Saving Seafood

ALASKA: Juneau salmon troller takes helm of United Fishermen of Alaska

September 30, 2026 — The United Fishermen of Alaska, a trade association for commercial fishermen statewide, hired a new leader. Juneau-based commercial fisherman Thatcher Brouwer started as executive director of the organization on Sept. 15.

Outgoing executive director Tracy Welch said she left UFA after roughly five years as the executive director to take over as commissioner of the Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission earlier this year. She started as one of two commissioners of the commission back in May, joining the existing commissioner Rick Green. Her predecessor at CFEC Glenn Haight stepped down from the position in February.

Brouwer has been a commercial fisherman for over 20 years, according to a press release UFA posted on Sept. 21. During those two decades, he said he fished the Kodiak setnet fishery for a season. He has also fished the Southeast pot shrimp and salmon trolling seasons and halibut and black cod longline fisheries.

Read the full article at KMXT

ALASKA: Juneau fisherman takes lead at United Fishermen of Alaska

September 29, 2026 — Juneau commercial fisherman Thatcher Brouwer has been named executive director of United Fishermen of Alaska (UFA), bringing more than two decades on the water and years of fisheries policy experience to the statewide trade association.

Brouwer began the role in September, succeeding Tracy Welch, who was appointed earlier this year to the Alaska Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission. “It’s humbling to be working for the fishing industry,” Brouwer told the Juneau Empire. “I’ve participated as an active commercial fisherman for over 20 years and operated my own boat.”

Brouwer takes over UFA as Alaska fishermen face a busy stretch of state fisheries management decisions. The Alaska Board of Fisheries is preparing for meetings covering Lower Cook Inlet, Kodiak, and Upper Cook Inlet finfish over the coming months.

Brouwer said UFA’s board, which represents commercial fishing organizations across Alaska, will guide his role. One of his first major tasks will be preparing for the association’s fall meeting Nov. 4-5 in Anchorage, weighing in on Board of Fisheries proposals, and helping organize a candidate forum focused on commercial fishing.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Alaska trade group provides seafood industry updates on COVID-19 protocols, new benefits for fishermen

April 15, 2020 — How can fishermen be sure their vessels are clean of coronavirus contamination? Where can they find out about relief funds that are newly available for fishermen?

COVID-19 has Alaska’s seafood industry traveling in uncharted waters as more fisheries continue and get underway, and fishermen and processors prepare for a salmon season that’s just a month away. Information in an upside down world changes daily, making it tough to plot a course.

United Fishermen of Alaska has crafted a “one stop shop” for the latest fishing-related COVID-19 updates, including onboard checklists for fishing vessels and tenders, protocols for crews coming and going and more.

“We have all the mandates the state has put in place, the UFA updates that we send out weekly, helpful documents to download, the onboard procedures telling fishermen what they need to do to have a season, and a tab for economic relief and links to other resources and websites,” said Frances Leach, UFA executive director.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

Fight over pink salmon hatchery splits Alaska fishermen

October 5, 2018 — The pink salmon harvest in Alaska may be down, but a recreational fishing group is seeking to prevent a hatchery in Prince William Sound from putting an extra 20 million young fish in the water.

The Kenai River Sportfishing Association (KRSA) says the artificially revved up number of pink salmon in Alaska are a major contributor to a reduction in the number of other more valuable salmon species, such as sockeye, king and coho. It has filed a petition with the state’s Board of Fisheries (BOF) to block the previously approved plans of the Solomon Gulch hatchery, in Valdez, to grow the number of pink salmon it can grow from eggs and release annually into Prince William Sound to 270m.

The United Fishermen of Alaska (UFA), a group that represents 35 commercial fishing associations and related interests, including hatcheries, however, is firing back. It argues that KRSA’s request defies strong science. UFA has hired a research firm and rallied its members to submit comments in advance of the next BOF meeting, Oct. 16, in Anchorage, Alaska.

“We need to send a direct and clear message to the BOF to show support for our hatchery systems and their necessity to our state for all users, not just commercial fishermen,” UFA told its members in an email sent Tuesday.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News