Saving Seafood

ALASKA: As inflation continues to rise, some fisheries turn to artificial intelligence to lower costs

August 18, 2025 — New technology is coming to Alaskan fisheries thanks to a grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.

The grant was to the Alaska’s Longline Fishermen’s Association (ALFA) and the $485,000 will be used to develop technology to incorporate artificial intelligence into the existing electronic monitoring (EM) program.

ALFA is partnering with the Canadian company Archipelago Marine Research to enhance its FishVue AI tool, training it for Alaskan sablefish and halibut fixed gear fisheries. This move is expected to help increase efficiency and lower costs for the fishermen.

“If you participate in federal fisheries, your vessel is over 40 feet, you’re required to have either an onboard observer or an electronic monitoring, an EM camera system, on your vessel for a percentage of your trips that get monitored and that’s federal regulation,” ALFA policy coordinator Lauren Howard explained.

Read the full article at Alaska News Source

ALASKA: Alaska salmon harvest tops to 129 million fish

August 15, 2025 — Alaska’s 2025 commercial salmon harvest reached over 129 million fish through Aug. 12, with sockeye, keta and coho catches appearing on pace to reach total annual projections.

Those projected 2025 harvests would add up to 214.6 million salmon, including over 138 million pink, 52.9 million sockeye, 20.8 million keta, 2.3 million coho and 144,000 kings.

Data compiled by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game showed the statewide pink harvest at 62.3 million fish, followed by 51.3 million sockeyes, 14.5 million chum, 888,000 coho and 150,000 king salmon.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

ALASKA: Vessel registration begins for Alaska crab fisheries

August 14, 2025 —  Pre-season vessel registration is underway for three Bering Sea commercial crab fisheries, raising optimism that there will be harvests of Bristol Bay red king crab and Bering Sea snow and tanner crab in the 2025-2026 season.

“That’s a good sign that all of the big three crab fisheries will likely be open,” said Jamie Goen, executive director of the trade group Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers. “I expect most crab boats will pre-register for the fisheries, in the hopes that the harvest levels will be higher than last season.”

“Last season, only about half of the crab fleet fished since the harvest levels were at historic lows after several years of closure,” said Goen, who is also one of two voting members from the state of Washington serving on the North Pacific Fishery Management Council.

“Crab harvesters are optimistic for a better season this fall,” Goen said. “The crab stocks looked healthy last season, and several captains thought the harvest levels could have been higher. In addition, we’re hearing reports from some other fishing sectors that come across crab noting there are lots of crab out there,” Goen said. “The snow crab population, in particular, may be bouncing back faster than expected,” she said.

“The industry is anxious to hear reports from NOAA Fisheries’ summer survey to see if it validates what the fishermen are seeing. The survey data will be reported when the council’s crab plan team meets the week of Sept. 8 to start the process of setting crab harvest levels before the scheduled Oct. 15 season start.”

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

ANALYSIS: US Sockeye Prices Hold Firm as Bristol Bay Surges, Copper River Landings Drop

August 13, 2025 — Sockeye salmon remains a focal point in the US wild salmon market during the 2025 season, as stakeholders pay close attention to shifting dynamics across major production areas. The Copper River run, which is sought after as some of the first sockeye of the season and typically garners a premium in price, fell well short of elevated pre-season expectations this year. Initial forecasts had projected a harvest of 1.92 million fish—an “excellent” run that would have outpaced the five-year average by 55%. Instead, cumulative landings reached just 837,000 fish by week 31, marking a stark 56% deficit compared to projections. This puts the 2024 Copper River run squarely in line with long-term historical averages, rather than the anticipated boom season.

The resulting tight supply in this high-tier segment has kept pricing resilient, with the season closing out at an average of $6.75 per pound, up 3.85% from both 2024 levels and the rolling three-year average. Due to the limited availability, formal quotations for Copper River sockeye have now been suspended until next season.

Read the full article at Seafoodnews.com

ALASKA: King salmon’s disappearance has changed the Kenai River, but a soaring sockeye run is keeping it in business

August 11, 2025 — A trio of anglers leaned on the edge of Jordan Carter’s boat in shallow water on the Kenai River last month, victoriously enjoying a cold beverage.

Their ride with Carter, a local fishing guide, was brief but bountiful. The group pulled in 18 sockeye salmon in a flash, easily reaching their limit with time left to enjoy the sunny day.

“He was 30 minutes, I was 45, and he was like 46,” Bryan Fanning said, pointing at fishing partners as he recounted the timelines for reaching their respective limits. “Coming up here and doing the sockeye, it’s great.”

It’s a different river from what Fanning recalls from his youth. The king salmon run that for so long was the centerpiece of the Kenai River has virtually dried up, with the fishery closed for a third straight summer.

Fanning remembers the family fishing excursions in the 1990s that could take more than a day to reel in a single king. Now living in Wyoming, his annual fishing trips north have become more eventful with the bustling sockeye fishery providing a reasonable alternative.

This summer’s late-run sockeye have been an absolute rocket ship, with multiple days of fish counts reaching over 240,000 in late July. By Thursday, the late-run sockeye count had passed 3.7 million, setting a new record amid a string of strong seasons.

The booming sockeye runs of recent years couldn’t have come at a better time, providing a lifeline for the fishing trade that has been the main economic driver on the Kenai Peninsula for decades.

The shift from kings has also shortened the fishing window — and with it, the associated tourism season — and brought a different demographic group to the region.

Read the full article at Anchorage Daily News

USDA to purchase USD 100 million worth of Alaska pollock

August 6, 2025 — The U.S. Department of Agriculture plans to buy USD 100 million (EUR 86.4 million) worth of Alaska pollock and USD 20 million (EUR 17.3 million) of catfish as part of a bulk purchase of food products for food banks and nutrition assistance programs across the country.

According to the Genuine Association of Pollock Producers, the USDA has already spent nearly USD 60 million (EUR 52 million) on Alaska pollock products in fiscal year 2025, making it the fourth biggest year of USDA pollock purchases to date. The proposed USD 100 million would far outpace the previous record for USDA pollock purchases, when the department spent USD 76.3 million (EUR 65.9 million) in fiscal year 2019.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

ALASKA: Indigenous leaders, scientists, and policy makers call for bold actions to address Yukon River salmon crisis

August 5, 2025 — Tribes should be allowed to harvest the same number of Yukon River chinook salmon that trawlers scoop up in the Bering Sea as bycatch, and an independent review is needed to better manage the salmon crisis on Alaska’s longest river. These are just two of the recommendations outlined in a recent policy brief that looks at near-term strategies for addressing the crisis on the Yukon.

Doug DeMaster, a retired biologist who spent nearly two decades with the top federal fisheries agency, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), co-authored the brief published in the journal Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research (AAAR).

“What we tried to do in this brief is put together a document that identifies what’s needed, what’s wanted, and tries to do it in a way that’s easily amenable to Congress, and politicians, and both state and federal agencies,” DeMaster said.

The two-page document was assembled by a mix of tribal leaders, scientists, and policy makers. It boils down potential factors driving crashes for both chinook and chum salmon on the Yukon River. Among them: bycatch and ecosystem changes in the Bering Sea driven by the pollock fishery, warmer water temperatures, competition with hatchery salmon, the Area M intercept fishery, and increasing rates of parasitic infection in Yukon River chinook.

Read the full article at KYUK

ALASKA: An Alaska-Grown Solution to Safeguard Bristol Bay

August 5, 2025 — The 20-year saga to safeguard the world’s largest wild salmon stronghold from becoming the future home of North America’s largest open-pit mine has taken a new turn.

On May 20, 2025, the Alaska House Speaker Edgmon (I-Dillingham) and Representative Josephson (D-Anchorage) introduced a bill into the Alaska State Legislature to prevent large-scale mining proposals, like the proposed Pebble Mine, from posing serious threats to the 15,000 jobs that rely on Bristol Bay’s salmon populations.

A Special Region Worthy of Safeguards

The immense value of Bristol Bay’s fisheries has long been recognized, especially by Alaskans. At the urging of local residents and fishermen, in 1972 Alaska State Legislators enacted the Bristol Bay Fisheries Reserve to safeguard the region’s commercial, subsistence, and sport fisheries.

The current law requires the Alaska Legislature to grant final authorization of any metallic sulfide mine plan within the reserve. House Bill 233 amends the current law to entirely prohibit metallic sulfide mining—also known as hard-rock mining—within the reserve.

In the years since the Bristol Bay Fisheries Reserve was enacted, science resoundingly states that hard-rock mining is incompatible with the region’s highly productive fish habitat. This bill is a common-sense solution created in response to the economic and scientific realities of the region. “We are thrilled to see our lawmakers pursuing an Alaska-grown solution to the Pebble problem. Safeguarding Bristol Bay’s prolific fishery and the 15,000 jobs and $2.2 billion of economic value that it supports is a no-brainer for a prosperous future for our state,” said Nelli Williams, Alaska Director of Trout Unlimited, and longtime resident of Anchorage.

Read the full article at Fish Alaska Magazine

ALASKA: Alaska experts recommend management overhaul to rescue Yukon River salmon runs

August 4, 2025 — A management overhaul is needed to address the faltering salmon runs in the Yukon River and the widespread harms that have resulted from shortages of fish along the river’s basin, according to a report by Indigenous leaders and Alaska scientists.

The report, a peer-reviewed policy brief published in the journal Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research, proposes an independent review of Yukon River chinook and chum salmon issues by an entity like the National Academy of Sciences. It also recommends bigger management and science roles for Indigenous residents who live along the river, which flows nearly 2,000 miles from Canada’s Yukon Territory to the Bering Sea.

Building relationships between tribal members and government managers will likely require long-term effort, says the report, which has co-authors from various organizations, including the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

“Trust between Indigenous communities and fisheries scientists and managers needs to be enhanced by continuously, transparently, and equitably combining quantitative fisheries analyses with Indigenous Knowledge,” the report says.

The report recommends a “cultural exemption” for small-scale personal harvests by river residents to help address inequities between commercial and subsistence fishermen.

Read the full article at Anchorage Daily News

ALASKA: Grant will aid use of AI in electronic monitoring for Alaska halibut harvesters

August 4, 2025 — Longline fishermen in Southeast Alaska are embarking on a new program to advance use of artificial intelligence technology in their fishery monitoring program, thanks to a $485,000 grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.

The plan announced by the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association (ALFA) in Sitka on July 28 calls for partnering with the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission (PSMFC) and Canada’s Archipelago Marine Research Ltd. to enhance Archipelago’s FishVue AI tool and train it for the Alaska sablefish and halibut fixed gear fisheries.

The project will focus on increasing efficiency and lowering the fleet’s overall observer cost. “Many small boat fishermen prefer EM systems over human observers, so increasing the usefulness and effectiveness of EM should have direct benefits to our members and Alaska’s fixed gear fleet in general,” said Lauren Howard, policy coordinator for ALFA.

Archipelago, based in Victoria, British Columbia, is an industry leader in fisheries electronic monitoring. The firm works with the fishing industry, non-government organizations (NGOs) and regulators to implement sustainable practices through at-sea and dockside observer programs, electronic monitoring technology, and marine environmental services.

ALFA, Archipelago and PSMFC also have EM expertise in the Gulf of Alaska where the project will be based.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman