Saving Seafood

ALASKA: Kuskokwim Bay commercial salmon fishery returns after five-year hiatus

August 4, 2026 — Commercial salmon fishing returned to Alaska’s Kuskokwim Bay this summer for the first time in five years, offering dozens of local fishermen a chance to earn income despite persistent logistical and financial challenges.

According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, the fishery reopened in early July, with about 70 permit holders targeting primarily sockeye salmon. Larry Strunk, a founding member of the Independent Fishermen of Quinhagak Cooperative, told KYUK that some fishermen had already earned more than $10,000 during the season with the potential for individual earnings to reach $15,000.

The fishery, however, was short-lived. Strunk told KYUK that the cooperative wrapped up fishing around July 28 after declining sockeye catches and rising operating costs made it difficult to continue.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

ALASKA: State denies Ketchikan tribe’s request to open green crab fishery

August 4, 2026 —  The Ketchikan Indian Community submitted an emergency petition to the state’s Board of Fisheries in March, asking to reclassify European green crabs from a Class A to a Class B banned invasive species.

This change would allow anybody to transport dead European green crabs for harvest or consumption. Currently, the invasive can only be possessed or transported for scientific or educational purposes by those with an Aquatic Resource Permit.

“This isn’t an issue that’s going anywhere, and it seems to be largely ignored throughout much of the state,” said Emily Halsell, a fisheries and wildlife biologist with the Ketchikan Indian Community.

Halsell is leading a green crab monitoring and removal program, which officially kicked off last fall. The tribe has removed about 1,500 green crabs from Ketchikan beaches so far this year.

In its petition to the state, the tribe cites the species’ damaging impacts to the local ecosystem and economy. The adaptive critter can burrow and destroy eelgrass beds, which are nurseries for native species like Dungeness crabs and juvenile salmon. They can also compete with native crab species for the same resources.

Read the full article at Alaska Public Media

Department of the Interior Proposes Targeted Updates to Arctic Exploratory Drilling Rule to Advance American Energy Dominance

August 3, 2026 — The following was released by the U.S. Department of the Interior:

The Department of the Interior today announced a proposed rule through the Marine Minerals Administration to modernize and refine federal regulations governing exploratory oil and gas drilling on the Arctic Outer Continental Shelf, advancing President Donald J. Trump’s commitment to unleash American Energy Dominance while maintaining strong safety and environmental oversight.

“President Trump has made clear that America must fully avail itself of Alaska’s extraordinary resource potential for the benefit and security of the Nation and the citizens who call Alaska home,” said Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum. “This proposed rule reflects a disciplined, mission-focused approach that strengthens regulatory efficiency, reduces unnecessary barriers and ensures that Arctic energy exploration proceeds safely, responsibly and under strong federal oversight.”
The proposal would make targeted revisions to the 2016 Arctic Exploratory Drilling Rule finalized in the Obama administration to reduce unnecessary regulatory burdens, improve clarity and operational efficiency, and better reflect technological advancements and implementation experience since the 2016 rule was issued.
The proposed rule supports President Trump’s Executive Order 14153, “Unleashing Alaska’s Extraordinary Resource Potential,” and Secretary’s Order 3422, which direct the Department to use all lawful authorities to responsibly develop Alaska’s vast natural resources in support of America’s economic and energy security. The proposal also aligns with Secretary’s Order 3451, “Establishment of the Marine Minerals Administration,” by supporting a more coordinated, efficient and accountable offshore minerals framework.
“The Alaskan Outer Continental Shelf contains some of America’s most promising offshore resources,” said Marine Minerals Administration Acting Director Matt Giacona. “These targeted updates would provide clear, practical compliance options for Arctic Outer Continental Shelf exploration while preserving safeguards to protect workers, the environment and Alaska’s precious natural resources
The Obama administration’s Arctic Exploratory Drilling Rule established a burdensome regulatory framework for exploratory drilling and related operations on the Alaska Outer Continental Shelf. The Department of the Interior’s proposed updates would revise specific provisions of that framework, drawing on lessons learned from implementation of the 2016 rule, advances in technology and stakeholder input received during prior rulemaking efforts.
Under the proposal, the Marine Minerals Administration would update requirements related to blowout preventer real-time monitoring, Arctic source control and containment equipment, relief rig capability, subsea isolation devices, mudline cellars, oil spill response plan-holder reviews, crane operations on artificial islands, and suspensions of operations and production. The proposal would also revise portions of Exploration Plan and Development and Production Plan regulations, including removing the separate Integrated Operations Plan requirement while retaining key Arctic planning information through the Exploration Plan process. The proposed revisions maintain the highest commitment to safe operations.
The proposed rule is designed to provide operators with clearer, more flexible compliance options while preserving federal authority to review, approve, condition or require additional safeguards for proposed Arctic Outer Continental Shelf activities. The proposal does not approve any specific lease sale, exploration plan, permit or drilling activity.
The Marine Minerals Administration will continue to evaluate any proposed Arctic Outer Continental Shelf operations through established federal review processes, including environmental review, exploration plan review, permit review, oil spill response plan review, inspections and compliance oversight. Existing statutory authorities, regulatory protections and public engagement opportunities remain in place throughout the transition to the Marine Minerals Administration.
The proposed rule will be published in the Federal Register on initiating a 90-day public comment period.

Chinook salmon in decline, worsened by Bering Sea heatwave a decade ago: study

July 30, 2026 — Yukon River Chinook salmon numbers have been in a decline for decades. Despite efforts to help the population recover, it has dropped nearly 90 per cent since the 1980s.

Now, a new study from the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) says a four-year heatwave in the Bering Sea that started about a decade ago has been connected to a more recent drop in population.

Curry Cunningham, one of the co-authors of the study and an associate professor with the University of Alaska Fairbanks, said researchers have noticed two periods of decline in the Chinook salmon population between 2003 and 2023.

Cunningham said before 2013, the salmon experienced a short decline followed by a few years of recovery.

But by 2016, conditions started to change again.

“That’s led to this very depressed state we currently find ourselves in,” Cunningham said. “[It] seems to be associated in time, at least with the onset of this marine heat wave that we saw in the eastern Bering Sea.”

Read the full article at CBC News

ALASKA: Kuskokwim Bay commercial salmon fishery opens after 5-year hiatus

July 30, 2026 — Dozens of ocean-going skiffs have been busy unfurling gill nets along the shores of Kuskokwim Bay. But the catches haven’t been headed to fish camps. Instead, the salmon are quickly bled, put on ice, and offloaded onto vessels bobbing in the waters in front of Quinhagak and Goodnews Bay.

If the fishery is successful, an at-sea processor with hundreds of thousands of pounds of frozen, mostly sockeye, salmon will return to Washington state to bring the catch to market.

According to Larry Strunk, a founding member of the Independent Fishermen of Quinhagak Cooperative, local permit holders could earn upwards of $15,000 each by fishing the openers.

“We have some fishermen that have already been paid over $10,000 this month,” Strunk said.

But as of July 28, Strunk said that diminishing sockeye numbers and logistical issues have spelled the end of this year’s fishery, just three weeks after the Alaska Department of Fish and Game opened it.

Read the full article at KYUK

ALASKA: Bristol Bay honors 75th anniversary of the end of commercial sailboat fishery

July 29, 2026 — Diesel-powered boats fish Bristol Bay’s waters by the hundreds, but it wasn’t always that way.

Motorized fishing vessels were once banned in Bristol Bay. And in their place, sailboats dominated the commercial fishery until the early 50s. The late Harvey Samuelson was one fisherman who sailed for salmon. His quotations used in this story are from a 2005 interview that aired on KDLG in a Bristol Bay oral history program called “Our Story.”

“We didn’t have no reels or anything like that,” Samuelson told KDLG at the time. “It was all manhandling wooden corks – it’d get awful heavy. Now you’ve got plastic floats, corks.”

Samuelson said without a motorized vessel, the job was not easy.

“Sailing was a lot of fun,” he said. “But to make a living in a sailboat was sort of tough.”

Tim Troll is the creator of “Our Story,” who interviewed Samuelson. He’s also director of the Bristol Bay Heritage Land Trust and author of the book, Sailing for Salmon. The commercial sockeye fishery used to be federally managed, and Troll says the US Fish & Wildlife Service finally allowed power boats to fish in 1951.

Read the full article at Alaska Pubic Media

Opinion: Why targeting one fishery puts Alaska’s seafood economy at risk

July 29, 2026 — Alaska’s commercial fishing economy works because of a simple truth: it is built on interdependence.

Like a three-legged stool, the state’s seafood economy depends on three connected pillars: fishermen who harvest responsibly, processors who transform that harvest into marketable products, and the coastal communities whose infrastructure, workforce, and local economies make it all possible.

Remove any one of those legs, and the entire system becomes unstable. That is why proposals to dismantle major parts of Alaska’s seafood economy are not isolated fishery debates. They are statewide economic questions.

Increasingly, public rhetoric around trawling has been reduced to simplistic slogans and social media talking points that ignore both the scale of Alaska’s seafood economy and the complex systems that sustain it. Some have advanced sweeping calls to “end trawling” without acknowledging what those policies would actually mean for Alaska communities.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

ALASKA: Bristol Bay comes off decade of historic runs with moderate and early returns in 2026

July 28, 2026 — Bristol Bay’s sockeye salmon run is coming to a close, and it just surpassed the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s pre-season forecast of 44 million fish.

The thing that stands out most this year was that early run timing, said Curry Cunningham, an associate professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and part of a team that creates pre-season and in-season forecasts for the commercial fishery.

“If we look at the large-run-size years in Bristol Bay, we’ve seen generally since about 2015 they’ve been predominantly on time,” Cunningham said.

The last two years have bucked that trend, he said.

“In 2025 and this year in 2026, we’ve seen earlier run timing to Bristol Bay,” he said. “So a bit of a shift back towards run timings we hadn’t seen in quite a while.”

One of the variables that correlates most strongly with run timing is the extent of sea ice in the late spring, Cunningham said. Bristol Bay sockeye tend to return earlier during years with more sea ice in May.

This year’s run was about three days earlier than the long-term average, according to Cunningham, with a midpoint around July 3 or 4. While three days might seem like a small difference, he said it can have big impacts.

“In Bristol Bay, where the vast majority of the run comes through and arrives inshore over the course of two or three weeks, it actually makes a huge difference,” he said.

Read the full article at Alaska Public Media

US senators call for sanctions on vessels that support China’s distant water fishing fleet

July 28, 2026 — A handful of U.S. senators have asked the Department of the Treasury to issue sanctions on vessels that support China’s distant water fishing fleet, continuing a push from U.S. lawmakers to limit China’s commercial fishing and seafood sectors.

“The Chinese Communist Party is using its global distant-water fleet to conduct ecocide across at least three continents in both hemispheres. They kill endangered species by the hundreds and sharks, whales, and dolphins by the thousands, and have destroyed tens of thousands of acres of coral reefs,” U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said in a statement. “Their fleet uses coerced laborers, who are subjected to physical abuse, malnutrition, overwork, and withheld pay. They could not conduct these activities without supply ships, including reefers, tankers, and floating bases. The U.S. should bolster our Maritime Domain Awareness capabilities to identify these vessels, and then we should use every available option to sanction and disrupt them.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

ALASKA: For Yukon River residents, salmon shortages have health consequences

Juky 24, 2026 — When 26-year-old Tirzah Bryant was a kid, she knew how to watch the cottonwood trees along the Yukon River for the sign that it was time to fish for salmon.

“We know that the fish are coming when the cotton’s flying from the cottonwood,” she said.

But run collapses and successive fishing closures along the river have rendered the cottonwood signal meaningless.

“I remember that first summer that we couldn’t fish, watching the cotton flying and being like …what it felt like, I was drifting. I’m like, ‘What am I doing?’” she said. That drifting feeling includes interactions with members of her extended family who had moved to cities but used to gather in Galena during fishing season. “They don’t have a reason to come home now,” she said.

Bryant described that odd feeling during a presentation in March at an Anchorage tribal environmental conference. A 2025 graduate of the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Center for One Health Research master’s degree program, which focuses on the human-animal-environmental health connections in Alaska and the Arctic, she described the One Health concept as fitting perfectly with her family’s traditions.

“Everything is related. So a healthy environment equals healthy animals, which equals healthy humans,” said Bryant, who also holds a biology degree from UAF and is now the environmental and education coordinator for the Louden Tribe, the Galena-based tribal government.

That makes the collapse of runs in the Yukon River — where Indigenous residents’ culture is tied to communal salmon harvesting, preparation and eating — “very detrimental to our people,” she said.

On the Yukon River, salmon runs that used to support a thriving and lucrative commercial harvest have collapsed. The runs of Chinook, also called king salmon, that have been in steady decline since the early 2000s, took a nosedive in recent years; by 2022, Chinook abundance was down 81% below its long-term average, according to fishery biologists. Harvest closures that began in 2020 were extended, and in 2024 an Alaska-Canada agreement established a seven-year moratorium on Chinook salmon fishing in the river to preserve Canadian-origin stocks.

Runs of chum salmon, a species that is generally more abundant in the river, suffered a similar but more sudden crash. A series of chum-harvest closures, even for subsistence purposes, started in 2020, and by 2022 abundance had fallen 92% below the long-term average.

Several factors, working in combination, are blamed for the declines. Scientists cite multiple climate change effects in both the ocean and freshwater bodies used by salmon. Those changes have not only affected the raw numbers of fish but also contributed to the shrinking size of salmon, resulting in smaller egg loads carried to spawning grounds by females.

Other factors cited are interceptions at sea by trawlers targeting groundfish species like pollock, changes forced by increasing loads of Asian hatchery fish in the ocean, past fishery management practices and the parasite Icthyophonus, which thrives in warmer conditions and has a more detrimental effect on Yukon Chinook than on any other type of salmon.

Salmon-protection activists say there is not much that can be done in the short term in Alaska to address those factors, other than to adjust fishery management to cut down on at-sea interception, also known as bycatch.

Read the full article at Alaska Beacon