Saving Seafood

ALASKA: Seafood for thought as election approaches

October 27, 2026 — October marks National Seafood Month — a month when Americans are encouraged to consume more seafood and support America’s seafood harvesters. Alaskans don’t need National Seafood Month to remind us about seafood, though. Seafood is already an integral part of our day-to-day lives, a staple of our diets, and a pillar of our local food system. If you haven’t crewed on a fishing boat yourself, then you certainly know someone who has. It’s important that we not take our seafood for granted as we head to the polls this election season; your vote will shape the future of Alaska’s seafood access and abundance.

Here in Alaska, seafood is much more than just a source of omegas and nutrient-packed protein — although those are all great reasons to consume it. Seafood has sustained Alaska’s Indigenous communities for millennia and remains central to their cultures and traditions. Seafood unites Alaskans, bringing us together and giving us a shared purpose; just visit the Kenai River during the salmon dipnet season and you’ll see people old and young, rural and urban, Alaska Native and non-Native elbow-to-elbow, chest-deep in the water cheering each other on and lending each other a hand. According to the State of Alaska’s Food Security and Independence Task Force 2022 Report, fishing is the single greatest source of wild-harvested food for Alaskans. Subsistence, personal use, and sportfish harvests comprise approximately 50–60% of the annual wild food harvested by Alaskans.  This access to local seafood is especially important in Alaska’s rural communities where recent surveys show that nearly all rural Alaskans depend on fish. What these statistics really tell us, though, is that harvesting seafood is how we provide for our families and build community. Being able to harvest and share seafood with others is what makes us Alaskans.

ALASKA: ‘How do you buy time?’ Scientists look to slow an Alaska glacier’s march to the sea

August 21, 2026 — The Valerie Glacier is sliding toward the ocean, fast. Over the course of 18 days in July, the glacier galloped a whopping 150 feet— the length of four school buses parked end-to-end.

With it went a small research camp, made up of a cluster of tents pitched under jagged peaks. The scientists were there to study the Valerie and whether it might be possible to slow its disappearance into the sea.

As the team donned snowshoes and skis to head into the field, Melenda Lekanof, the project’s community liaison, took in the seemingly endless glaciated landscape. She said she was thinking about her ancestors – the Ginéix Kwáan or Kwáashk’ikwáan, of the Copper River region – migrating through here centuries ago.

“It’s breathtaking, and it’s a bit overwhelming, because this is part of who I am,” said Lekanof, who is from Yakutat and is Tlingit and Aleut.

But she’s also worried about the future. The world’s glaciers have lost about 5% of their ice since 2000 as temperatures rise with climate change. And Alaska’s glaciers are disappearing even more quickly.

“I don’t know if this is going to be here in my time,” Lekanof said. She added: “We need to know what’s going on.”

Read the full article at Alaska Public Media

ALASKA: After historic crash, Yukon River’s iconic king salmon run shows early signs of rebound

August 18, 2026 — For the past few years, smokehouses in the Yukon River village of Anvik have sat empty.

After salmon populations crashed, dozens of Alaska Native communities along the river faced a stark new reality, one without the fish that fed families and sustained Yup’ik and Athabascan traditions for generations.

This summer, though, smoke once again wafted through Anvik, on the middle Yukon some 350 miles west of Anchorage.

The river’s two main species, chinook and chum, have recorded a surprising uptick in numbers. And in spite of state regulations that bar fishing for chinook, Anvik’s fishermen have caught dozens of the fish this year, plus even more salmon of other species — meaning that there are enough to share with elders, hang in smokehouses and store in freezers.

“It’s the first time I’ve seen the smokehouses smoking in five years,” said Robert Walker, former chief of the Anvik Tribal Council. “I was just amazed. People are so happy.”

The returning fish could represent a remarkable rebound for one of Alaska’s most iconic and culturally important salmon runs, though scientists caution that numbers are still relatively low and that more data are needed before they can be confident about a meaningful turnaround.

The harvest in Anvik, announced by Walker on a public teleconference with fishery managers and local leaders in July, also has inflamed a long-running political debate over fishery closures and government policies aimed at rebuilding the runs.

In 2024, Alaska state officials agreed with the Canadian government to a seven-year ban on harvesting chinook along the Yukon, which flows from northwest Canada more than 2,000 miles through Alaska to the Bering Sea.

Even though many Alaska Native leaders generally agreed about the need to limit fishing, they also criticized Alaska’s government for not formally including tribal governments in the decision-making process.

Read the full article at Alaska Beacon

ALASKA: Metlakatla’s commercial fishing rights represent ‘alternate reality’ that tribe hopes to expand

April 22, 2026 — Access to commercial fishing looks a lot different in Metlakatla compared to other coastal Alaska Native communities.

At the southern tip of the Panhandle on Annette Island, Metlakatla sits on the state’s only Native reservation. Because of that, tribal members have the exclusive right to fish in a zone that extends out 3,000 feet around the island. And Metlakatla hopes to expand the reach of its fishing rights, as a lawsuit makes its way through court.

Other Alaska tribes gave up huge chunks of traditional lands in exchange for money and property to form corporations under the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.

Not long after, the state implemented a fisheries management system known as “limited entry,” which limits the number of commercial fishing permits in specific areas. Over time, permits have gradually been lost from Alaska’s coastal Native communities due to economic and other forces.

Read the full article at Alaska Public Media

An upstream battle: Fishing policy in Alaska

April 8, 2026 — For thousands of years, salmon have sustained communities along Alaska’s Yukon River, not only as a food source, but also as a cornerstone of culture and tradition. Today, however, those salmon populations are declining, and researchers are examining if current policies that are meant to protect them are working as intended, for both the ecosystems and the people who depend on them.

A new study from Carnegie Mellon’s Department of Engineering and Public Policy evaluated how well the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) follows policies designed to promote both ecological and social sustainability in its management of salmon fisheries. By combining historical data analysis and interviews with traditional subsistence users, the team assessed if management decisions align with legal mandates and whether those decisions actually produce sustainable outcomes.

Fisheries are often described as social-ecological systems, meaning environmental conditions and human well-being are closely linked, and in the Yukon River region, that connection is especially strong. Salmon have supported Alaska Native communities for at least 11,500 years, yet populations have experienced decades of decline attributed to pressures like warming oceans, changing river conditions, and harvest impacts across multiple regions and jurisdictions.

“Traditional users of the Yukon River have engaged in reciprocal relationships with salmon since time immemorial,” said Sabrina Curtis, Ph.D. student studying engineering and public policy and lead author of the paper. “But today, they need help to balance systems of management with globalization, industry, and culture.”

Read the full article at Carnegie Mellon Univeristy