Saving Seafood

ALASKA: Pollock trawlers feel cast as the villains of Alaska’s U.S. Senate race

October 7, 2026 — Cole Hockema, operator of the 104-foot Pacific Storm, is disappointed that pollock fishermen like him have no champions in Alaska’s U.S. Senate race.

“It’s just such easy, low-hanging fruit, essentially, to get votes, is to be against trawling,” he said.

The pollock industry, America’s largest fishery, has been hit with a tsunami of popular discontent in Alaska this election season, with loud demands for a ban on trawling. The problem is bycatch — the thousands of salmon and metric tons of halibut the pollock fleet catches by accident. Anger about these wasted fish has sparked a movement that’s flexing its political muscle, and it could be decisive in Alaska’s tight Senate election.

Amid the barrage, the pollock industry — the source of the fish in fish sticks and McDonald’s Filet-o-Fish — is feeling misunderstood.

Trawl opponents focus their harshest critiques on the biggest players in the pollock fleet — the massive catcher-processors, floating factories that are homeported mainly in Seattle, and the substantial number of trawlers owned by out-of-state corporations.

Read the full article at Alask Public Media

ALASKA: Alaska Sustainable Fisheries Trust secures federal grant to strengthen data collection capabilities

October 6, 2026 —  The Alaska Sustainable Fisheries Trust (ASFT), a Sitka, Alaska, U.S.A.-based fisheries advocacy organization, has received a National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) grant for USD 293,000 (EUR 260,479) to expand its fishery data collection capabilities across 20 salmon troll fisheries in Southeast Alaska.

According to an ASFT release, the organization is planning to work with Bellingham, Washington, U.S.A.-based fishing data firm Real Time Data’s (RTD) application called “Deckhand,” which allows salmon trollers to collect and aggregate catch and observation data on a daily basis.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

ALASKA: Alaska troll fleet to expand electronic logbook, data collection

October 5, 2026 — The Alaska Sustainable Fisheries Trust (ASFT) has received a $293,000 grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to expand electronic logbook and oceanographic data collection aboard Southeast Alaska salmon troll vessels.

The project will put data collection tools aboard 20 Southeast Alaska troll vessels, where fishermen will record catch information while deploying temperature and depth loggers. Paired with satellite connectivity, the system will allow information on catch composition and ocean conditions to be transmitted regularly during the fishing season.

The goal is to provide fishermen, researchers, and fishery managers with near real-time information that could improve stock assessments and support more adaptive fishery management decisions. For participating trollers, the electronic logbook will also provide a daily fishing record and a way to compare variables that may be affecting their catch.

The effort draws from an earlier era of industry-led data collection. From 1971 to 1991, Southeast Alaska trollers participated in a voluntary paper logbook program, recording similar information and sharing it with researchers and fishery managers.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

ALASKA: Southeast economy heats up: NOAA ship arrives in Ketchikan as federal contracts fuel shipyard growth

October 5, 2026 — The NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson has arrived at the Ketchikan Shipyard for a major modernization project, bringing a $95.4 million federal contract with it. Employment at the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority-owned facility is expected to approach 200 workers by the end of the year.

Operated by JAG Ketchikan LLC, the shipyard is building a growing portfolio of federal vessel work. The Oscar Dyson project, awarded to JAG Alaska Inc. in June 2025, follows a separate $99.6 million NOAA contract for modernization of the research vessel Henry B. Bigelow, announced by AIDEA in June.

The two contracts represent approximately $195 million in federal vessel modernization work, supporting demand for skilled trades, engineering, electrical, mechanical and fabrication expertise in Southeast Alaska.

According to AIDEA, the Oscar Dyson arrived the day before JAG hosted a shipyard tour for attendees of the 2026 Southeast Conference. Regional civic, business and economic development leaders were able to see the vessel and the facilities supporting the shipyard’s expanding workload.

“The arrival of NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson is another visible sign that the Ketchikan Shipyard is building momentum and competing for important federal maritime work,” said AIDEA Executive Director Randy Ruaro.

“The partnership between AIDEA and JAG at the Ketchikan Shipyard has been incredibly successful in a very short time since JAG took over operations,’ he said. “This is exactly the kind of activity AIDEA has worked to support — more vessels, more skilled jobs and more long-term opportunity for Southeast Alaska.”

The Oscar Dyson contract runs through Dec. 5, 2027. NOAA expects the vessel to return for the 2028 field season after a yearlong maintenance period following its 2026 research season.

Commissioned in 2005, the ship collects data used to manage Alaska pollock, one of the world’s largest commercial fisheries.

The overhaul includes replacing the propulsion system with variable-speed Tier 4 generators, installing quieter air-conditioning motors, and replacing pumps, fans, cranes, fire detection equipment and radars. The project will also increase the number of single-person staterooms. NOAA says the improvements will strengthen fuel efficiency, operational safety and the vessel’s ability to support research in Alaskan and Arctic waters.

Read the full article at The Alaska Story

ALASKA: Alaska fishing and wildlife groups raise alarm over proposal for underwater Cook Inlet data center

October 5, 2026 — Many Alaskans have opposed proposed data center development in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough and on the North Slope. Some residents don’t believe they belong in Cook Inlet, either.

Earlier this year, the East Coast company DeepGreen Cook Inlet released plans for a 100-megawatt subsea data center with as many as 350 underwater turbines and 66 “hives” housing artificial intelligence servers, both powered and cooled by water in Cook Inlet.

Louis Wolfson, a managing member for company DeepGreen and luxury real estate developer based in Needham, Massachusetts, said the proposal seeks to work around some of the constraints facing traditional, land-based data centers: a need for both large plots of developable land and significant amounts of energy from the local grid.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission accepted DeepGreen’s preliminary Cook Inlet permit application on Sept. 1, triggering a two-month public comment period.

While this permit does not authorize construction, it does serve as a small step forward. A preliminary permit, if issued, would give DeepGreen priority to apply for a license while the company studies the site.

A decision on whether or not to issue the permit will be made once the comment period closes and all feedback and other filings are reviewed, said commission spokesperson Ashley Ingebrigtsen.

Read the full article at Anchorage Daily News

Trump tried to make allies of fishermen. Some are turning on him

October 5, 2026 — John Evich, a commercial fisherman in Washington and Alaska, has voted for President Donald Trump three times, viewing him as someone who would fight for his industry.

But these days, Evich is weary of the high cost of doing business at sea, with fuel prices rising and trade hostilities with Canada jeopardizing markets for the crabs that he pulls off the ocean floor.

“If somebody came along that was going to do a better job, I would vote for them in a heartbeat,” he said.

Evich’s sentiment, echoed throughout the U.S. seafood industry, is another piece of a political puzzle that is working against Trump in the midterm elections. Dissatisfaction among commercial fishermen could cause collateral damage for Republicans in competitive races in Washington, Alaska and Maine.

“Having those costs be so much higher this year has really undermined the viability of some of our fisheries,” Alaska fisherman Linda Behnken said.

Read the full article at The Associated Press

ALASKA: Managers use last year’s fishery to set Southeast Alaska’s red king crab harvest goals

October 2, 2026 — Southeast Alaska’s first consecutive commercial red king crab fishery in decades opens Nov. 1.

Expectations for the season are underpinned by knowledge from last year’s fishery.

“I definitely think guys are excited. I think they know what to expect after last year,” said Adam Messmer, regional shellfish biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

Messmer said the upcoming fishery will be managed much like last year, with some changes based on what fishermen and state managers saw that season.

“We got a little bit better handle on where crab was coming out of, and where crab wasn’t coming out of, and where there was effort,” Messmer said.

Read the full article at KFSK

ALASKA: Juneau salmon troller takes helm of United Fishermen of Alaska

September 30, 2026 — The United Fishermen of Alaska, a trade association for commercial fishermen statewide, hired a new leader. Juneau-based commercial fisherman Thatcher Brouwer started as executive director of the organization on Sept. 15.

Outgoing executive director Tracy Welch said she left UFA after roughly five years as the executive director to take over as commissioner of the Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission earlier this year. She started as one of two commissioners of the commission back in May, joining the existing commissioner Rick Green. Her predecessor at CFEC Glenn Haight stepped down from the position in February.

Brouwer has been a commercial fisherman for over 20 years, according to a press release UFA posted on Sept. 21. During those two decades, he said he fished the Kodiak setnet fishery for a season. He has also fished the Southeast pot shrimp and salmon trolling seasons and halibut and black cod longline fisheries.

Read the full article at KMXT

ALASKA: Neets Bay Hatchery in Southeast Alaska opens first chum fishery in nearly a decade

September 29, 2026 — When Petersburg fisherman Bob Martin arrived at Neets Bay for the chum salmon opener, he didn’t have a great feeling.

“ I got there in the dark and it looked like a small city with all the lights of all the boats that were staged and ready for the 5 a.m. opening,” he said.

About 30 boats were crowded into the bay for the historic commercial opener. Martin said he was also worried about the quality of fish he saw along the shoreline.

“They looked pretty far gone, and I wondered if there was gonna be anything for us,” he said.

But within minutes of putting out his net, it was filled with fish. Totes and totes of fish.

Read the full article at Alaska Public Media