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

US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick goes against top choices for fishery management councils

July 17, 2026 — U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick has opted to go against some top nominations for U.S. fishery management councils.

In a 26 June announcement Lutnick announced he selected Forrest Bowers, the second choice for the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, instead the Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy’s top choice and current Alaska Department of Fish & Game Board Chair Märit Carlson-Van Dort. For the Pacific Fishery Management Council, Lutnick selected second-choice Chad See, director of the Freezer Longline Coalition, over the Washington Governor Bob Ferguson’s first pic of Jamie Goen, the executive director of the Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers trade group.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

United Fishermen of Alaska director leaving to start lobbying firm

September 1, 2021 — The head of United Fishermen of Alaska — the state’s broadest fishing industry group — is stepping down at the end of the year to become a full-time Juneau lobbyist.

Frances Leach says she’ll be starting her own firm named Capitol Compass, so she can take on more clients than the fishing industry group she’d represented in the state Capitol over the past four years.

“I’m really excited to continue lobbying for an industry that I really have a lot of respect for,” she said Wednesday. “But then also be able to lobby for other things that I care about greatly like environmental issues, and nonprofits.”

Read the full story at KTOO

 

Seafood industry execs optimistic for 2021 after troubled pandemic year

December 9, 2020 — A lack of fish in the freezers is an encouraging sign for Alaska salmon as we head into the new year, driven by increasing customer demand. But headwinds from trade disputes and the COVID pandemic also loom large on the 2021 horizon.

Those are some prime takeaways shared by Mark Palmer, president and CEO of OBI Seafoods, and Allen Kimball, vice president of global operations and sales for Trident Seafoods.

“We don’t see entering the 2021 season with any real big carryovers. And that’s always one of the downsides as we head into a new season, if there’s an abundance of two to four (pound) sockeyes or something. We’ve gone into seasons like that and it influences the new season pricing. But as we go into 2021, we should have a pretty clean slate and be ready to buy and ideally put it up in a better product form than we did this last year,” said Palmer, speaking at a webinar hosted by United Fishermen of Alaska.

The COVID pandemic this year forced a shift from workers producing fresh salmon fillets to lower value canned and frozen fish when the labor force was reduced and costly restrictions were imposed on processing lines.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

ALASKA: Fishing industry weighs in on state’s $50M COVID-19 relief plan

November 2, 2020 — A statewide commercial fishing industry group is asking the Dunleavy administration to justify its proposal for distributing $50 million dollars in federal pandemic relief for Alaska’s fishing industry.

Federal guidance recommends allocating more than half of the CARES Act funds to seafood processors and just 5% to the charter fleet and lodges.

But a draft released this month by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game recommends dividing the allocation evenly among sectors, which would increase the pot of money for fishing guides and lodges by more than $13 million.

United Fishermen of Alaska, which represents the commercial fleet and processors, asked the agency to explain its rationale for boosting the charter fleet’s allocation at the expense of other sectors.

UFA’s president Matt Alward signed a three-page letter to the commissioner’s office.

Read the full story at KTOO

Gross receipts: Fishing takes centerstage in Alaska’s Senate race

October 23, 2020 — Health care was the issue that pushed Dr. Al Gross to challenge Alaska Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan, who is running for a second term. But fisheries has been the hot-button issue as this senate race draws to a close.

Gross, from Juneau, has fished his whole life. His mother was the first executive director of the United Fishermen of Alaska.

Sullivan has the backing of the United Fishermen of Alaska in this race, though that declaration came in June, before much of the political fallout that has put Gross within striking distance of the seat. Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers endorsed Sullivan on Oct. 7. Gross is endorsed by the United Tribes of Bristol Bay, which has been an outspoken and vehement critic of the proposed Pebble Mine.

An Oct. 10 debate between the candidates hosted by the Kodiak Chamber of Commerce and ComFish via Zoom saw Pebble Mine rear its head in the first 10 minutes.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

USDA tweaks farm assistance program to fund fishermen hurt by U.S.-China trade war

September 14, 2020 — The U.S. Department of Agriculture says it’s setting aside more than half a billion dollars for fishermen hurt by tariffs associated with the U.S.-China trade war. Some Alaskans are applauding the move, but others worry the program leaves some out.

Jeremy Leighton is a dive fisherman based in Ketchikan. That means that as often as he can, he spends his days on the cold, murky seafloor looking for sea cucumbers and geoduck clams.

He was among the first Alaskans to see the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic — most of Alaska’s geoduck clam harvest is sold to consumers in China. When China locked down as the coronavirus spread, demand for the husky bivalves collapsed and managers closed the market.

Leighton and other fishermen were already facing a tough market — they were already looking at a 25% tariff on seafood exported to China.

“So the last year prices dropped since […] the tariffs were put on,” Leighton said.

But it’s not just geoduck fishermen. Frances Leach heads up United Fishermen of Alaska, a fishing industry group.

Read the full story at Alaska Public Media

ALASKA: Mandate restricts movement of fishing vessel crews

April 28, 2020 — With May just around the corner, Kodiak Island is gearing up for salmon fishing season, and captains and their crew from off-island will soon join local fishery participants.

However, a recent health mandate released by Gov. Mike Dunleavy, which requires boat captains to implement new protective measures aimed at preventing the spread of coronavirus, will restrict where crew members can go.

Mandate 17, which went into effect Saturday, affects independent commercial fishing vessels, defining them as “all catcher and tender vessels that have not agreed to operate under a fleet-wide plan submitted by a company, association, or entity that represents a fleet of vessels.”

The new mandate adds screening and quarantine requirements for crew, and also limits their movement.

“I’m glad to see that the governor is focused on the protocols for the independent fishing vessels,” said Duncan Fields, the chairman of the Kodiak Salmon Work Group and a member of the Kodiak Economic Task Force. “I appreciate that the administration worked with the United Fishermen of Alaska Matt Alward to vet their plan and to receive input.”

Read the full story at the Kodiak Daily Mirror

Alaska prepares for influx of fisheries workers

April 17, 2020 — Alaska’s seafood processing and harvesting sectors are preparing covid-19 emergency plans as some of the state’s fishing hubs attempt to enact their own guidelines before workers begin to arrive for the summer harvest season.

The state requires fishermen and businesses supported by workers arriving in the state to submit a travel plan or protocol for maintaining critical infrastructure to akcovidplans@ak-prepared.com. The plan should outline how they will avoid:

  • the spread of covid-19;
  • endangering the lives of people in the communities in which they operate or those of others who serve as a part of that infrastructure; and
  • endangering the ability of that critical infrastructure to function.
However, Alaska Public Media reported earlier this week that the governor’s office is not making those submitted plans available to the public, including municipal leaders, who are working to ensure the safety of local residents.

Read the full story at National Fisherman