Saving Seafood

ALASKA: Pebble mine project sticks to proposal in battle to lift veto

August 27, 2025 — Despite encouragement from Trump administration officials, the company behind the controversial Pebble mine in Southwest Alaska hasn’t yet submitted a revised proposal that could unblock the stalled copper-gold project.

Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. hasn’t advanced an “updated submission” for its proposed Pebble mine, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said in a status update posted online Monday, adding that “there is nothing currently before the agency to that effect.”

The EPA update follows last month’s decision by the U.S. Justice Department to effectively uphold a veto on the project, dashing hopes that the Trump administration would roll back regulatory hurdles. The absence of a revamped proposal comes despite government officials advising Northern Dynasty that project changes could prompt the government to reconsider. An EPA spokesperson said there were discussions with agency leadership about a potential further submission that would inform any reconsideration.

Read the full story at Bloomberg

Raising the idea of salmon farms in Alaska, Gov. Dunleavy swims against a tide of skeptics

August 25, 2025 — Amid the hubbub of President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s Alaska summit last week, Gov. Mike Dunleavy, posting on social media, posed a provocative question.

“Alaska is a leader in fresh caught wild salmon. We could also be a leader in the farmed salmon industry. Why not do both instead of importing farmed salmon from Scotland?,” he wrote, sharing an article about the value of fish farming in Scotland, where Atlantic salmon are raised in net pens in the ocean. “This would be a great opportunity for Alaska.”

The answer from scientists, wild salmon advocates, restaurant people and regular salmon-eating Alaskans has come swiftly, full of alarm and often along the lines of one of the early commenters on his post, who wrote, “Are you insane?”

Read the full article at Anchorage Daily News

Improved eDNA Primer Enhances Rockfish Species Identification in Alaska

August 22, 2025 — A groundbreaking new environmental DNA (eDNA) tool is set to transform how scientists monitor rockfish populations. Rockfish are important to both commercial and recreational fisheries in Alaska. By analyzing DNA collected from water samples, this tool provides unprecedented accuracy in identifying a wide range of rockfish species. This- includes those that are closely related and hard to tell apart using previously available genetic methods.

Finding and identifying different species of rockfish in the ocean can be surprisingly tricky. Many of them have patchy distributions and live in rocky habitats making them difficult to survey using nets. While eDNA has become a popular method to sample fish biodiversity, previous methods were unable to tell apart many of the most abundant rockfish species in Alaska waters. But a new genetic tool, the Sebastes D-loop primer set, is changing that.

DNA primers match a target sequence in the eDNA and allow researchers to amplify species of interest. Primers are designed to identify multiple species of fishes, marine mammals, invertebrates, sharks, or any other organisms that might be in a water sample. In a recent study, NOAA Fisheries scientists demonstrate that the primer set can successfully identify nearly all rockfish species in Alaska waters. It offers a more accurate and efficient way to monitor these commercially important fish. A few closely related species still require extra effort to distinguish. But, this new approach marks a big step forward in monitoring rockfish populations and protecting their habitats.

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries 

Federal appeals court preserves Alaska’s two-tier system for subsistence fishing management

August 22, 2025 — Alaska’s current subsistence fishing program can continue without changes, according to a Wednesday opinion by a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The ruling allows the federal government to continue offering preferential fishing rights to rural Alaskans — mostly Alaska Natives — who live a subsistence lifestyle.

That preference exists only in public waters under federal control, not in state waters, because federal law requires the preference but the Alaska Constitution forbids state officials from implementing it.

In their 40-page opinion, the judges said that recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings do not mandate a change in the way the state and federal governments split management of fish and game in Alaska.

Read the full article at the Alaska Beacon

ALASKA: New rule could clear path to harm Cook Inlet’s endangered whales

August 19, 2025 — A new rule proposed to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) would allow companies working on the Alaska Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) project in the Cook Inlet to “take” marine mammals.

The rule was proposed on July 29 by 8 Star Alaska, LLC, a subsidiary of Alaska Gasline Development Corporation (AGDC).

The proposed rule falls under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMAP) and would allow the company, over the next 5 years, to harass, hunt, capture or kill mammals by carving out acceptable ways of taking.

Currently, the taking of mammals is prohibited, unless a rule is proposed and directed in a specified area while engaged in a specific activity.

Read the full article at Alaska News Source

MRA regulations face final vote at NPMFC’s October meeting

August 19, 2025 — Final action is slated for maximum retainable amount (MRA) regulations related to bycatch in groundfish fisheries at the Sept. 29-Oct. 9 meeting of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council in Anchorage, Alaska.

Current MRA regulations, designed to limit the catch of species closed to directed fishing while allowing for the retention of unavoidable incidental catch, have been identified as potentially complex and leading to difficulties in prosecuting fisheries, as well as contributing to regulatory discards, council staff noted.

The action under consideration was initiated by a council motion at their April 2024 meeting, following a review of a discussion paper developed and presented by National Marine Fisheries Service.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

ALASKA: Alaskan research outlines methods to deter Pacific herring from spawning on kelp farms

August 19, 2025 — Kelp aquaculture operations are rapidly expanding in Alaska and coming into increasingly greater contact with wild marine species.

In an attempt to limit some of the interactions between Alaska’s aquaculture operations and wild species, researchers have outlined strategies to prevent Pacific herring from spawning and laying eggs on kelp farmed at aquaculture farms along the state’s coast.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

ALASKA: As inflation continues to rise, some fisheries turn to artificial intelligence to lower costs

August 18, 2025 — New technology is coming to Alaskan fisheries thanks to a grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.

The grant was to the Alaska’s Longline Fishermen’s Association (ALFA) and the $485,000 will be used to develop technology to incorporate artificial intelligence into the existing electronic monitoring (EM) program.

ALFA is partnering with the Canadian company Archipelago Marine Research to enhance its FishVue AI tool, training it for Alaskan sablefish and halibut fixed gear fisheries. This move is expected to help increase efficiency and lower costs for the fishermen.

“If you participate in federal fisheries, your vessel is over 40 feet, you’re required to have either an onboard observer or an electronic monitoring, an EM camera system, on your vessel for a percentage of your trips that get monitored and that’s federal regulation,” ALFA policy coordinator Lauren Howard explained.

Read the full article at Alaska News Source

ALASKA: Alaska salmon harvest tops to 129 million fish

August 15, 2025 — Alaska’s 2025 commercial salmon harvest reached over 129 million fish through Aug. 12, with sockeye, keta and coho catches appearing on pace to reach total annual projections.

Those projected 2025 harvests would add up to 214.6 million salmon, including over 138 million pink, 52.9 million sockeye, 20.8 million keta, 2.3 million coho and 144,000 kings.

Data compiled by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game showed the statewide pink harvest at 62.3 million fish, followed by 51.3 million sockeyes, 14.5 million chum, 888,000 coho and 150,000 king salmon.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

ALASKA: Vessel registration begins for Alaska crab fisheries

August 14, 2025 —  Pre-season vessel registration is underway for three Bering Sea commercial crab fisheries, raising optimism that there will be harvests of Bristol Bay red king crab and Bering Sea snow and tanner crab in the 2025-2026 season.

“That’s a good sign that all of the big three crab fisheries will likely be open,” said Jamie Goen, executive director of the trade group Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers. “I expect most crab boats will pre-register for the fisheries, in the hopes that the harvest levels will be higher than last season.”

“Last season, only about half of the crab fleet fished since the harvest levels were at historic lows after several years of closure,” said Goen, who is also one of two voting members from the state of Washington serving on the North Pacific Fishery Management Council.

“Crab harvesters are optimistic for a better season this fall,” Goen said. “The crab stocks looked healthy last season, and several captains thought the harvest levels could have been higher. In addition, we’re hearing reports from some other fishing sectors that come across crab noting there are lots of crab out there,” Goen said. “The snow crab population, in particular, may be bouncing back faster than expected,” she said.

“The industry is anxious to hear reports from NOAA Fisheries’ summer survey to see if it validates what the fishermen are seeing. The survey data will be reported when the council’s crab plan team meets the week of Sept. 8 to start the process of setting crab harvest levels before the scheduled Oct. 15 season start.”

Read the full article at the National Fisherman