Saving Seafood

Alaska halibut fisherman convicted in ghost fishing scheme

May 12, 2026 — A Southeast Alaska commercial fisherman has been sentenced to five years’ probation, a $15,000 fine, and a worldwide ban on fishing and hunting after pleading guilty to conspiring to illegally harvest halibut in violation of the Lacey Act.

Vincent Jacobson, 52, of Yakutat, was sentenced May 6 in federal court. He had pleaded guilty on Aug. 28, 2025, to one count of Lacey Act conspiracy stemming from a scheme that ran from September 2019 to August 2022.

According to court documents, Jacobson conspired with fellow Yakutat fisherman Jonathan Pavlik, 41, to fraudulently use Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) permits to commit violations of federal law and regulations. IFQ permits for commercial halibut fishing in Alaskan waters require the permit holder to be aboard a vessel at all times during a fishing trip — including when gear is set and when fish are harvested.

On Aug. 24 and 25, 2022, Pavlik’s crew aboard the New Era received halibut harvested by Jacobson’s Epic while Pavlik was not aboard either vessel. Pavlik then landed the fish under his IFQ permit, allegedly falsely reporting the vessel of harvest and claiming the halibut was creditable to his IFQ balance. Pavlik allegedly paid Jacobson for the illegally caught fish from both days. Jacobson also participated in two additional fishing trips in 2019 and 2020 involving nearly identical conduct.

Read the full article at National Fisherman

ALASKA: Bristol Bay sockeye forecast drops below recent average for 2026

May 11, 2026 — University of Washington’s Alaska Salmon Program researchers are forecasting a 2026 total Bristol Bay sockeye salmon run of 41.5 million fish, with slightly larger fish than in 2025.

The report, released on Wednesday, May 6, in Seattle, projects that most of the returning sockeye will be fish that spent either two or three winters in the ocean before returning to Bristol Bay to spawn. Researchers expect about 46 percent of the run to be 2-ocean fish and 54 percent to be 3-ocean fish, with average weights ranging from 4.9 to 6.6 pounds.

The forecast is 32 percent below the recent 10-year average of 60.1 million fish, according to data made available in November 2025,

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game in a separate forecast of March 24, projected a run of 45.32 million fish, allowing for a projected harvest of 32.26 million red salmon.  That forecast is 26 percent lower than the recent 10-year average, but still 21 percent higher than the long-term average.

Read the full article at National Fisherman

Alaska’s maritime economy works because we invest in people, not just projects

May 8, 2026 — Reid Williams, a second-generation fisherman from Cordova, grew up in a fishing family and began working as a teenager. After graduating in 2019, he leased a vessel and permit while working to build something of his own. With support from the state’s Commercial Fishing Loan Program, he was able to purchase his first boat and permit, a step toward long-term ownership that would have been impossible to achieve through traditional financing.

In the years since, Williams has continued to reinvest in his business. Now operating a larger vessel, he has expanded his capacity across multiple fisheries.
His story reflects both opportunity and reality. For young Alaskans who want to stay in their communities and build a life on the water, access to that first opportunity remains one of the most significant barriers.
The backbone of coastal Alaska
From Metlakatla to Unalaska, maritime industries are not just part of our economy, they are the economy. Commercial fishing, mariculture, charter fishing, vessel repair, seafood processing, research and marine transportation support thousands of jobs and sustain communities that depend on the working waterfront.
For more than 50 years, Alaska’s Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development has made a deliberate choice: when traditional financing falls short in seasonal, high-risk, or rural industries, the state does not replace the private sector, it partners with it through its Division of Investments’ nine revolving loan programs.
Since its creation in 1972, the Commercial Fishing Loan Program has issued more than 9,300 loans totaling over $641 million, supporting more than 20,000 jobs.

ALASKA: Copper River opener will launch Alaska’s 2026 salmon season

May 8, 2026 — While trollers in Southeast Alaska catch king salmon almost year-round, mid-May marks the official start of Alaska’s salmon season as sockeyes and kings run to the Copper River near Cordova.

The Copper River District commercial salmon drift gillnet fishery will open at 7:00 am on Friday, May 22, for a 12-hour fishing period. The standard commercial fishing schedule has two evenly spaced fishing periods per week, with the first period typically starting on Mondays. Fishing effort, harvest, passage, and escapement trends will inform managers’ decisions throughout the fishery, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. (ADF&G)

The 2026 Copper River sockeye salmon commercial harvest forecast is 728,000 fish, which is on par with the 10-year average of 733,000 fish.

The Chinook salmon total run forecast of 33,000 fish is 27 percent below the 10-year average of 45,000 fish and no harvest predictions are provided.

ADF&G said that depending on the relative strength of the sockeye and Chinook salmon runs, more management measures may be necessary to provide additional fishing opportunity on sockeye salmon while minimizing Chinook salmon harvest.

Read the full article at National Fisherman

ALASKA: 126 million salmon – that’s the estimated harvest by Alaska’s commercial fishermen this year

May 5, 2026 — Every year, state biologists predict how many salmon can be commercially harvested in relation to expected run strengths. It guides how they manage the state’s fisheries, like when and where they open and for how long. The state Department of Fish and Game announced in April that this year’s expected overall harvest is 126 million fish, which is 90 million fewer fish than what was expected last year.

“It’s not, not particularly concerning to me,” said Forrest Bowers, who heads the state’s Division of Commercial Fisheries. He said there is inherent uncertainty in the forecasts. “Keep in mind, this is a projection. You know, the accuracy of the projection varies across the state, particularly for stocks like coho salmon, they are very difficult to forecast. Chum can be difficult to forecast as well.”

Still, it’s less than two-thirds of what they ended up harvesting last year. That huge gap mostly boils down to one species – pinks, also known as humpies. Their two-year life cycle is the shortest of all salmon. And for whatever reason, their runs in Alaska are far smaller in even-numbered years.

Pinks are the most commercially harvested salmon. Last year, they made up about 61% of the total expected commercial harvest. This year, they make up nearly 44%.

Read the full article at KFSK

Sea Grant workshops train the future of the fisheries industry

May 4, 2026 — In an era when the commercial fisheries industry is growing more concerned about the graying of the fleet, Alaska Sea Grant workshops are attracting a new generation of harvesters.

“Our beginning commercial fisherman training encompasses a lot of training programs,” said Gabe Dunham, Marine Advisory Program (MAP) leader and fisheries specialist for Alaska Sea Grant in Juneau. “The skipper apprenticeship program is taught in Bristol Bay to help youths there become skippers,” he said.

A crew training workshop for late middle school and high school students in Hoonah, on the northeastern shore of Chichagof Island in Southeast Alaska, was offered in April in collaboration with the Hoonah Indian Association, as was one in Metlakatla, an Indian reserve within Southeast Alaska’s Inside Passage. Another is scheduled for May 7, plus more crew training on June 8 in Petersburg, on the northern tip of Mitkof Island, also within the Inside Passage.

MAP instructors offer a combination of lectures and skills training ranging from knot tying and line splicing to mechanical skills. Participants learn how to make an electrical connection, tighten nuts and bolts, and identify four different chemicals commonly found on fishing vessels. A navigation activity teaches U.S. Coast Guard rules of the road for those operating on coastal waters.

The following was released by the National Fishermen

Retail prices for 2026 Alaska salmon are still a wild card

May 1, 2026 — Given an Alaska Department of Fish and Game 2026 harvest prediction of 125.5 million salmon, down 36 percent from 197.4 million a year ago, forecasts on retail prices still remain a wild card.

The forecast for 56 million pink, 49.7 million sockeye, 17.2 million chum and 2.4 million coho compares with 2025 forecasts of 120 million pink, 52.7 million sockeye, 21.7 million chum and 2.7 million coho salmon.

While rumors are out there that salmon prices will rise because of the increased cost of fuel, nothing is settled yet, said Tito Marquez, manager at 10th & M Seafoods, a popular Anchorage seafood shop.

“We are still waiting to see how the season plays out for Alaska and Russia,” said Simon Marks, a research analyst at McKinley Research Group in Juneau, Alaska. “We usually get information on Russian pinks much later in the year.”

Current fisheries articles don’t suggest that dramatic changes are said Gunnar Knapp, professor emeritus of economics at the University of Alaska Anchorage Institute of Social and Economic Research. While hardly definitive, it is an indication that nothing is going on that is either hugely positive or negative news, he said.

Read the full article at National Fisherman

NOAA researchers use genetic tools to improve understanding of Alaska’s Pacific cod stocks

May 1, 2026 — NOAA researchers from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and Alaska BioMap have been working on identifying genetic stocks of Pacific cod in Alaska to build a cost-effective genetic database full of assessments.

Breaking the population into four stocks – Bering Sea, Gulf of Alaska, Aleutian Islands, and Pacific Coast – the assessment found that none of the four have been or are subject to overfishing threats, as measured by estimating the spawning biomass, or the number of females able to reproduce, according to a release by NOAA.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Alaska officials welcome federal funding for seven port improvement projects

May 1, 2026 — The U.S. state of Alaska has secured more than USD 115.4 million (EUR 98.4 million) in federal grants to improve its ports through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Port Infrastructure Development Program (PIDP).

The money granted will fund seven projects statewide in Alaska, with a release from the office of Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy noting the projects span Alaskan coastal communities from the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta to Southeast Alaska.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

ALASKA: Higher temperatures spur Alaska’s invasive pike to eat more, a bad sign for salmon

April 30, 2026 — Invasive northern pike have wreaked havoc in Southcentral Alaska rivers and lakes. Introduced illegally in the 1950s, they have been devouring juvenile salmon and other native species.

Now a University of Alaska Fairbanks study warns that matters could get even worse.

As temperatures rise in waterways, invasive pike eat more, said the study, published in the journal Biological Invasions. And as temperatures continue to rise, that trend will continue, the study said. Based on expected temperature trends, invasive northern pike will eat 6% to 12% more by the end of the century, the study said.

“We expect there will be significant warming in the future, and the amount of fish that pike consume is going to increase with it,” Benjamin Rich, who led the study while earning a master’s degree at UAF’s College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, said in a statement released by the university.

The UAF study found that over the past decade, northern pike of all age classes ate more as waters warmed. The increase was most dramatic in year-old pike, which upped their intake by about 63% over the period.

Read the full article at Alaska Public Media