Saving Seafood

Conservation group to sue over Kodiak, Gulf salmon management

November 4, 2026 — The Wild Fish Conservancy has sent notice to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game and NOAA Fisheries it intends to sue over management of sport and commercial salmon fisheries in Kodiak, Chignik and Alaska Peninsula waters, alleging violations of the Endangered Species Act.

“Nearly nine out of ten Chinook salmon caught in commercial fisheries along the South Alaska Peninsula in 2024 and 2025 originated outside Alaska, according to research from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

“Yet these fisheries operate without federal Endangered Species Act oversight of their impacts on threatened and endangered Pacific Northwest Chinook, even as communities where these fish return face strict fishing limits and invest heavily in their recovery,” WFC wrote in an Oct. 28 letter to ADF&G Commissioner Douglas Vincent-Lang.

Read the full article at the Associated Press

ALASKA: Fish & Game confirms pink and chum egg take cap for hatcheries

November 4, 2026 — Alaska hatchery operators have agreed to place a cap on the amount of eggs they can take from pink and chum salmon for the next five years. The Commissioner of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Doug Vincent-Lang, announced the news at the Board of Fisheries’ work session on Oct. 28.

Every aquaculture association in Alaska signed on to the agreement, except for the Valdez Fisheries Development Association. But Vincent-Lang said at the work session that he won’t approve permit increases for any hatcheries for the duration of the moratorium, even if they didn’t sign on.

“I just wanted to make sure everybody was aware that this is signed and it’s in place, and we follow through on our commitment as a department,” Vincent-Lang said.

Read the full article at KMXT

ALASKA: Fish fights take center stage in Alaska Senate race

August 20, 2026 — The plight of the state’s fisheries, some of the most productive in the world, has become a flashpoint in Alaska’s Senate race and arisen as a potential weakness for two-term incumbent Dan Sullivan.

Sullivan faces a tough reelection bid against former Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola, who has centered her campaign around “Fish, Family, Freedom.” She’s trying to harness anger at out-of-state commercial fishing to win her way back to Congress.

Alaska hosts some of the largest commercial pollock fisheries in the world as well as major salmon populations — buttressing a seafood industry that supports more than 15,000 Alaskan jobs with around $5 billion in value. Many Alaska Natives harvest fish from the state’s mighty rivers and rely on the catch during winter.

Read the full article at E&E News