Saving Seafood

ALASKA: Alaska troopers seize Kodiak trawl group’s electronics in bycatch probe

November 17, 2025 — Julie Bonney is a longtime, Kodiak Island-based representative of some of Alaska’s trawlers — a type of fishing boat that’s drawn increasing criticism over the years for accidental “bycatch” of salmon, halibut and other species.

Last week, Bonney was returning from a trip off the island when Alaska State Troopers seized her mobile phone and work laptop. The day before, investigators searched the offices of Bonney’s member-based business, the Alaska Groundfish Data Bank, and seized all of its electronics.

Bonney was not arrested and no charges have been filed. But troopers, over the weekend, confirmed an active investigation into allegations that “multiple seafood processors” had been illegally profiting from salmon and halibut bycatch — further fueling scrutiny of an industry that’s already under attack.

Read the full article at Anchorage Daily News

ALASKA: Alaska officials forecast another strong Bristol Bay sockeye salmon run in 2026

November 14, 2025 — The Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) has forecast another strong run of sockeye salmon in Bristol Bay next year, but the estimated number of returning salmon is still well below average for the last decade.

“A total of 45.32 million sockeye salmon (with a range of 31.12 million to 59.52 million) are expected to return to Bristol Bay in 2026. This is 26 percent smaller than the most recent 10-year average of 61 million fish and 21 percent greater than the long-term average of 37.4 million fish (1963–2025),” ADF&G announced.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Record number of invasive green crab found on Annette Island, potential impacts to subsistence fishing

November 13, 2025 — It was the first sunny morning in days, and two scientists donned in Xtratuf boots carefully strolled along a rocky, grassy shoreline. They were at Settlers Cove on the north end of the Tongass Highway. The duo are no strangers to flipping rocks and looking into puddles for carapaces, or crab shells.

Before long, they located the exoskeleton of a Dungeness crab, which is indigenous to Southeast and much of the West Coast. The find is somewhat of a relief to the group, who didn’t spot any invasive European green crabs that day.

But that isn’t always the case. Shells and live crabs were spotted to the north in Ketchikan this summer, and they’ve since been found on eight other beaches along the road system.

Read the full article at KRBD

NOAA cuts back on seismic data used for West Coast tsunami alerts

November 12, 2025 — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ended a contract with the Alaska Earthquake Center that helped maintain some seismic stations and transmit data in real time.

Alaska state seismologist and director of the center, Michael West, warned that the termination of this contract, which is around two decades old, will lead to less timely and accurate tsunami warnings that could affect Alaska, Hawaii and the West Coast.

It’s unclear why NOAA chose to terminate the contract, worth around $300,000 annually. David Snider, a tsunami warning coordinator with NOAA’s National Tsunami Warning Center, declined to comment, deferring to NOAA public affairs, which did not respond to request for comment.

Every time an earthquake happens, NOAA’s Tsunami Warning Centers determine whether to issue a tsunami alert within five minutes. Depending on where the earthquake originated, coastal communities could have anywhere from 20 minutes to six hours to evacuate or prepare for a tsunami.

Read the full article at The Columbian

ALASKA: Prince William Sound commercial season valued below average at $90M

November 12, 2025 —  State fisheries officials are estimating the Prince William Sound commercial salmon harvests to be valued at $90.99 million this year, still 3% less than the 10-year average.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) season summary released on Oct. 31 said the near average value can largely be attributed to Eastern District hatchery pink salmon, Copper River District sockeye salmon, and Port Chalmers Subdistrict remote release hatchery chum salmon commercial fisheries – plus hatchery cost recovery chum and pink salmon fisheries.

A total of 410 drift gillnet, 27 set gillnet, and 216 purse seine commercial permit holders – including 177 primary and 39 secondary – fished in at least one fishing period, according to ADF&G.

The following was released by the Cordova Times

ALASKA: Alaska’s commercial fishing workforce continues to shrink

November 10, 2025 — A report from Alaska’s Department of Labor and Workforce Development shows the state’s commercial fishing workforce is continuing to shrink, with the number of fishers working in the sector reaching a record low in 2024.

The state report found that the commercial fishing sector lost 443 jobs in 2024, a 7.6 percent drop from 2023. On average, there were 5,393 people employed in harvesting fish in Alaska per month in 2024, down from a high of 8,501 in 2015.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

ALASKA: Alaska commercial fishing job numbers sink to record low, state report says

November 6, 2025 — The number of commercial fishing jobs in Alaska plunged to a new low last year as the industry struggles with disrupted fisheries, low prices, climate change and foreign competition that could get a boost from President Donald’s Trump’s trade war, a state report has found.

“Alaska lost seafood harvesting jobs for a fifth straight year in 2024, bringing the industry to its lowest job count since data collection began in 2001,” according to the November report in Alaska Economic Trends.

The drop in employment extends statewide and across multiple fisheries including salmon, herring, black cod and other species.

Read the full article at Anchorage Daily News

ALASKA: An Alaska Native group was set to honor a Pebble mining official. Then came the backlash.

November 6, 2025 — The First Alaskans Institute’s annual gala awards rarely get much attention outside of the black-tie fundraiser where they’re given. The honors typically go to people whose work has aligned with the organization’s mission of advocating for Alaska Native communities, and they’re usually a cause for celebration, not controversy. But this year, one of the awards has provoked intense pushback. The high-profile Indigenous organization announced last week that an honor for non-Native people would be shared by John Shively.Shively is a longtime player in Alaska government and political circles who helped lead and set up several prominent Native institutions.

He is also the chief executive of the company pushing the stalled Pebble mining project — a huge and contentious proposed mine that’s strongly opposed by many members of the state’s Native communities.

Pebble’s opponents quickly condemned the selection of Shively for the award. After the president of the First Alaskans Institute told him about the opposition, Shively declined the honor to “avoid harming” the organization, he said in a phone interview.

For the past week, First Alaskans Institute has been contending with the fallout, both from Pebble’s opponents and from supporters of Shively, who feel he was treated unfairly.

Read the full article at Alaska Beacon

ALASKA: 2025 Alaska salmon harvest valued at $541 million

November 5, 2025 — Alaska’s 2025 commercial salmon harvest totaled 194.8 million fish, valued at approximately $541 million — a significant increase in both catch and value compared to the previous year, state fisheries officials announced Nov. 4.

Preliminary figures released by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) show that the 2025 harvest increased by 88% from the 2024 total of 103.5 million fish, which was valued at $304 million. The statewide ex-vessel average price per pound for all salmon species also rose compared to 2024.

Sockeye salmon accounted for about 58% of the total value ($315 million) and 27% of the total harvest (53 million fish). Pink salmon comprised 21% of the value ($114 million) and 61% of the harvest (119 million fish). Chum salmon contributed 14% of the value ($78 million) and 10% of the harvest (20 million fish). Coho salmon made up about 4% of the value ($21 million) and 1% of the harvest (2 million fish).

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

ALASKA: Coast Guard may briefly be unable to hear distress calls in Southeast Alaska this week

November 4, 2025 — The U. S. Coast Guard may briefly be unable to hear distress calls in Southeast Alaska for 3-5 minute intervals this week.

The Coast Guard sent out a notice on Monday, Nov. 3, that they would be undergoing maintenance upgrades from Nov. 3 – 7 – and this would impact receiving messages on the region’s emergency VHF channel 16.

In the broadly distributed email, the Coast Guard said they “may be unable to listen to or respond to distress calls on CH16 starting 03NOV25 until 07NOV25.”

But in a statement to KFSK later, the Coast Guard wrote, “the VHF-FM marine radio will not be down the entire 96 hours. It will experience a brief interruption, lasting only 3-5 minutes, during a scheduled upgrade within that 96-hour time frame.”

Read the full article at KFSK