Saving Seafood

ALASKA: Coastal Alaskans see commercial fishing limits as a ‘crisis.’ Lawmakers don’t.

May 29, 2025 — For decades, an economic catastrophe has been unfolding in the Indigenous villages along the Gulf of Alaska, with lost jobs and the destruction of a traditional way of life: hauling fish from the sea.

That destruction is still playing out. More than 80% of people who responded to a recent survey sponsored by an economic development nonprofit said that Southeast Alaska and Kodiak Island villages are in a “crisis of sustainability” because of lost access to fisheries.

Indigenous leaders across the Gulf say it’s imperative that Alaska legislators pass reforms to the state law that they blame for the mess: a landmark 1973 statute that effectively prevents many residents of those coastal villages from earning a living by fishing for salmon.

New fishermen can only participate in the commercial harvest if they buy or inherit a state permit that, in some cases, can cost upward of $100,000 — putting it out of reach for young rural residents with no credit histories.

“We all have kids and grandkids that want to continue doing what their grandparents were doing a long time ago,” Joe Nelson, a top official with Southeast Alaska regional Native corporation Sealaska, said at a reception for lawmakers in Juneau last month.

Read the full article at KTOO

ALASKA: Alaska Legislature makes progress on aid package for ailing seafood industry

May 29, 2025 — To help pull the struggling Alaska seafood industry out of its tailspin, state lawmakers passed some bills aimed at lightening the financial load on harvesters and advanced others that are intended to help businesses and fishery-dependent municipalities.

The bills stemmed from recommendations made by the Joint Legislative Task Force Evaluating Alaska’s Seafood Industry, which was created by lawmakers last year and which completed its work with a report at the start of this year’s session.

Lawmakers passed two task force-related bills, giving unanimous or near-unanimous support. One of them, House Bill 116, allows Alaska fishing organizations to establish their own insurance cooperatives. The other bill, Senate Bill 156, shores up the Alaska Commercial Fishing and Agriculture Bank with a long-term loan from the state to keep the cooperative organization in business.

Read the full article at KTOO

Seattle’s Alaska Pollock Industry Unites for Inaugural ‘Net Recycling Day’

May 29, 2025 — The following was released by the At-Sea Processors Association:

In a powerful display of responsibility in action, more than 150 volunteers from the Alaska Pollock catcher-processor fleet gathered at Terminal 91 today for the first-ever Net Recycling Day. Today’s event was a collaborative hands-on effort to dismantle and recycle end-of-life fishing nets previously used for harvesting Wild Alaska Pollock—the world’s most sustainable whitefish.

Five of the region’s predominant fishing companies led the event, including: American Seafoods, Arctic Storm Management Group, Coastal Villages Region Fund, Glacier Fish Company and Trident Seafoods. These companies are all members of the At-Sea Processors Association working collectively to raise the bar on sustainable fisheries management.
Volunteers from each of the five companies, as well as from other companies that support and partner with the Wild Alaska Pollock fishery, teamed up throughout the day to cut, sort and prepare four retired fishing nets for recycling. Participants worked side by side with vessel captains, crew, and gear experts, gaining first-hand experience working with the gear and learning how each part functions.

The recycled net material will be sent to specialized facilities where it will be repurposed into new life forms including decking, outdoor furniture and sports equipment, lunch trays, and other goods, thereby extending the life of gear that might otherwise accumulate in coastal communities or in landfills.
“Fishing gear doesn’t last forever—but it also doesn’t have to go to waste. As we continuously improve our nets and gear, it is encouraging to know that the gear that has served one useful purpose can now serve another one,” said Tim Fitzgerald, Chief Sustainability Officer at American Seafoods. “Today’s Net Recycling Day brought out the catcher-processor sector of the Alaska Pollock industry together in a deeply collaborative way to show that recycling efforts are possible—and already happening—right here in Seattle.”
While this is the inaugural event for all five companies representing the catcher-processor sector of the Alaska Pollock fishery, net recycling events have been held, individually, by some of the companies for years. American Seafoods, for example, has been holding its own net recycling events since 2021.
“Access to resources for responsible recycling and disposal of old fishing gear is a pressing need. Any step we can take to prevent accumulation of marine debris, microplastics, and ghost gear, results in valuable lessons we hope to share with other fisheries,” said Caitlin Yeager, Vice President of the At-Sea Processors Association. “Our members are constantly evaluating their fishing practices through collaborative research, improved bycatch reduction devices, and new technology such as live feed cameras. Getting rid of the old makes way for the new and serves as a reminder of the strides being taken in our commitment to responsible fisheries management.”
The Net Recycling Day took place today, at Pier 91, from 8:30am – 3:30pm. Multimedia clips from the event, including photo and video, can be found here.

As glaciers melt, salmon and mining companies are vying for the new territory

May 28, 2025 — The Tulsequah Glacier meanders down a broad valley in northwest British Columbia, 7 miles from the Alaska border. At the foot of the glacier sits a silty, gray lake, a reservoir of glacial runoff. The lake is vast, deeper than Seattle’s Space Needle is tall. But it didn’t exist a few decades ago, before 2 miles of ice had melted.

On an overcast day, a helicopter carrying three salmon scientists zoomed up the valley. As it neared the lake, the pilot banked to the right and flew over the south side of the basin, whirring over a narrow outlet where it drains into the Tulsequah River. He landed on a beach of small boulders and the researchers clambered out one by one.

“We don’t think there are fish here yet,” said one of them, Jon Moore, an aquatic ecologist at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver. “But there will be soon.”

The lake, so new to the landscape that it doesn’t have an official name, is still too cold and murky for salmon, but that’s likely to change soon. As the Tulsequah Glacier above it retreats, the lake is getting warmer and clearer, becoming a more attractive environment for migrating fish. “It’s going to be popping off,” Moore said.

Read the full article at KYUK

ALASKA: New bill would prohibit hard-rock metals mining in Alaska’s Bristol Bay watershed

May 23, 2025 — Mere hours before he banged his gavel to adjourn this year’s session of the Alaska House of Representatives, Speaker Bryce Edgmon, I-Dillingham, introduced a bill to bar metals mining from the Bristol Bay watershed.

The measure, House Bill 233, would expand on the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2023 decision prohibiting permitting of the controversial Pebble Project in the region. The Biden administration action, which followed up on a process started in the Obama administration, invoked a rarely used provision on the Clean Water Act to prevent development of the huge open-pit copper and gold mine planned for the region upstream from salmon-rich Bristol Bay.

Edgmon’s bill would ban all metallic sulfide mining in the area designated as the Bristol Bay Fisheries Reserve, which encompasses state land in the Bristol Bay watershed.

Metallic sulfide mining, also known as hard-rock mining, is the type of mining that extracts elements like gold and copper from acid-generating rocks classified as sulfides. When these sulfides are processed, they commonly cause acid to drain out. It is a method distinct from placer mining, which sifts out metals from loose sediments. The copper and gold that would be produced at the Pebble project is held in sulfide ore and would be extracted through hard-rock mining.

The Bristol Bay Fisheries Reserve was established by the Legislature in 1972 to prevent oil and gas development in the region. The effort was led by Jay Hammond, who was president of the state Senate at the time. He later became governor.

Read the full article at Alaska Public Media

ALASKA: Bill targets watershed protection for Bristol Bay salmon

May 23, 2025 — Legislation aimed at protecting the Bristol Bay watershed in southwest Alaska, home of the world’s largest run of wild sockeye salmon, was introduced on May 20, by Speaker of the House Rep. Bryce Edgmon, I-Dillingham, and Rep. Andy Josephson, D-Anchorage.

Coming at the end of a busy first legislative session, House Bil 233 – which would strengthen protections for wild salmon within the Bristol Bay Fisheries Reserve – will automatically be up for consideration when the Legislature reconvenes in January 2026.

Oil and gas development is currently prohibited in the Bristol Bay Fisheries Reserve without legislative approval. The reserve was established by the Legislature with the leadership of Gov. Jay Hammond in 1972 – marking more than half a century of state-based efforts to safeguard the region.

Northern Dynasty Minerals, based in Vancouver, British Columbia, has sought for years to mine the Pebble prospect, to extract copper, gold and molybdenum from lands abutting the Bristol Bay watershed. The mining company contends that by using state-of-the-art technology they can prevent spills from mining operations. Their plans have been challenged in court many times by concerns of potential environmental damage from copper spilling into the watershed in the event of equipment failure or other incidents.

Read the full article at The Cordova Times

ALASKA: As glaciers melt, salmon and mining companies are vying for the new territory

May 22, 2025 — The Tulsequah Glacier meanders down a broad valley in northwest British Columbia, 7 miles from the Alaska border. At the foot of the glacier sits a silty, gray lake, a reservoir of glacial runoff. The lake is vast, deeper than Seattle’s Space Needle is tall. But it didn’t exist a few decades ago, before 2 miles of ice had melted.

On an overcast day, a helicopter carrying three salmon scientists zoomed up the valley. As it neared the lake, the pilot banked to the right and flew over the south side of the basin, whirring over a narrow outlet where it drains into the Tulsequah River. He landed on a beach of small boulders and the researchers clambered out one by one.

“We don’t think there are fish here yet,” said one of them, Jon Moore, an aquatic ecologist at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver. “But there will be soon.”

The lake, so new to the landscape that it doesn’t have an official name, is still too cold and murky for salmon. But that’s likely to change soon: As the Tulsequah Glacier above it retreats, the lake is getting warmer and clearer, becoming a more attractive environment for migrating fish. “It’s going to be popping off,” Moore said.

Read the full article at Alaska Public Media

Greens sue NOAA over delayed ESA decision on Alaska chinook salmon

May 21, 2025 — Environmentalists are suing NOAA for failing to issue an Endangered Species Act listing decision for Gulf of Alaska chinook salmon within one year of receiving a petition to protect the species.

In a filing before the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Wild Fish Conservancy says NOAA’s listing decision delay means Alaskan chinook salmon “are more likely to continue to decline toward extinction.”

“The Endangered Species Act sets clear deadlines … to evaluate the risk of extinction and trigger action while recovery is still possible,” Emma Helverson, executive director of Wild Fish Conservancy, said in a statement. “By ignoring those deadlines, NOAA isn’t just breaking the law — it’s perpetuating the collapse of Alaskan chinook and threatening the ecosystems and communities that depend on them.”

Read the full article at E&E News

ALASKA: ASMI responds to trade pressures with focus on domestic growth

May 21, 2025 — The Juneau, Alaska-based Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI) has released its 2024 annual report, highlighting the successes and challenges of a sector under pressure from both the setbacks of recent Alaskan history and the pressures of retaliatory tariffs in response to U.S. President Trump’s trade war. 

“Commercial fishing is woven into the fabric of our economy, culture, and way of life,” said ASMI Executive Director Jeremy Woodrow, who called the sector an “industry worth fighting for” in his annual report message.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

ALASKA: Alaska House passes bill mandating representation on Board of Fisheries

May 21, 2025 — The Alaska House has narrowly passed a piece of legislation that will change the makeup of the state’s Board of Fisheries, requiring the governor to select members who represent a wider swath of the Alaska fishing community.

If it becomes law, the bill would require two seats for representatives from the subsistence fishing sector, two representing the commercial fishing sector, two representing the sportfishing sector, and a fisheries scientist.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource