Saving Seafood

Lawmakers approve state audit of the Alaska Board of Fisheries

July 22, 2026 — A legislative audit committee instructed the state auditor to investigate the past three years of process and legal compliance of the board tasked with developing policy and managing Alaska’s fisheries.

Rep. Louise Stutes, R-Kodiak and chair of the House Fisheries Committee, made the request for the special audit of the Alaska Board of Fisheries. The bicameral Legislative Audit and Budget Committee approved it at a hearing on Thursday.

“The breadth and frequency of stakeholder complaints about the Board’s process make it clear the Board has lost the public’s trust. As Chair of the House Fisheries Committee, I am compelled to act,” Stutes wrote.

She said the board has been “increasingly characterized as lacking transparency, unethical, and/or unlawful.”

The seven-member Board of Fisheries is appointed by Gov. Mike Dunleavy and confirmed by the Legislature. Each member serves a three year term. The legislative audit committee authorized an examination of the board’s activity from an Oct 12, 2023 meeting through July 1 of this year.

Read the full story at the Alaska Beacon

ALASKA: Bristol Bay sockeye run closes in on preseason forecast

July 21, 2026 — According to a July 17 fisheries update from KDLG in Dillingham, Alaska, Bristol Bay’s 2026 sockeye salmon run continues to track toward its preseason forecast, with the total run reaching more than 43.2 million fish and the commercial harvest approaching 28.5 million.

Fishermen harvested 356,707 sockeye on Thursday, bringing the season’s cumulative catch to 28,484,324 fish, about 88 percent of the preseason harvest forecast of 32.26 million sockeye. Total escapement reached 43,297,216 fish, putting the overall run within roughly 750,000 fish of the forecasted 44.05 million fish.

Egegik posted the largest daily harvest, with 163,104 sockeye landed Thursday. The district’s season catch has climbed to 8,571,718 fish, already surpassing its preseason harvest forecast of 7.5 million. Egegik’s total run now stands at 10,477,480 sockeye, well above the projected 8.9 million fish.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

NOAA finds gray whales have increased in population along US West Coast over the past year

July 21, 2026 — A new study published by NOAA’s Fisheries’ Southwest Fisheries Science Center found that population numbers of gray whales along the U.S. West Coast have increased since 2025.

How and why populations of Eastern North Pacific gray whales are seeing an uptick is still under research, but in a release, NOAA confirmed that the increase “likely exceeds the reproductive capacity of the population.” Last year, the most recent estimate for gray whale calves was the lowest on record at 85. Now, researchers estimate the population of Eastern North Pacific gray whales is between 15,930 and 20,530, which is much higher than last year’s estimate of between 11,690 and 12,890.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

ALASKA: Alaskan fisheries scientists hoping to use AI for salmon enumeration in Bristol Bay

July 20, 2026 — Counting salmon in Alaska has been done the same way since the 1950s.

A field biologist climbs a tower, counts the number of fish swimming through the area every 10 minutes on the hour, hops down and into a skiff, moves to the opposite bank, and counts for another 10 minutes. They then spend 40 minutes reporting that data – just to do it all again the next hour.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

US commission on China calls for ban on Chinese seafood

July 17, 2026 — The Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) is calling on the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump to ban seafood caught or processed by China, citing concerns over forced labor.

CECC Chair Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) and Co-Chair Representative Christopher Smith (R-New Jersey), along with commissioners Representative Dale Strong (R-Alabama) and Representative Tom Suozzi (D-New York)  wrote a letter to Trump calling for an executive order to ban seafood either caught by Chinese-linked vessels or processed in China.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick goes against top choices for fishery management councils

July 17, 2026 — U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick has opted to go against some top nominations for U.S. fishery management councils.

In a 26 June announcement Lutnick announced he selected Forrest Bowers, the second choice for the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, instead the Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy’s top choice and current Alaska Department of Fish & Game Board Chair Märit Carlson-Van Dort. For the Pacific Fishery Management Council, Lutnick selected second-choice Chad See, director of the Freezer Longline Coalition, over the Washington Governor Bob Ferguson’s first pic of Jamie Goen, the executive director of the Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers trade group.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

ALASKA: Commercial salmon prices up this year in Alaska

July 17, 2026 — An early-season indicator of how salmon prices will go this season in Alaska is Bristol Bay’s sockeye fishery, which opened in June. It’s the largest harvest of sockeye in the world, estimated at 44.1 million this season. The region’s main processor, Silver Bay Seafoods, announced in an email to fishermen a base price of $1.60/lb. That’s 30 cents higher than last year and 80 cents more than 2024.

Silver Bay wouldn’t comment on prices in Southeast Alaska but talk on the dock says it’s higher for all species: sockeye are about $3.00/lb and chums are over $1.00/lb. They’ll adjust the price later, giving some fishermen bonuses in the winter.

A smaller processor, Circle Seafoods in southern Southeast, is paying seiners $1.07/lb for chum, which is 18 cents more than last year — also $2.50/lb for sockeye, and $0.61/lb for pinks.

Simon Marks is with McKinley Research Group, which tracks Alaska’s commercial fishing economy.

Read the full article at KFSK

ALASKA: Sullivan, Peltola battle for Alaska fishing vote in Senate race

July 16, 2026 — Members of Congress routinely post news releases on legislation they introduce and cosponsor, including for Alaska’s delegation, a plethora of seafood legislation impacting the seafood industry.

Once in a while, one of these bills becomes law. The odds are 1-3 percent.

Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, and former Rep. Mary Peltola, D-Alaska, who are both running for his current Senate seat, have issued news releases stating their priorities for federal regulations related to the nation’s federal fisheries. Many of their campaigns are focused on convincing Alaskans engaged in the fisheries industry that they can do the most to protect and improve benefits for Alaskans working in that industry.

Purchases of Russian seafood were blocked from federal school lunch programs by an amendment introduced by Sullivan, which passed the Senate in November 2023.  That amendment closed a loophole that had allowed Russian seafood processed in China to bypass the National School Lunch Program “Buy American” requirements.

In 2022, the Alaska Salmon Task Force Act, sponsored by Sullivan, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, and Rep. Don Young, Alaska’s all Republican delegation, was established as a federal task force. On July 12, 2024, the task force submitted its final science report on the complex biological, environmental and socioeconomic factors impacting Alaska salmon to the Secretary of Commerce, the Alaska Legislature and relevant congressional committees.

On June 25, Sullivan introduced the Bycatch Reduction Act, an updated version of bycatch legislation introduced by the Alaska congressional delegation in January of 2026, which remains in the introduced stage in the Senate and the House.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

ALASKA: Alaska salmon catch swells to 29.5 million

July 16, 2026 — Alaska’s commercial salmon catch jumped from 21.2 million to 29.5 million for the seven days through July 14, as retail prices generally held, with 24% of the projected annual harvest now met.

Silver Bay Seafoods has adjusted its 2026 Bristol Bay sockeye price to $2 a pound for chilled, floated, bled fish, the Bristol Bay Fishermen’s Association said on Tuesday, July 14. The company will continue to evaluate the season’s financial results, with the final profit share to be calculated and reviewed by the fishermen’s board at the spring meeting, said Janis Harsila, business manager for the BBFA.

On July 15, Trident Seafoods announced a base price increase from $1.25 to $1.65 a pound, bringing its Tier 1 chilled price to $2.

Consumers found fresh fillets of red salmon on sale at Costco warehouses in Anchorage for $14.99 a pound, down $2 from a week earlier. Seafood managers at New Sagaya in Anchorage had Alaska red salmon fillets for $12.95 a pound, while 10th & M held firm at $16.95 a pound. Carrs-Safeway customers with a store card could purchase those fillets for $16.99 a pound, but the regular price was $38.99 a pound.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

ALASKA: Commercial troll fishery stays open with half of allotted kings remaining

July 15, 2026 — Southeast Alaska’s commercial king salmon fishery will remain open until further notice. The July 1 king opener for trollers, who fish with hook and line, is usually over quickly– it typically lasts anywhere from a handful of days to a week. But this year, with two weeks down, trollers are only at the halfway mark toward catching their target.

Grant Hagerman is the Southeast region’s commercial troll management biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. In an interview with KCAW on Monday (7-13-26) Hagerman said in the past two weeks, trollers have caught roughly half of the 84,000 allotted Chinook salmon.

“Fishing is a little bit slower, definitely,” Hagerman said. “But we have fewer boats. There’s less effort this year as well. So a combination of those two has has prolonged this longer than what we’d anticipated, preseason.”

Read the full article at KCAW