Saving Seafood

ALASKA: Southeast back to an average harvest goal for king salmon after last year’s low

April 6, 2026 — Fishermen in Southeast Alaska will be able to harvest about 70,000 more king salmon this season than last year. The state Department of Fish and Game announced the harvest goal for all gear groups on March 31.

“It’s not, you know, a great catch limit, but it’s a decent catch limit,” said fish biologist Dani Evenson, with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. “Even though it’s sort of an average catch limit, it came as welcome news, because last year was the lowest ever.”

How many king salmon Southeast Alaskans can catch each year is determined by the Pacific Salmon Commission. The group oversees a treaty between the U.S. and Canada that ensures both countries can harvest the fish.

Alaska’s take this year is 207,400 king salmon, also called Chinook. That amount is in line with recent years. . .except last year. Last year’s regional harvest goals plummeted because of lower salmon forecasts in other regions.

Read the full article at KSTK

“Remarkable” sea ice conditions in Bering Sea this winter as Arctic-wide sea ice hits record low

April 6, 2026 — Scientists say sea ice in the Arctic hit its seasonal peak on March 15 – and it was the lowest peak on record. That probably comes as a surprise for fishermen who work the Bering Sea, where sea ice kept expanding for another week and hit its highest peak since 2013, extending south all the way to parts of the Aleutian Islands.

Sea ice last month completely froze over Bristol Bay and the north end of the Alaska Peninsula, past Nelson Lagoon. It reached Cold Bay, Unimak Island – even the Pribilof Islands.

“The Bering Sea is the only place in the Arctic where sea ice is above normal,” Rick Thoman said. “To our west, in the Sea of Okhotsk, so west of Kamchatka, it’s the lowest sea ice extent of record [as of March 19].”

Thoman, a climatologist with the Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Preparedness, said there’s been a persistent series of high-pressure storms that have caused significant sea ice growth in the eastern Bering Sea by holding colder air in that area this winter. But that has also prevented sea ice from forming west of the International Date Line in Russian waters.

“That big high pressure over the Bering Sea has steered many storms and their south winds into the Sea of Okhotsk,” Thoman said. “They just have not been able to form much sea ice.”

Read the full article at KMXT

Genetics Shines New Light on Cod Populations and Distributions in Alaska

April 6, 2026 — A team of researchers from NOAA’s Alaska Fisheries Science Center, the University of Alaska-Fairbanks, and Alaska BioMap, Inc., recently published the most comprehensive population genetic assessment of Pacific cod. Pacific cod is a commercially and ecologically important species in the North Pacific Ocean, and this study identified four distinct genetic stocks. This research provides critical, novel information for setting appropriate stock boundaries for Pacific cod. It shows that our management boundaries generally align with the genetic structure across this region.

Genetic Stock Identification with a New Cost-Effective Tool

“We were interested in using advanced genetic techniques to determine genetic differences among Pacific cod from different regions in Alaska,” said Sara Schaal, lead author of the study. “We collected samples from fish caught in known spawning grounds during the NOAA winter trawl surveys and from our fisheries partners within the Freezer Longline Coalition.”

Schaal and her colleagues first conducted whole-genome sequencing, which identified four genetically distinct stocks of Pacific cod within the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea:

  • Eastern Gulf of Alaska
  • Western Gulf of Alaska/eastern Bering Sea
  • Aleutian Islands
  • Northern Bering Sea

Results highlight significant genetic mixing between Pacific cod spawning in the western Gulf of Alaska and the eastern Bering Sea. This aligns with satellite tag studies that showed high proportions of Pacific cod movement between these two regions outside of spawning season.

The stocks identified using genetics match current management areas, except for the eastern Bering Sea and western Gulf of Alaska, which are currently managed as separate stocks. However, these data show they cannot be distinguished at the genetic level. Additionally, results clearly delineate two distinct stocks within the Gulf of Alaska—with a break between the western and eastern Gulf of Alaska. This had been suggested by previous work, but was clearly shown in this new study.

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries

ALASKA: Southeast Alaska’s treaty-determined Chinook salmon catch limit returns to normal levels

April 6, 2026 — Fishers in Southeast Alaska will be allowed to harvest 205,300 Chinook salmon this year, returning to a normal total after last year’s ultra-low harvest limit.

The Southeast Alaska Chinook harvest total, set in accordance with the U.S.-Canada Pacific Salmon Treaty, was announced this week by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

Last year’s Southeast Chinook catch limit of 133,500 fish was the lowest in any year since the Pacific Salmon Treaty went into effect in 1985, according to the department.

Chinook salmon, also known as king salmon, make up the smallest total harvest of Alaska’s five species of salmon. But they are also sold at a premium, usually fetching the highest market prices. Those that swim in Southeast Alaska waters are the subject of management from different jurisdictions in the U.S. and Canada, through the Pacific Salmon Treaty. The treaty is necessary because the fish are highly migratory and swim through and spawn in various locations, said Dani Evenson, Pacific Salmon Treaty and Arctic Policy Coordinator for the department’s Division of Commercial Fisheries.

Read the full article at Alaska Beacon

ALASKA: Alaska lawmakers push for continued ban on Russian seafood imports

April 1, 2026 — A legislative resolution urging a continued and better-enforced ban on Russian seafood in the United States is headed to Gov. Mike Dunleavy.

Part of a series of actions by Alaska lawmakers to try to shore up the state’s ailing seafood industry, House Joint Resolution 29 won final passage last week and was transferred to the governor on Monday.

The resolution calls for continuation of the ban on Russian seafood imports imposed in 2022, after that country’s invasion of Ukraine. The ban was expanded in 2023 to cover imports of Russian seafood to the U.S. through a third-party country, usually China, where fish are processed.

The import ban is set to expire later this year. That makes the resolution timely, supporters aid.

Among the supporters is Jeremy Woodrow, executive director of the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute.

Woodrow, in testimony to the Senate Resources Committee on Feb. 27, said a stockpile of Russian fish that was in the U.S. before the ban went into full effect is just now being depleted.

Read the full article at Alaska Public Media

Halibut quota hits record low as fishermen compete for shrinking catch

March 30, 2026 — Pacific halibut users – commercial, sport, subsistence and personal use – will compete for a total harvest of just 29.33 million pounds this year, the lowest yield determined by the International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC) in its 102-year-old history.

The new total is 1.3 percent below the 2025 coast-wide quota.

It breaks out at 24.27 million pounds for the U.S. portion, the same as last year, which includes Alaska, Washington, Oregon and California. A catch total of 5.06 million pounds is allocated for British Columbia.

The 2026 Pacific halibut fishery will close Dec. 7.

Read the full article at The National Fisherman

ALASKA: As waters around Alaska warm, algal toxins are turning up in new places in the food web

March 27, 2026 — Over the past two summers, a pair of remote and treeless volcanic islands in the eastern Bering Sea broadcast signals of climate change danger in the marine ecosystem that feeds Alaska residents and supports much of the state’s economy.

Tribal employees monitoring St. Paul Island’s beaches came across 10 dead but seemingly well-fed northern fur seals in August of 2024, their bodies lying amid piles of dead fish and birds.

Testing revealed that the seals had been killed by an algal toxin that causes paralytic shellfish poisoning. It was the first ever conclusive case of marine mammals killed by saxitoxin, the algal toxin that causes paralytic shellfish poisoning.

The people living on St. Paul, numbering about 400, most of them Unangax, are highly dependent on the marine environment for their food. They are aware of the algal toxins that pose risks of paralytic shellfish poisoning in faraway Southeast Alaska. But seal deaths from algal toxin poisoning on their own island came as a big surprise to local people, said Aaron Lestenkof, who is part of the tribe’s Indigenous Sentinels Network.

“It never occurred to us that it may happen to our marine mammals here,” Lestenkof said. “I guess it was just a matter of time.”

The St. Paul die-off was not a one-time incident. In August of 2025, tribal residents found 21 dead fur seals on a beach at St. George Island, a sister island of St. Paul. Along with the seals were two dead fin whales, a dead sea lion and several dead seabirds.

Read the full article at the Alaska Beacon

ALASKA: Warmer waters boost appetite of invasive pike for salmon

March 27, 2026 — Rising temperatures in the waters of Southcentral Alaska’s Deshka River have boosted the appetites of invasive northern pike, to the peril of Chinook and coho salmon and other fish species.

A study led by the University of Alaska Fairbanks researchers, published in February in the journal Biological Invasions, notes that pike of every age class are eating more fish as water temperatures rise, including a 63 percent rise among year-old pike.

Benjamin Rich, who led the study while pursuing a graduate degree at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, said researchers expect there will be significant warming in the future, and the amount of fish pike consume will increase with it.

The big thing to watch will be the cumulative impacts of climate warming, including hatchery issues and endangered species, said UAF fisheries professor Peter Westley, who worked with Rich and Erik Schoen, of UAF’s International Arctic Research Center, on the study.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

ALASKA: Board of Fish rejects proposals to reduce hatchery pink and chum production

March 27, 2026 — The Alaska Board of Fisheries last weekend voted down three proposals to limit hatchery production of pink and chum salmon. Those hatcheries are mostly in Southeast Alaska and Prince William Sound. They’re run by private nonprofits, and the state manages their permits.

There are currently 11 hatcheries permitted to take 1.39 billion pink salmon eggs and 15 hatcheries permitted to take 939 million chum salmon eggs.

The Fairbanks Fish and Game Advisory Committee sought a 25% reduction in egg production per hatchery permit. That’s a proposal that they’ve recommended before.

Board of Fish member Mike Wood of Talkeetna discussed the pros and cons.

“By cutting 25% of hatchery production in areas like Prince William Sound or Southeast, is the squeeze worth the juice with the impacts that it would have on these small boat fishermen, on an industry that we really need to rely on in this state?” he asked.

Read the full article at KCAW

ALASKA: Board of Fisheries overhauls commercial drift fleet management plan

March 26, 2026 — Upper Cook Inlet’s commercial driftnet fishing fleet has a new rulebook for the salmon fishing season that starts in July. That’s after the Alaska Board of Fisheries, which oversees state-managed waters, significantly altered the fleet’s season parameters during its meeting in Anchorage last week. Some Kenai Peninsula fishermen are unhappy with the changes.

The changes were spurred by a proposal from Andy Couch, a fishing guide in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, although the version approved by the board was ultimately a dramatic rewrite of the submitted language. Couch told commissioners the Upper Cook Inlet’s drift fleet is preventing coho salmon from getting to the Deshka and Little Susitna Rivers. That’s where Couch guides.

“Northern Cook Inlet coho salmon escapements have declined with increased use of the central district drift gill net fleet to harvest large returns of Kenai and Kasilof river sockeye during the past three years,” he said.

The state’s management plan for Cook Inlet’s central district drift gillnet fishery is outlined in Alaska Administrative Code. Cook Inlet is carved into chunks of fishing grounds that may be opened or closed by the Department of Fish and Game.

Board members weren’t scheduled to hear proposals impacting Cook Inlet fisheries during its 2026 meeting. That’s because the board meets on three-year cycles, and Cook Inlet issues aren’t scheduled to be taken up until 2027. But the board agreed to take up the proposal as a supplemental issue.

The new rules let the fleet potentially fish eight more hours per week, but restrict the fleet’s fishing grounds.

Read the full article at KDLL