alaska – Fishermens News

Wild Alaska Pollock Season Faces Economic Competition from Russia

29Jan

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Wild Alaska Pollock Season Faces Economic Competition from Russia

Harvests are underway in the lucrative wild Alaska pollock A season, with an overall 1.5 million metric ton total allowable catch (TAC) in the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska. The fishery survived a potential domestic trawling ban, but still faces stiff economic competition from Russia. The North Pacific Fishery Management Council in December set the TAC at 1.375 million metric tons for the Bering Sea and 171,000 metric tons in the Gulf of Alaska. That decision came after the Alaska Board of Fisheries rejected proposed trawling bans in Prince William Sound. The volume of the TAC and the Alaska pollock biomass, which refers to the total weight of the pollock in a specific area, has remained relatively consistent over the years, clear evidence of the sustainable, responsible, science...

GAPP: Positive Perception of Alaska Pollock Growing

15Jan

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GAPP: Positive Perception of Alaska Pollock Growing

An influencer campaign on social media and related efforts by the industry have put the Wild Alaska pollock industry on track for an increased return on investment in 2025, according to the 2024-25 annual report by Genuine Alaska Pollock Producers (GAPP). A major investment in its partnership program and bringing more product into domestic markets, was coupled with an increased focus on international marketing in 2024, along with targeted consumer research in key European markets. GAPP Chief Executive Officer Craig Morris cited those factors in comments included in the report, which was released Jan. 6. GAPP’s largest-ever international partnership program investments were in international markets such as Asia, Latin America and Europe, he said. The Alaska Pollock Fishery Alli...

29M Pink Salmon Harvest Forecast for SE Alaska

27Nov

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29M Pink Salmon Harvest Forecast for SE Alaska

State fisheries biologists have good news for pink salmon harvesters in Southeast Alaska: a 2025 harvest forecast of 29 million humpies, with an ex-vessel value of $14.5 million. The prediction, which comes in the wake of a 2024 fishery disaster, is considered an average run. The forecast was released Nov. 19, and is based on juvenile pink salmon abundance indices collected in northern Southeast Alaska inside waters. State biologists said the current forecast is slightly above the recent 10-year average harvest of 26 million for humpies, and about 60% of the parent year of 2023 harvest of 48 million fish. Last year’s harvest of 19.9 million pink salmon, with an average weight of 2.9 pounds, was lower than anticipated and by August, fishermen had netted only 35% of the forecast...

13Nov

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Alaska Symphony of Seafood Plans Gala for Nov. 19 in Seattle

Fifteen companies engaged in retail, foodservice and “Beyond the Plate” competition are scheduled for judging of their entries in advance of the Alaska Symphony of Seafood gala, slated for the King Street Ballroom in Seattle from 5:30-8:30 p.m. on Nov. 19. Organizers with the Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation (AFDF) said plans are to provide guests with an exclusive tasting of this year’s entries for Best New Retail Product, Best New Foodservice Product and Beyond the Plate, plus an awards ceremony, and live and silent auction. Chefs judging the competition include Roy Breiman, vice president of Food and Beverage at Columbia Hospitality; Kati Lauffer, culinary director for Nordstrom; Jason Stoneburner, chef/owner of Stoneburner; David Tangkilisin, chef at Chinook's; and Rac...

ADF&G Commissioner Says Fisheries Overall Remain Healthy

25Sep

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ADF&G Commissioner Says Fisheries Overall Remain Healthy

Challenges of climate change, market conditions and politics aside, Alaska's fisheries resources remain overall healthy, Alaska Department of Fish and Game Commissioner Doug Vincent-Lang told a legislative task force seeking to evaluate the state's seafood industry. “Yes, we have some poorly performing stocks, for example king salmon and Bering Sea crab, but overall, our fishery resources remain healthy,” Vincent-Lang told the joint legislative task force meeting in Juneau on Sept. 19. The commissioner recounted the status of the state's commercial fisheries, from groundfish and halibut to salmon, including the impact of changing climate, the markets and political issues for each, as well as related litigation, particularly in the case of a lawsuit aimed at shutting down the Sou...

Land Management Bureau Invests $3.25M in Alaska Salmon Habitat Restoration

18Sep

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Land Management Bureau Invests $3.25M in Alaska Salmon Habitat Restoration

A federal grant of $3.25 million announced on Sept. 16 is expected to be used improve the ecosystem health and Pacific salmon resiliency in the Yukon, Kuskokwim and Norton Sound regions of Alaska, according to the Bureau of Land Management. Project work under the new agreement was estimated to begin in early September 2024 and continue through the end of summer 2029, the BLM said. The funds implement, through a partner award, part of the $36 million in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding dedicated to the Interior Department’s ‘Gravel to Gravel’ initiative. The project work, implemented in partnership with the Salcha-Delta Soil and Water Conservation District under the Good Neighbor Authority, includes efforts to restore areas impacted by historic land uses. The Good Neighbor...

11Sep

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SE Alaska Commercial Red, Blue King Crab Fishery Closed for 2024-25

Alaska Department of Fish and Game biologists have decided to close the Southeast Alaska commercial red king crab and blue king crab fishery for the 2024-2025 season. The fishery has been closed due to low stock numbers since 2017. ADF&G announced Sept. 9 that the 2024 stock assessment survey estimated 117,103 pounds of legal male red king crab were available for harvest, compared to the minimum threshold of 200,000 pounds required to open the commercial fishery. The Southeast Alaska Red King Crab Management Plan calls for the department to manage the red king crab fishery in accordance with the Alaska Board of Fisheries Policy on King and Tanner Crab Resource Management. The Southeast red king crab regional biomass estimates for the coming season are 1.63 million pounds o...

Annual Wild Alaska Pollock Meeting Slated for Sept. 26 in Seattle

4Sep

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Annual Wild Alaska Pollock Meeting Slated for Sept. 26 in Seattle

Global seafood market issues including roe and surimi will be up for discussion when the Association of Genuine Alaska Pollock Producers (GAPP) holds its sixth annual meeting at the W Hotel Seattle in Seattle on Sept. 26. Speakers from major global surimi manufacturers, as well as food and menu innovation professionals, are on the agenda to discuss the state of global markets for wild Alaska pollock surimi and roe, to challenge attendees to think differently about the future for these products. “It’s no secret that the surimi and roe markets have been challenged in recent years,” GAPP Chief Executive Officer Craig Morris said. With conditions continuing to evolve globally and this year’s meeting theme centered around harvesting opportunity, Morris said this is the time to brin...

Alaska Commercial Salmon Harvest Reaches Nearly 92 Million Fish

28Aug

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Alaska Commercial Salmon Harvest Reaches Nearly 92 Million Fish

Fishermen from the Alaska Peninsula to Southeast Alaska delivered more wild salmon to commercial fishing tenders during the past week, bringing the preliminary statewide commercial salmon catch to nearly 92 million fish. That included some 41 million sockeye, 35 million pink, 14.8 million chum, 745,000 coho and 217,000 Chinook salmon. Earlier this year, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game had forecast a potential harvest of 135.7 million fish, including 39.5 million sockeye, 69 million pink, 24.3 million chum and 2.6 million coho salmon. In the westward region, deliveries to Kodiak of 8.6 million fish included nearly 7 million pink, 1.2 million sockeye, 482,000 chum, 42,000 coho and 1,000 kings, while from the Alaska Peninsula the catch reached a new total of 4.8 million fi...

Appeals Court Decision Allows SEAK Trollers to Keep Harvesting

21Aug

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Appeals Court Decision Allows SEAK Trollers to Keep Harvesting

Southeast Alaska commercial fishermen facing a potential shutdown of a lucrative salmon fishery are currently free to fish while NOAA Fisheries revises a biological opinion dotted with procedure errors, according to an Aug. 16 ruling from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The appeals court gives the fisheries service until Dec. 1 to produce a new biological opinion, a decision that brought relief to harvesters, but dismay to the Wild Fish Conservancy in Seattle. However, Alaska Commissioner of Fish and Game Doug Vincent-Lang said that once the new biological opinion is released it's “fresh for litigation” again. Amy Daugherty, executive director of the Alaska Trollers Association in Juneau, said her organization of some 400 fishermen was very relieved “that the district cour...