Alaska Fisheries Report

  Statewide, salmon fishermen are pushing the 100-million mark, half of those fish come from Bristol Bay. We have a report of catches and prices. What happens when the salmon don’t show up? The residents of Chignik on the Alaska Peninsula are suffering the second year of no fish. We look at how a fish-dependent community copes with the loss. …

  Traditional Knowledge will now be included in management plans by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council. Record breaking temperatures around Alaska are hard on a lot of Alaskans not used to the high temps. But it’s even worse for Kuskokwim salmon which suffered heart attacks from warm water temps. Apparently salmon don’t function well in water temps past 70 …

    There’s been a lot of big cuts to Alaska state government, but the Department of Fish & Game fared better than most.  A new boat registration law went into effect in January. Unfortunately, the state didn’t do a good job of letting fishermen and boat owners know. If you’ve got a motorized vessel that’s 24-feet or longer, you …

  First a look at sockeye salmon in Bristol Bay. But not just the numbers of fish caught or forecasted. We talk with biologists about how they get those numbers and why different forecasters get different numbers. The salmon dock in Whittier got walloped by an explosion and fire. One man is missing and the mayor says the dock is …

  The deadline for comments on the Pebble Mine Draft Environmental Impact Statement has closed. More than 91,000 comments were received, including that of the EPA, which found fault with the EIS. The agency says the draft report likely underestimates the risks the mine poses. Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy did some serious red-inking to the state’s budget, including cuts to …

  Early pink salmon harvests are breaking records in parts of the state, while Yukon chum are way off, and sockeye catches in southcentral Alaska still lag below the five-year average. What happened to the Sitka Sac Roe herring? Managers shut the fishery down before it even got started. The herring were too young and too small. With no season …

The US House approved a federal spending bill that would sideline permitting for the Pebble Mine. It passed, but don’t hold your breath. That amendment isn’t likely to even come up in the Republican-controlled Senate.  A delegation from the EPA visited Dillingham to talk to fishermen and the community.  Petersburg fishermen head out to fish Bristol Bay—900 miles from home. …

  First a roundup of fisheries around the state. Last year was the worst commercial sockeye season in Chignik since statehood. And a slow start this year is making people concerned about this summer’s return. Meanwhile, in Southeast, Haines gillnetters are prepping for the June 16th king salmon opener. A big change this year are stricter regulations and a smaller …

The governor nominates a former aide to serve on the Board of Fish. He’s little known among commercial fishing folks, but his support of sport fishing over commercial interests in Cook Inlet has some fishermen nervous. We take a look at shrimp fishing in Southeast Alaska. A lack of data on smelt in the Kuskokwim River has many in Southwest …

  Here’s something that seems odd – new data compiled by five North Pacific countries shows that salmon abundance has declined in the North Pacific but catches are at an all-time high. Unalaska is set to once again use drones to monitor salmon. In some cases collecting data on Unalaska’s little-studied streams. Gray whales migrating to Alaska for the summer …