Saving Seafood

ALASKA: Kuskokwim Bay commercial salmon fishery returns after five-year hiatus

August 4, 2026 — Commercial salmon fishing returned to Alaska’s Kuskokwim Bay this summer for the first time in five years, offering dozens of local fishermen a chance to earn income despite persistent logistical and financial challenges.

According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, the fishery reopened in early July, with about 70 permit holders targeting primarily sockeye salmon. Larry Strunk, a founding member of the Independent Fishermen of Quinhagak Cooperative, told KYUK that some fishermen had already earned more than $10,000 during the season with the potential for individual earnings to reach $15,000.

The fishery, however, was short-lived. Strunk told KYUK that the cooperative wrapped up fishing around July 28 after declining sockeye catches and rising operating costs made it difficult to continue.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

ALASKA: Kuskokwim Bay commercial salmon fishery opens after 5-year hiatus

July 30, 2026 — Dozens of ocean-going skiffs have been busy unfurling gill nets along the shores of Kuskokwim Bay. But the catches haven’t been headed to fish camps. Instead, the salmon are quickly bled, put on ice, and offloaded onto vessels bobbing in the waters in front of Quinhagak and Goodnews Bay.

If the fishery is successful, an at-sea processor with hundreds of thousands of pounds of frozen, mostly sockeye, salmon will return to Washington state to bring the catch to market.

According to Larry Strunk, a founding member of the Independent Fishermen of Quinhagak Cooperative, local permit holders could earn upwards of $15,000 each by fishing the openers.

“We have some fishermen that have already been paid over $10,000 this month,” Strunk said.

But as of July 28, Strunk said that diminishing sockeye numbers and logistical issues have spelled the end of this year’s fishery, just three weeks after the Alaska Department of Fish and Game opened it.

Read the full article at KYUK