read the full article at The Cordova Times

ALASKA: The June salmon harvest in the southern Alaska Peninsula was the worst in 4 decades

July 16, 2025 — Last month’s commercial salmon harvest in the southern Alaska Peninsula was the lowest in four decades, according to the state’s preliminary data for the management region known as Area M.

According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, fishermen in the Shumagin Islands and South Unimak areas harvested about 720,000 salmon through the end of June — the second-lowest June on record since the 1980s.

Technically, the lowest harvest occurred in 2001, but Area Management Biologist Matthew Keyse said that year was an outlier due to a price dispute that kept many boats off the water.

Read the full article at KTOO

ALASKA: State imposes ‘unprecedented’ conservation measures for Gulf of Alaska Chinook salmon

April 1, 2025 — The Alaska Department of Fish and Game is imposing what it calls “unprecedented” conservation measures to address declines of Gulf of Alaska Chinook salmon — also known as king salmon — which is currently under review for listing under the federal Endangered Species Act.

The department said in a March 18 announcement that it will be restricting western Alaska king salmon fisheries, including in Kodiak, Chignik and Sand Point.

Matt Keyse, an area management biologist at fish and game’s Sand Point office, said this is the first time the department has used data from one region to trigger management action in another.

“That is unprecedented from managing a fishery based on fish that are not found locally to the systems in the area in which we’re harvesting fish,” Keyse said.

Sand Point — off the Alaska Peninsula — is in the middle of the management region known as Area M. Although it doesn’t have its own king runs, fishermen intercept salmon that migrate through the region. In recent years, Area M’s harvest levels have drawn criticism from stakeholders in Western Alaska, who argue the fishery reduces local salmon returns.

Read the full article at KYUK

ALASKA: Board of Fish approves state-backed changes for Southeast Alaska red king crab fishery

February 26, 2025 — Red king crab commercial permit holders in Southeast Alaska will have a better chance of fishing in the coming seasons.

The Alaska Board of Fisheries approved a change in management regulations proposed by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADFG) that allows for a conservative commercial fishery when crab stocks aren’t enough for a typical competitive opening.

Red king crab is a low-volume, high-value fishery. The crab can bring in over $100 each. But commercial openings have been few and far between — just one in over a decade.

Several commercial crabbers testified to the Board of Fish at their meeting in Ketchikan in January. Andy Kittams crabs out of Petersburg, a town with over half of the fishery’s permit holders.

“Had we fished that 117,000 pounds in 2024, it would have been worth over $2 million to the state of Alaska’s fishermen. The economic trickle down to our processors and coastal communities would have doubled that,” Kittams said. “So let’s move this arbitrary threshold — simple enough: change regulation, harvest the surplus king crab when available.”

Read the full article at KFSK

Aleutian Islands state-waters Pacific cod season opens

February 6, 2025 — The Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) has announced the opening of the Aleutian Islands Subdistrict (AIS) state-waters Pacific cod season, along with the closure of the parallel season for all state waters west of 170° W longitude, effective Feb.1, 2025.

The state-waters Pacific cod season opened at 12:00 p.m. AKST on Feb. 1 for vessels 100’ or less in overall length (OAL) using pot gear, vessels 60’ or less OAL using nonpelagic trawl or jig gear, and vessels 58’ or less OAL using longline gear. Simultaneously, the parallel Pacific cod season closed for all gear types in the AIS west of 170° W longitude.

All harvested Pacific cod must be retained. The daily harvest limit per vessel is set at 150,000 pounds (round weight), with a maximum of 150,000 pounds of unprocessed cod allowed onboard at any time. The ADF&G statement noted that any overages must be reported, with proceeds surrendered to the state. Bycatch limits from the parallel Pacific cod season will remain in effect during the state-waters season.

Read the full article National Fisherman

 

ALASKA: Policy shifts, genetic insights shape the king crab fishery

February 3, 2025 — The future of Alaska’s red king crab fishery is at a turning point.

Proposed changes to the fishery’s management in Southeast Alaska could provide more opportunities for commercial fishermen, while new genetic research shows the species’ resilience. Together, these developments may help shape the sustainability of this valuable fishery.

Proposed Changes to Southeast Alaska’s Red King Crab Fishery

The commercial red king crab fishery in Southeast Alaska has struggled over the last decade, with only one opening in the past ten years. Currently, state regulations only allow for a fishery when the regional stock exceeds 200,000 pounds, a threshold originally set based on processor requirements when red king crab sold for much lower prices. However, that threshold is being reconsidered with individual crabs now fetching over $100 each.

According to KTOO, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) has proposed lowering the stock requirement to allow smaller commercial openings, even when the 200,000-pound mark isn’t met. Adam Messmer, regional shellfish biologist for ADF&G, explained, “The 200,000-pound threshold… isn’t a biological threshold. It was created by the processors many years ago, saying that they couldn’t make money on anything less than 200,000 pounds. That was back when red crab was three or four dollars a pound. And times have changed…”

If approved by the Alaska Board of Fisheries, this change could provide more flexibility for commercial fishermen, creating opportunities for harvests during years when stocks are lower but still commercially viable.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

ALASKA: Invasive freshwater fish able to swim through Alaska’s Cook Inlet, study proves

January 27, 2025 — In the fall of 2018, officials with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game and their partners celebrated what they thought was a milestone: an end to the infestation of invasive northern pike in the Kenai Peninsula.

Their laborious program – they thought – had ridden the peninsula of the salmon-gobbling species that has wreaked havoc on the natural runs that are important to commercial and sport fishers, as well as to the overall ecological system.

“We were all excited, you know. We spent, like, 15 years eradicating them off the peninsula. it was like this big, monumental moment,” said Kristine Dunker, a biologist who coordinates the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s program addressing invasive northern pike.

Read the full article at Alaska Beacon

Alaska’s pink returns cause a low salmon harvest year overall

December 3, 2024 — Alaska’s commercial salmon harvests plummeted this year, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. The department’s annual report shows that the statewide harvest of just over 100 million fish was the third lowest on record. And the pounds harvested — 450 million — were the lowest on record. The numbers came with a decline in the fishery’s overall value, too.

The poor harvest results were driven mostly by weak pink salmon returns statewide. Bristol Bay’s annual sockeye run – the most valuable salmon fishery in the state at $128 million – saw another good year. The Southeast region saw lower runs across the board, except for chums. But pink salmon, which are harvested in the millions across the state, drove the overall harvest numbers way down.

Pinks run on a two-year cycle and even years are always lower than odd years. But 2024 saw a dramatic swing. The overall harvest was 42% below projections.

“So that was a bit unexpected,” said Forrest Bowers, the state’s Deputy Director of the Division of Commercial Fisheries. “Even with that awareness of the distinct, even odd year cycle of pink salmon, returns for pink salmon were poor in 2024, even for an even year.”

Read the full story at KFSK