Saving Seafood

ALASKA: Partners hatch a project to return Alaska king crab stock to health

June 19, 2026 — An ambitious campaign is underway to boost the population of lucrative red king crab in Alaska’s Bering Sea.

The project centers on a newly constructed shellfish hatchery housed in the Trident Seafoods processing plant at St. Paul, a remote island community at the heart of the Bering Sea. St. Paul has long depended on crab landings to support the local economy, but the stocks have struggled in recent years.

The commercial crab fleet and crabbing ports such as St. Paul suffered a particularly heavy blow with the closure of the Bristol Bay red king crab fishery in 2021 and 2022. The fishery has since reopened, but catch quotas remain small.

Now a partnership of researchers, agencies, nonprofits, and industry are taking bold action to strengthen the red king crab stock. It comes after decades of research on how best to hatch crab.

In early May, two chartered fishing boats, the Confidence and the Pacific Mariner, used pot gear to capture around 30 adult gravid red king crab – females full of eggs – for the St. Paul hatchery. The crab were placed individually into tanks. The eggs have since hatched, and the juvenile crab are expected to be released into the sea toward the end of July. Exactly where remains to be determined.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

ALASKA: Murkowski and Sullivan Welcome Funding for Fisheries

June 19, 2026 — The following was released by the Office of U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski:

Today, U.S. Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan (R-AK) welcomed the announcement of roughly $99 million in funding allocated for Alaska fishery disasters from the U.S. Department of Commerce. This is a step toward funding for three Alaska fisheries that experienced disasters from 2022-2024. NOAA Fisheries will now work with the State of Alaska and Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission to develop a spend plan.

“Our fishing industry is part of the beating heart of coastal Alaska, but seemingly every fishery over the last decade has been hit hard by disasters beyond their control,” said Senator Murkowski. “This is one step in the process, but one step closer to ensuring fishermen, their crews, seafood processors, and communities impacted by these fishery disasters receive the funding they need. I sincerely appreciate Secretary Lutnick and those at the Department of Commerce for their commitment to helping our fishermen.”

“Alaska’s subsistence harvesters, commercial fishermen, and fishing communities have endured a series of fishery disasters and stock collapses beyond their control, threatening livelihoods and entire coastal economies,” Senator Sullivan said. “I have been pushing to resolve these disaster declarations and get this relief into the hands of Alaskans who need it. This nearly $100 million allocation—roughly 80 percent of the funding announced today—will provide critical support to those affected by the Bering Sea snow crab, Chignik salmon, and Upper Cook Inlet East Side Setnet salmon disasters. I want to thank Secretary Lutnick and the Department of Commerce for recognizing the extraordinary scale of the challenges facing Alaska’s fisheries and working with us to ensure Alaska’s fishermen receive the timely support they need.”

U.S. scientific instruments in oceans off Alaska and elsewhere to remain in place

June 19, 2026 — Hundreds of sophisticated monitoring instruments will remain in place in the nation’s oceans, thanks to a National Science Foundation reversal of its plan to partially dismantle the system.

The federal agency announced on Thursday that it is dropping its plan to remove hundreds of instruments from the Ocean Observatories Initiative program.

The program encompasses more than 900 instruments monitoring ocean currents, temperatures, sea life and other conditions. Information gathered is used to analyze weather and prepare for extreme weather events, manage fisheries, record climate change and other functions. The $386 million system was installed a decade ago and was intended to last for three decades.

News that the Trump administration planned to pull out hundreds of the instruments – including those positioned in Alaska’s ocean waters – triggered outrage from scientists, the fishing industry, members of Congress from coastal states and others.

Read the full article at Alaska Beacon

NOAA says $123 million coming for six ‘fishery resource disasters’

June 18, 2026 — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said a package of fishery disaster relief for West Coast and Alaska fishermen is on the way.

 NOAA announced the allocation of $123.6 million in fishery resource disaster funding, appropriated by Congress in the American Relief Act, 2025. The money will go to address fishery resource disasters that occurred in Oregon, California, the Squaxin Island tribe in Washington State, and multiple Alaska fisheries between 2019 and 2023.

“Fishery resource disasters have devastating effects on local communities and our economy,” said Neil Jacobs, NOAA’s administrator. “This disaster funding provides much needed assistance to our fishing industry, and we will work with the affected communities to help them recover.”

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

ALASKA: Copper River sockeyes selling out

June 18, 2026 — Commercial fishing for Copper River red salmon in the Gulf of Alaska has been closed since June 11, but the scramble for the celebrated sockeyes remains hot, at from $14.99 to $34.99 a pound in Pacific Northwest retail markets.

The best price as of June 17 was $14.99 a pound for fresh Copper River red fillets at Costco stores in Anchorage, where sales were closing in on 200 pounds for the day. Of the two seafood retail shops, New Sagaya was sold out of Copper River reds and 10th & M Seafoods was selling all Alaska red salmon fillets, including the Copper River catch, at $19.95 a pound, while online Anchorage seafood shop FishEx was offering its Copper River sockeye portions for $29.95 a pound.

Read the full article at National Fisherman

ALASKA: Alaskans voice pollution concerns over New Polaris gold mine project near Taku River

June 18, 2026 — A proposed gold mine in British Columbia, Canada, is causing controversy for residents in Alaska.

The New Polaris gold mine is 100 kilometers south of Atlin, British Columbia, and is located near the Alaska border, particularly near the city of Juneau, according to a report by CBC. The project is owned by Vancouver, Canada-based natural resource acquisition company Canagold, which is looking to refurbish the abandoned mine and produce an estimated 90,000 kilograms of ore daily. CBC reported that the gold mine dates back to 1929 with its first gold discovery and remained operational from 1937 to 1957.

Read the full article at the SeafoodSource

U.S. Department of Commerce allocates $123.6M in fishery disaster funding to Alaska, Oregon, California and Squaxin Island Tribe

June 17, 2026 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Today, NOAA announced the allocation of $123.6 million in fishery resource disaster funding, appropriated by Congress in the American Relief Act, 2025. The funding will address fishery resource disasters that occurred in Oregon, California, the Squaxin Island tribe, and multiple Alaska fisheries between 2019 and 2023.

“Fishery resource disasters have devastating effects on local communities and our economy,” said Neil Jacobs, Ph.D, NOAA administrator. “This disaster funding provides much needed assistance to our fishing industry, and we will work with the affected communities to help them recover. This action demonstrates our continued commitment to hardworking American fishermen and to the President’s vision to uphold the United States as the world’s dominant seafood leader.” 

Today’s allocation announcement applies to previously declared fishery resource disasters, including:

  • 2023/2024 Bering Sea snow crab fishery in Alaska
  • 2023 Oregon ocean commercial salmon fishery
  • 2022 Chignik salmon fishery in Alaska
  • 2023 Upper Cook Inlet East Side Setnet salmon fishery in Alaska
  • 2024 State of California Sacramento River Fall Chinook and Klamath River Fall Chinook ocean and inland salmon fisheries  
  • 2023 Squaxin Island Tribe Puget Sound Fall Chum salmon fishery in Washington.

NOAA Fisheries used commercial revenue loss information to allocate funding across the eligible disasters. 

“These fishery resource disasters are of great concern for the fishing industry and the people and communities that depend on these fisheries to support their local economies,” said Eugenio Piñeiro Soler, assistant administrator for NOAA Fisheries. “NOAA will continue to provide guidance and resources to boost recovery and support more resilient fishing communities in the future.”

These funds will help improve the long-term economic and environmental sustainability of the impacted fisheries. Funds can be used to assist commercial fishermen, recreational fishermen, charter businesses, shore-side infrastructure, subsistence users, and other impacted community groups. Activities that can be considered for funding include fishery-related infrastructure projects, habitat restoration, state-run vessel and fishing permit buybacks, job retraining and more. Certain fishery-related businesses impacted by the fishery disasters may also be eligible for assistance from the Small Business Administration. 

As delegated by the Secretary of Commerce, NOAA Fisheries will administer the funds. In the next steps, NOAA Fisheries will work with the state of Alaska, the state of California, the state of Oregon, and the Squaxin Island Tribe and/or the appropriate designated entity. Fishing communities and individuals affected by these disasters should work with their state or Tribe as appropriate.

For more information see the detailed allocations to states and learn more about fishery disaster assistance.

North Pacific council to study new options to reduce bottom trawling

June 17, 2026 — Federal fisheries managers plan to consider new options in 2027 to reduce bottom contact of pelagic trawl gear on red king crab populations in the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska.

Members of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council assigned council staff during their June meeting in Vancouver, Wash., to develop a discussion paper on potential regulatory measures to reduce bottom contact of pelagic trawl gear in areas currently closed to non-pelagic trawl gear.

The goal is to reduce the uncertainty associated with unobserved crab mortality and to improve existing fishing practices, in light of depressed red king crab populations and changing ecosystems, council staff said.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

ALASKA: Alaska’s Murkowski among Congress members seeking to save ocean science network

June 16, 2026 — Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, is among several members of Congress trying to prevent the National Science Foundation from dismantling portions of an instrument system that monitors the nation’s oceans.

The National Science Foundation plans to pull out much of the instrumentation in the Ocean Observatories Initiative system, which began operating in 2016 and was intended to last for three decades.

Read the full article at the Alaska Beacon

NPFMC asks for more research on midwater trawling, despite increased calls for regulation

June 16, 2026 — At the June meeting of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council (NPFMC), council members made a motion to continue research on the effects of midwater trawling in Alaska but failed to take concrete action on the matter, despite public pressure.

According to documents from the meeting, the reason the council gave for not reducing bottom contact in pelagic trawl gear fisheries is due to a lack of data “regarding the magnitude of unobserved crab mortality from interactions with pelagic trawl gear.” The council has previously stated that reducing bottom contact is a goal in the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska, where nonpelagic trawl gear is already banned.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource