Saving Seafood

Northwest gains support in fight over salmon hatchery funding

July 17, 2026 — A growing effort to restore federal funding for a Columbia River salmon hatchery program is drawing support from Congress as concerns mount over the potential impacts on commercial fishing communities in Oregon and Washington.

Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash., announced July 15 that she has asked the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) to explain its decision to end funding for the Select Area Fisheries Enhancement (SAFE) program, arguing the move threatens both salmon recovery efforts and the fishing communities that depend on the fishery.

Read the full article at National Fisherman

ALASKA: Sullivan, Peltola battle for Alaska fishing vote in Senate race

July 16, 2026 — Members of Congress routinely post news releases on legislation they introduce and cosponsor, including for Alaska’s delegation, a plethora of seafood legislation impacting the seafood industry.

Once in a while, one of these bills becomes law. The odds are 1-3 percent.

Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, and former Rep. Mary Peltola, D-Alaska, who are both running for his current Senate seat, have issued news releases stating their priorities for federal regulations related to the nation’s federal fisheries. Many of their campaigns are focused on convincing Alaskans engaged in the fisheries industry that they can do the most to protect and improve benefits for Alaskans working in that industry.

Purchases of Russian seafood were blocked from federal school lunch programs by an amendment introduced by Sullivan, which passed the Senate in November 2023.  That amendment closed a loophole that had allowed Russian seafood processed in China to bypass the National School Lunch Program “Buy American” requirements.

In 2022, the Alaska Salmon Task Force Act, sponsored by Sullivan, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, and Rep. Don Young, Alaska’s all Republican delegation, was established as a federal task force. On July 12, 2024, the task force submitted its final science report on the complex biological, environmental and socioeconomic factors impacting Alaska salmon to the Secretary of Commerce, the Alaska Legislature and relevant congressional committees.

On June 25, Sullivan introduced the Bycatch Reduction Act, an updated version of bycatch legislation introduced by the Alaska congressional delegation in January of 2026, which remains in the introduced stage in the Senate and the House.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

ALASKA: Alaska salmon catch swells to 29.5 million

July 16, 2026 — Alaska’s commercial salmon catch jumped from 21.2 million to 29.5 million for the seven days through July 14, as retail prices generally held, with 24% of the projected annual harvest now met.

Silver Bay Seafoods has adjusted its 2026 Bristol Bay sockeye price to $2 a pound for chilled, floated, bled fish, the Bristol Bay Fishermen’s Association said on Tuesday, July 14. The company will continue to evaluate the season’s financial results, with the final profit share to be calculated and reviewed by the fishermen’s board at the spring meeting, said Janis Harsila, business manager for the BBFA.

On July 15, Trident Seafoods announced a base price increase from $1.25 to $1.65 a pound, bringing its Tier 1 chilled price to $2.

Consumers found fresh fillets of red salmon on sale at Costco warehouses in Anchorage for $14.99 a pound, down $2 from a week earlier. Seafood managers at New Sagaya in Anchorage had Alaska red salmon fillets for $12.95 a pound, while 10th & M held firm at $16.95 a pound. Carrs-Safeway customers with a store card could purchase those fillets for $16.99 a pound, but the regular price was $38.99 a pound.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

WASHINGTON: ‘Real consequences’: Washington congresswoman questions Bonneville for ending salmon hatchery funds

July 16, 2026 — Washington Congresswoman Marie Gluesenkamp Perez is questioning the Bonneville Power Administration after the agency decided to stop funding a Columbia River hatchery program.

On July 7, the congresswoman sent a letter to BPA Administrator Travis Kavulla, requesting more information about the decision to stop funding the Select Area Fisheries Enhancement (SAFE) program after supporting the program for over 30 years.

Since the program began in 1993, the SAFE program has created commercial and sport fishing opportunities in off-stem areas of the Columbia River, the congresswoman’s office explained.

“This is a decision with real consequences,” Representative Gluesenkamp Perez said in a statement. “For decades, hatcheries have made sure there is a healthy population of salmon in the river. This isn’t abstract to people here – commercial and sport fishing is part of our heritage and our way of life. Supporting hatcheries is critical to sustaining the communities whose livelihoods depend on them.”

Read the full article at KOIN

June shelf-stable sales defy inflationary pressure at US retail; fresh, frozen sales affected

July 16, 2026 — Seafood prices continued their inflationary trend in June at U.S. retail, rising 4.1 percent in the fresh category, 7.8 percent in shelf-stable, and 12.5 percent in frozen seafood, according to Circana data analyzed by 210 Analytics.

Depending on the species, inflation was even more dramatic. For instance, frozen shrimp prices rose 18.5 percent year over year in June, while frozen crab prices increased 13.5 percent. In the fresh category, tilapia prices rose 8.3 percent, and trout rose 5.8 percent.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

CALIFORNIA: Calif. salmon fleet returns under limited season three-year closure

July 15, 2026 — California’s commercial salmon fleet is back on the water for the first time since 2022 following a three-year statewide closure, though the reopening remains tightly restricted as fishery managers work to protect rebuilding Chinook salmon stocks.

According to The Press Democrat, state and federal fishery managers reopened the commercial and recreational salmon season in late June after improved rainfall and snowpack during 2023 and 2024 boosted survival rates for juvenile Chinook salmon migrating from the Sacramento Valley to the Pacific Ocean. Those fish have now returned as adults in numbers sufficient to support a limited harvest, though managers continue to closely monitor catches.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

CALIFORNIA: Salmon fishing resumes off California coast for first time since 2022. Here’s what that means

July 14, 2026 — Commercial and recreational salmon fishing has resumed off the North Coast after a three-year statewide closure, marking a long-awaited milestone for a troubled industry that has endured historic losses in revenue and resources.

Charter captains are reporting abundant catches out of Bodega Bay, and commercial boats up and down the coast are again unloading hauls of the prized West Coast staple for the first time since 2022.

Still, the reopening is far from a return to normal, industry veterans say.

This year’s season is heavily restricted with staggered openings and closings designed to limit the take on rebounding Chinook salmon returns. And fewer boats may be around to cash in, as some fishermen say years of lost income from curtailed and closed fisheries have driven some away from the water for good.

“We’re at a little less than half throttle right now,” said Capt. Mike Harbarth of Sonoma Coast Adventures. “There is strict management and they’re being conservative this year. We’ve all respected that.”

From his charter boat “Shauna Lee” berthed at the Porto Bodega Marina, Harbarth said sport anglers have managed to reel in their two-fish limits on most trips out. Some of those fish have weighed up to 30 pounds and Harbarth said they are finding “miles and miles of salmon” off the Sonoma Coast.

Harbarth, who has spent most of his life chasing salmon, remembers when California’s season stretched from late winter into the next fall – a far cry from the current reality. But, after three consecutive years of closures, the carefully managed reopening is a welcome start.

Read the full article at the Sacramento Bee

Bering Sea heat wave cited as trigger for nosedive in Yukon River Chinook salmon

July 13, 2026 — The intense marine heat wave conditions that began roiling the Bering Sea in about 2016 resulted in the lowest winter sea ice extent measured in 150 years, widespread bird and marine mammal die-offs, a drastic shift in fish populations and a crash of snow crab stocks.

Now new research is tying the marine heat wave to the recent collapse of Yukon River Chinook salmon.

A study published in April, written by scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Alaska Fisheries Science Center and University of Alaska Fairbanks, showed the correlation between the extreme heat wave conditions and the nosedive in Yukon River Chinook stocks. The heat wave was accompanied by a dramatic increase in deaths of older juvenile and adult Chinook that, had they survived, would have returned from the ocean to freshwater spawning grounds, the study found.

The study was published in the journal Ecological Applications.

The Yukon River’s runs of Chinook, also called king salmon, have been in a long-term decline since their past heyday, when they numbered in the hundreds of thousands and the river was one of the biggest sources of that salmon species.

The sharp downturn in recent years resulted in a 2022 return that was the lowest on record. Widespread fishery closures have been in effect for years along the Yukon River system in both Alaska and Canada.

Read the full article at Alaska Beacon

MAINE: Maine is exploring a path that could bring back Atlantic salmon fishing

July 13, 2026 — The Maine Department of Marine Resources is asking a federal agency to review whether existing endangered species laws could provide new tools to accelerate Atlantic salmon recovery, an effort the state says could eventually create opportunities for tightly controlled catch-and-release fishing if the species recovers.

In a June 4 letter to the National Marine Fisheries Service, DMR Commissioner Carl Wilson asked the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to evaluate whether authorities under the Endangered Species Act could provide additional flexibility to expand Atlantic salmon recovery efforts while maintaining existing federal protections.

The request comes after decades of habitat restoration, improved fish passage and river connectivity projects that have benefited Atlantic salmon and other sea-run fish, but adult Atlantic salmon returns remain very low despite those investments, according to Sean Ledwin, director of DMR’s Bureau of Sea Run Fisheries and Habitat.

Read the full article at the Piscataquis Observer

US bill would allow tribes to kill more sea lions along Columbia River

July 13, 2026 — A new bill introduced in U.S. Congress would authorize Native American tribes in Southwest Washington to kill some of the sea lions eating salmon in the Columbia River.

California and stellar sea lion populations have ballooned in the Pacific Northwest under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA); since 1950, the population has increased from roughly 10,000 to 250,000. Salmon are a major source of prey for sea lions, and the increased pinniped population has placed more pressure on the fish.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource