Fishermen hold the key to solving Kenai setnet fishermen crisis

May 4, 2025 North Pacific

Last summer, a quiet revolution unfolded on the shores of the Kenai Peninsula. A group of setnet fishermen — barred and facing economic ruin from their traditional fishery to protect dwindling king salmon — stepped into a new role: scientific collaborators. Testing set-beach seines as an alternative to gillnets, they proved something remarkable. Not only did they catch abundant sockeye; but, without exception, every king salmon encountered swam away unharmed. This wasn’t just conservation — it was partnership. These fishermen didn’t just follow protocols; they refined them in real time, applying generations of knowledge about tides, fish behavior, and gear mechanics. The results? A resounding proof of concept that protecting kings and harvesting sockeye need not be mutually exclusive. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 08:17

Alaska, Alaska Board of Fisheries, Department of Fish and Game, dwindling king salmon, Fish and Game Commissioner Doug Vincent-Lang, Gov. Mike Dunleavy, Kenai Peninsula, set-beach seine trials, setnet fishermen, where bureaucracy fails

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The New England groundfish debacle (Part III): who or what is at fault? Nils E. Stolpe/FishNet

It took me a while to decide how to most accurately describe the situation that has been visited upon the New England fishing communities that are and since colonial times have been dependent on the groundfish fisheries.

NILS STOLPE: The New England groundfish debacle (Part IV): Is cutting back harvest really the answer?

While it’s a fact that’s hardly ever acknowledged, the assumption in fisheries management is that if the population of a stock of fish isn’t at some arbitrary level, it’s because of too much fishing. Hence the term “overfished.” Hence the mandated knee jerk reaction of the fisheries managers to not enough fish; cut back on fishing. What of other factors? They don’t count. It’s all about fishing, because fishing is all that the managers can control; it’s their Maslow’s Hammer. When it comes to the oceans it seems as if it’s about all that the industry connected mega-foundations that support the anti-fishing ENGOs with hundreds of millions of dollars a year in “donations” are interested in controlling. Read the article here

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