April 29, 2026 — Officials in the U.S. state of Alaska are again asking for better protections for salmon in the state’s transboundary rivers.
Data compiled by the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI) shows that salmon traveling from Canada into Southeast Alaska yield harvests of millions of salmon, valued at over USD 225 million (EUR 192.6 million) and making up roughly one-third of all North Pacific salmon runs.
April 29, 2026 — Alaska’s Board of Fisheries is considering a major change to the type of gear Cook Inlet’s east-side setnet fishermen can use when king salmon runs are poor. The group will take up a proposal Friday that would replace setnets with beach seines in the fishery’s management plan.
Fishermen would only be allowed to fish with beach seines when the state forecasts a run of at least 14,250 large king salmon. Currently, fishermen are allowed to use setnets when that threshold is met.
The proposed pivot to beach seines might seem like an abrupt about-face. But a small group of setnetters have been experimenting with beach seines for years now. Armed with an experimental permit from the state, a Kenai couple deployed custom seines on their setnet site to see if the gear could harvest commercial levels of sockeye salmon without killing king salmon.
Setnets catch when fish swim into and get their gills caught on the net’s mesh diamonds. That means caught fish are usually dead by the time they’re hauled onto the beach. Seine nets have smaller diamonds, though. They billow with the tide and scoop fish onto the beach – alive.
April 28, 2026 — Yukon River Chinook salmon are headed for another dismal year, according to preliminary estimates predicting the 2026 run will remain near historic lows ahead of April’s official forecast.
Fisheries managers estimate approximately 25,000 Canadian-origin Chinook will return this year, according to Zachary Liller, Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s Arctic, Yukon and Kuskokwim region research coordinator.
That would mirror the poor runs of 2024 and 2025—a devastating decline from historical averages exceeding 100,000 fish annually.
The Joint Technical Committee—made up of Alaskan and Canadian researchers and management biologists—will present its official 2026 forecast to the Yukon River Panel at its April spring meeting.
April 23, 2026 — No mining proposal in recent Alaska history has generated more concern for the state’s salmon runs than the Pebble project.
The huge copper and gold deposit extends into multiple salmon-bearing watersheds, and sits upstream from Alaska’s most lucrative salmon fishery.
But now, in a new court filing, Pebble’s developer says just a tiny number of salmon are blocking the mine’s construction — 27 fish, to be exact, and all one species.
Federal regulators, who halted the project in 2023, are “preserving” 27 coho salmon “at the cost of $800 billion” in minerals, lawyers for Pebble Limited Partnership wrote in a recent brief filed in Alaska’s federal district court.
The remarkably specific fish figure aligns with the number of spawning salmon counted years ago in a stream directly within the proposed mine site.
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.
April 22, 2026 — Alaska State Representative Sarah Vance has introduced the Alaska Coastal Micro-Fisheries Act, legislation that would eliminate some regulatory requirements for small-scale fishers looking to process their catch.
Alaska House Bill 356 would reduce the health and sanitary requirements on permits for commercial fishing vessels and their operators by allowing exemptions for processing operations on low-risk species if safety standards are already met. The legislation only applies to catches under 5,000 pounds.
April 21, 2026 — With spring in the air and higher prices for halibut and black cod, optimism is blooming at Alaska’s largest firm selling fishing boats and permits.
“We are heading into this year with some real optimism,” said Doug Bowen, founder and consultant for Alaska Boats and Permits in Homer, the biggest marine brokerage in Alaska. “We are seeing better prices for halibut, sablefish and salmon.”
Early spring harvests of halibut brought fishermen $9.25 a pound in Homer and Seward, the highest price ever, Bowen said.
“We are up to a much better start than in the last couple of years,” said Maddie Lightsey, Bowen’s daughter, who serves as president and owner of the company. “The industry on the whole was on the bottom for a while. 2025 was kind of a rebuilding year, with people still trying to recover from the crash. We are seeing a lot more people trying to sell boats than to buy.”
April 16, 2026 — A renewed push to ban bottom trawling in Alaska state waters is gaining traction in Juneau, as lawmakers grapple with declining salmon runs and mounting pressure from fishermen, tribes, and conservation groups.
According to reporting by Alaska Beacon, legislation introduced by Sen. Mike Cronk, R-Tok, and Rep. Kevin McCabe, R-Big Lake, would prohibit bottom trawling and dredging in state waters beginning in 2028. The proposal also calls for a state-led study on trawling impacts, with an estimated cost of $3.9 million.
The issue is deeply tied to the state’s identity and economy, with salmon declines– particularly on the Yukon River– intensifying scrutiny of bycatch in the Bering Sea pollock fishery. “Salmon is our identity,” Brian Ridley of the Tanana Chiefs Conference told lawmakers, emphasizing the cultural and subsistence importance of the resource.
April 16, 2026 — Jeff Turner has owned and operated his commercial fishing vessel Mirage since 2010 in Sitka, Alaska, U.S.A.
This year, thanks to a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) grant awarded to the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association (ALFA), his boat was rebuilt to have hybrid diesel-electric capabilities.
April 15, 2026 — A draft report by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game indicates a lower statewide harvest of 125.5 million salmon this season, compared to last year’s tally of 194.8 million fish. That adds up to 69.3 million fewer salmon, a decline of nearly 36 percent.
The preliminary data show drops in all projected catches except for Chinook salmon.
Comparisons by species show that for 2026, the projected Chinook harvest is pegged at 197,000 compared to 181,892 in 2025.
For sockeye salmon, the harvest forecast of nearly 50 million compares to more than 52.6 million last year.
Coho catches are expected to top 2.4 millon, down from nearly 2.5 million.