Saving Seafood

Sanctions threats loom as IPHC sets historic low 2026 halibut harvest

January 30, 2026 — The International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC) set the 2026 Pacific halibut harvest at a historic low last week, following tense U.S.-Canada negotiations that included threats of economic sanctions against Canadian halibut exports.

The Northern Journal reported that the four-day annual IPHC meeting in Bellevue, Washington, came amid strained relations between the two countries under the Trump administration, whose tariff policies and rhetoric toward Canada have fueled political friction.

Serving as the non-voting head of the U.S. delegation was Drew Lawler, a political appointee to NOAA. During private negotiations, U.S. representatives threatened tariffs or other trade restrictions unless Canada agreed to reduce British Columbia’s share of the halibut catch.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Pacific halibut catches declined this year

December 9, 2025 — The Pacific halibut fishery ended on Dec. 7, and by all accounts, things remained on a stagnant trend. Stakeholders are dealing with the fallout from the lowest Pacific halibut spawning biomass in 40 years, and harvesters widely reported catches of fewer and smaller fish.

The annual survey conducted since 1963 by the International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC) revealed little change in the halibut stock that stretches from Alaska’s northern Bering Sea, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon to California’s Monterey Bay.

By early December, coast-wide commercial landings of halibut totaled 16.7 million pounds, down 16 percent from the same time last year and reflecting just  80 percent of the allowable catch limit in 2025.

According to a report by the IPHC at its interim meeting on December 2, total halibut takes (called mortalities) from all sectors – commercial, sport, personal use, and subsistence – were 28.8 million pounds, down 12% from last year, and marking the lowest removals in 100 years.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

ALASKA: Alaska Tribes deliver 30,000 letters opposing Canadian mining near salmon-bearing rivers

November 18, 2025 — Conservation groups delivered nearly 30,000 letters to Canadian lawmakers opposing mining developments in British Columbia, which U.S.-based Tribes say could harm Alaskan salmon fisheries.

“The provincial government is blatantly ignoring the rights of Indigenous peoples to protect their traditional territory from toxic mining pollution,” Earthjustice Supervising Senior Attorney Ramin Pejan said in a release. “Thousands of people have raised their voice in opposition, and the government should take notice.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Trump revokes agreement to protect salmon

July 28, 2025 —A September 2023 presidential memorandum of understanding (MOU) from the Biden administration called for the elimination of four Snake River dams that the MOU said contributed to the near extinction of 13 salmon and steelhead fish populations that return each year to the Columbia Basin from the Pacific Ocean to spawn.

Supporters of the Biden MOU say the fish are important to local tribal health and sovereignty and to basin ecosystems, and the declines are affecting southern resident orcas off the coasts of British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon. The orcas eat the salmon.

The 2023 agreement was between the federal government and four Lower Columbia River tribes — Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon, and the Nez Perce Tribe, as well as the states of Oregon and Washington. The tribes want the dams removed.

Opponents argue that the dams support river navigation for maritime barge operations, passenger vessels, irrigation, and emissions-free hydropower for nearby communities and should be maintained.

Read the full article at WorkBoat

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

Pacific stocks hit 40-year low, cuts loom for 2025 season

February 5, 2025 — Halibut fishermen, sport charter operators, and subsistence users will all face lesser takes of the prized fish again this year as the Pacific stock continues to flounder.

That sums up the bleak news at the 101st Session of the IPHC Annual Meeting, which wrapped up on Friday in British Columbia.

“This year’s meeting was decidedly somber and tense as stakeholders grappled with the consequences of the lowest spawning biomass in 40 years,” said Maddie Lightsey of Alaska Boats and Permits in Homer. “There was consensus on the need for substantial cuts, resulting in a coastwide cut to total removals of 15.6 percent and a18 percent cut to the commercial catch limits.

The IPHC annual meeting report says that in terms of coastwide stock distribution, after increases in 2020-2021, the proportion of the stock in Biological Region 3 decreased in 2022-24 to the lowest estimate in the time series. This trend occurred in tandem with increases in Biological Region 2.

Read the full article at National Fisherman

Canada announces plans for new British Columbia salmon hatchery

December 23, 2024 — The Canadian government has announced plans for the construction of a new Pacific Salmon hatchery in the province of British Columbia, which will be run collaboratively by the Tŝilhqot’in National Government and Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO).

“Canada is investing today to support the conservation and restoration of vulnerable Pacific salmon populations, such as Chilcotin Chinook, for the long term,” Minister of Fisheries, Oceans, and the Canadian Coast Guard Diane Lebouthillier said in a statement. “Under the Pacific Salmon Strategy Initiative, we are partnering with Indigenous Peoples, governments, stakeholders, and communities to ensure that Pacific salmon are safeguarded for Indigenous communities and Canadians with a deep and enduring connection to these iconic fish.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Canada’s fisheries minister no longer proposing salmon net-pen bans in BC

October 26, 2022 — Salmon farmers in British Columbia, Canada appear to no longer be facing the imminent end of net-pen farming in the entire region following several tours of the region by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard (DFO) Minister Joyce Murray.

The tours were part of a long-term plan by the Canadian government and Murray to phase out salmon farming in the region. In late 2020, the Canadian government announced that some salmon farms in B.C., specially located in the Discovery Islands, would be phased out in just 18 months, a decision that communities and salmon farmers in the region said they were “blindsided” by.  

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Canadian Fisheries Minister Announces 2-Year Renewal of Discovery Island Fish Farm Leases

June 24, 2022 — Progress is being made to transition from open-net pen salmon aquaculture in British Columbia.

Joyce Murray, Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, announced on Wednesday that the Government of Canada is committed to transition from open-net pen salmon aquaculture in British Columbia’s coastal waters in a manner that “protects wild salmon, the environment and the economy.” As part of that commitment, the government agency is introducing draft framework for the transition. Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) will be relying on input from the Government of British Columbia, First Nations, industry, local governments, stakeholders, and British Columbians to develop the final transition plan. Consultations will continue until early 2023, with the expectation that the final transition plan will be completed by spring 2023.

As the DFO works with partners and receives feedback, marine finfish aquaculture facilities outside of the Discovery islands will have a two-year renewal of licenses. These licenses will have stronger requirements for aquaculture facilities, including the implementation of standardized reporting requirements and sea lice management plans, as well as wild salmon monitoring. The DFO says that all of this will “improve the management of the salmon aquaculture industry and help protect wild salmon stocks and their habitat.”

Read the full story at Seafood News

Canada renews BC salmon farm licenses for two years

June 23, 2022 — Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) has announced a two-year renewal of licenses for marine finfish aquaculture facilities outside the Discovery Islands in British Columbia, Canada.

The decision by the government impacts salmon farms run by Mowi, Grieg, and Cermaq, and according to a release by the DFO, is part of a planned transition from open-net pen salmon aquaculture in B.C. The decision is part of an ongoing government push to phase out all net-pen fish farming in the area – Canada’s Liberal Party and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have called for a shift away from net-pen farming by 2025.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource