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The Alaska Department of Fish and Game has begun its herring surveys in the Sitka Sound this week ahead of the sac roe herring fishery opening. According to reports from Sitka Area Management Biologist Aaron Dupuis, no herring schools or spawn have been spotted from the air since surveys began on March 13. However, herring predators including humpback whales and sea lions have been repeatedly spotted in the area. Sea lions have been seen daily along the Kruzof Island shoreline between Inner...
CORRECTION made to the original article published on March 9, 2023. The 2023 Pacific halibut season is set to open statewide on March 10 though this year will see a lower catch limit for charters than last year according to a release from NOAA Fisheries. The regulations for this year were adopted during the annual International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC) meeting in January. In Area 2C, composed of Southeast, charter anglers will be restricted to one halibut per day that must measure less...
The Alaska House of Representatives voted 35-1 on Wednesday to approve a letter urging state and federal officials to fight a lawsuit that could shut down a major king salmon fishery in Southeast Alaska. “This fishery has come under attack,” said Rep. Rebecca Himschoot, I-Sitka, and the sponsor of the letter, House Joint Resolution 5, which now goes to the Senate. The resolution has broad bipartisan support in the Alaska Legislature, where lawmakers view the issue as one about an outside group attacking Alaskans’ way of life. “This resolut... Full story
The Harbor and Ports Advisory Board held its first meeting of the year last Thursday where members voted to recommend raising the fine for wake zone violations, capping the amount of live-aboards in the harbors, and banning use of the harbors for vacation rentals. During the meeting, Harbormaster Glo Wollen presented an ordinance she plans on bringing before the assembly that would amend the live-aboard policy and prohibited acts in the harbors. The ordinance would limit live-aboard vessels to...
Juneau, AK — On Tuesday, the Alaska State Legislature’s House Special Committee on Fisheries received testimony and passed a resolution (HJR 5) that calls for state and federal agencies to defend Southeast Alaska’s troll fishery from a potential closure this year due to a lawsuit that a Washington-based organization, the Wild Fish Conservancy (WFC), has filed against the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). The lawsuit alleges that Alaska’s Chinook troll fishery imperils the Southern Resident Killer Whales and aims to shut the fishery...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly unanimously approved a resolution supporting the Southeast commercial Chinook troll fishery during Monday's meeting. The resolution of support comes in the wake of a judge's recommendation to suspend the fishery as part of an ongoing lawsuit filed by Wild Fish Conservancy (WFC), a Washington-based nonprofit conservation organization. Western District of Washington Magistrate Judge Michelle Peterson's report and recommendation concluded that the National Marine...
Organizers are creating programs to start using a $49 million federal grant and $15 million in matching funds to grow Alaska’s shellfish and seaweed farming industry. The money will go toward a statewide effort, though more permit applications were filed for new or expanded farms in Southeast than in any other region 2016 through 2022, according to state statistics. Southeast set a record last year with seven applications for seaweed and shellfish farms, Rachel Baker, deputy commissioner at the Alaska Department of Fish Game, said at last w...
WRANGELL — As the market continues to shift from canned salmon toward more frozen product, “the company wants more frozen pinks,” said Trident Seafoods Southeast regional manager John Scoblic. Which means Trident will freeze pinks along with chums at its Wrangell plant this summer. After a three-year closure due to weak chum returns, Trident plans to reopen its Wrangell plant, buying and freezing salmon in July and August. “We’ll be testing out some new things there,” Jeff Welbourn, Trident’s senior vice president for Alaska operations, s...
This summer's commercial Chinook trolling fishery is in jeopardy following the recent release of a judge's recommendation to suspend the fishery as part of an ongoing lawsuit, leaving Southeast trollers in uncertain waters. Western District of Washington Magistrate Judge Michelle Peterson's report, released in December 2022, concludes that the National Marine Fishery Service (NMFS), also known as NOAA Fisheries, violated the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and the National Environmental Policy Act...
Wrangell — After a three-year closure blamed on weak chum returns, Seattle-based Trident Seafoods plans on running its Wrangell processing and cold storage plant this summer. “We’re going to operate in July and August,” focusing on chums and pinks, employing a little over 100 workers for the season, said Shannon Carroll, Trident’s director of public affairs, on Jan. 26. That would be a smaller payroll than in past years, he said. Chum salmon returns to Southeast have improved the past couple of years. In advance of running the processin...
After the heat wave-induced collapse of the Bering Sea snow crab fishery, some fishermen were looking, with hope, at the upcoming tanner crab harvest out of Kodiak. The nearly 6-million-pound quota was the highest in decades. And some people spent more than $100,000 to buy a permit to fish this year, said Kevin Abena, one of the leaders of the Kodiak Crab Alliance Cooperative. But fishermen’s hopes for a banner season are now in limbo, as the 130 boats in the Kodiak tanner crab fleet are on strike — holding out for higher prices from the sea... Full story
The South Harbor dredging is continuing to make progress as crews dig their way to the shore, having removed approximately 13,000 cubic yards of material as of Monday according to Harbormaster Glo Wollen. Western Marine is undertaking the project, which is being overseen by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and plans to dredge a total of 83,000 cubic yards of material from the harbor. Crews are working 12-14 hours a day scooping out blue clay using a grab dredger on the dry cargo deck barge...
SITKA – After hearing comments Tuesday night on the “existential threat” facing the Southeast troll fishing industry, the Sitka Assembly gave unanimous approval to a resolution and a financial contribution to help the Alaska Trollers Association fight a lawsuit by a conservation group against a federal fisheries agency. “I hope we have a unanimous decision because if the resolution is going to have any effect, we have to have real solidarity,” Assembly member Thor Christianson said prior to the vote. ATA Request and Resolution The resolutio...
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game is currently seeking public comment on the draft of its 2023 Statewide Sport Fish Stocking Plan, which includes two programs affecting the Petersburg area-the Southern Southeast Chinook Salmon Enhancement and the Blind Slough Coho Salmon Enhancement. According to the stocking plan, Fish and Game is looking to release approximately seven million fish in hundreds of locations across the state annually over the next five years. Matt Catterson, a fishery biolog...
The Alaska Marine Safety Education Association (AMSEA) will offer a Fishing Vessel Drill Conductor class in Petersburg, Alaska on February 4, 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., in the Petersburg Parks and Rec Activities Room, 500 N. 3rd Street. This class is $125 for commercial fishermen and $225 for all others. Participants may receive up to $95 off the purchase of their next personal floatation device. Interested mariners may register online at www.amsea.org or call (907) 747-3287. The class will cover...
The halibut charter boat fleet in Southeast and the Gulf of Alaska will be able to collectively buy quota shares from commercial fishermen under a provision in the federal omnibus budget bill passed at the end of December. The program would be funded by a fee charged for every angler aboard a halibut charter. Seward’s Andy Mezirow is on the North Pacific Fishery Management Council and has been a champion of the program for a while. He said it’s a long time coming. The program was vetoed by President Donald Trump in his final weeks in office and...
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game—Division of Sport Fish, is accepting public comment from now through January 31, 2023 on its 2023 Statewide Stocking Plan for Sport Fisheries. The Division, with assistance from private nonprofit hatchery operators, plans to release approximately seven million fish annually into the waters of Alaska over the next five years to benefit anglers. The plan outlines the locations, numbers, and size or life stage for each species of fish that are planned for stocking. “Public input is important to the Div...
Billions of snow crab disappeared from the Bering Sea in the past few years — a crash that’s devastated Alaska’s crab fishing fleet and a harvest that just two years ago was worth $130 million. Bycatch didn’t kill them. But the issue still dominated discussions this month at an Anchorage meeting of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, the commission that regulates the huge, lucrative harvests of seafood in the federal waters off Alaska’s shores. The council and its advisory panel, over the course of 10 days, spent hours listening to fi... Full story
Aid to Alaska fishermen, companies and communities was included in the year-end omnibus appropriations package that won final passage last Friday. The $300 million in aid funding follows official disaster declarations issued last week by U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo for Alaska salmon and crab fishery failures dating back to 2020, as well as some salmon failures in Washington state dating back to 2019. “This will be relief for commercial, recreational, subsistence harvesters, all those who were directly impacted by the fishery stock cra... Full story
Everything you could possibly want to know about fish, from their biological characteristics to the commercial fisheries that harvest and sell them to the governmental entities that regulate them, is available through the University of Alaska Southeast applied fisheries program. Catering to high schoolers, recent graduates and seasoned professionals alike, the school's online and in-person programs prepare students for jobs in the industry. Applied fisheries is a workforce development program...
The South Harbor dredging project has made some progress this month as crews from contractor Western Marine spent the last couple of weeks assessing the area and beginning to dredge the outside of the harbor. Though site work on the project is still in the early stages, crews have taken over half a dozen loads of material, with approximately 500 cubic yards of material in each load, to the disposal side in Frederick Sound according to Harbormaster Glo Wollen. They began their work at the end of...
Less than five years ago, prospects appeared bright for Bering Sea crab fishers. Stocks were abundant and healthy, federal biologists said, and prices were near all-time highs. Now two dominant crab harvests have been canceled for lack of fish. For the first time, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in October canceled the 2022-2023 harvest of Bering Sea snow crab, and it also announced the second consecutive year of closure for another important harvest, that of Bristol Bay red king crab. What has happened between then and now? A sustained... Full story
U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo on Friday approved disaster declarations for several distressed fisheries, including the recently canceled Bering Sea snow crab and Bristol Bay red crab harvests. The declarations are for poor or closed Alaska harvests going back to 2020. They cover failures in the crab fisheries for this season and last season, the closure of king crab fishing in Norton Sound in 2020 and 2021, the collapse of chum and coho harvests in the Kuskokwim River area, the poor... Full story
A joint House-Senate committee of the Alaska Legislature voted against accepting $20 million in federal aid to seafood processors, with lawmakers saying that a new state law prevents them from accepting that much money outside the normal state budget process. The 3-4 vote came Wednesday during a meeting of the Legislative Budget and Audit Committee, which makes financial decisions on behalf of the Legislature when lawmakers are not in session. The failed vote means seafood processing companies in Alaska will wait several more months to receive... Full story
SEATTLE (AP) — Cooke Aquaculture has filed an appeal against Washington state’s decision to end its leases for fish-farming using net pens in state waters. In court documents filed Dec. 14, the New Brunswick, Canada-based seafood giant said that the decision was arbitrary, politically motivated and contrary to science, radio station KNKX reported. In a statement, Cooke said it has a state Supreme Court ruling and legislative mandate on its side that supports the farming of native species. It also said that the 30-day deadline to harvest fis...
