Tag Archives: Alaska
Fishing jobs declined in Alaska in 2021
Last year brought another series of job losses for the Alaskan fishing industry, even after the massive declines in 2020. Thet’ Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development’s analysis of fishing jobs, which it releases annually, shows that 2021 did not bring a full recovery back to the industry the way it did to others after the low during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Overall, the industry lost another 134 jobs, on top of the approximately 1,000 it lost in 2020. “While some harvests were notably large in 2021, no fishery significantly boosted its employment,” wrote Joshua Warren, an economist for the Alaska Department of Labor, in the report. “Larger harvests don’t necessarily translate to job growth.” Though there are commercial fisheries operating all over Alaska year-round, employment usually spikes from May through September for salmon harvesting. >click to read< 08:55
Each summer, this couple fishes in Alaska and they bring thousands of pounds of salmon back with them to Colorado
In 2020, Hayden Linscheid and Jaymi Bethea founded their company, Savor the Wild, after working on commercial fishing boats around Alaska for years. Both Bethea and Linscheid grew up on Kodiak Island in Alaska before moving to Colorado. Linscheid grew up fishing with his family and Bethea worked on crabbing boats to pay off student loans. Together, they have decades of fishing experience. Bethea said starting the business made sense after they heard raving reviews from friends and family about the salmon they brought back to Colorado each year. “After sharing our fish every year, talking about our fish … we figured, ‘I think we can make a business out of this,’” Photos, >click to read< 07:34
Is Juneau running out of diesel?
Juneau, Alaska is one of two capitals that is only accessible by water or air (the other is Honolulu, Hawaii. Like New England, almost every home in Juneau is heated by diesel oil. This small city of 30,000 souls has two rather large tank farms that store millions of gallons of fuel barged up from Seattle. Diesel is the lifeblood of Juneau. It has three harbors packed with fishing vessels that run on diesel. Two mines outside the city use diesel. The city’s backup power generators run on diesel. If this town ran out of diesel, it would be an economic catastrophe if not a humanitarian crisis. Some buildings only use diesel heat. If heat was shut down, the water supply would also have to be shut down (frozen lines). It would mean the closure of schools and, possibly, health facilities. So, the first step is to see if there is data on Alaska’s inventory. Video, >click to read< 10:56
Southeast’s 2022 commercial salmon harvest was half as large last year’s, but worth millions more
Commercial fisherman in Southeast hauled in just over 29 million fish across the five salmon species during the 2022 season – 17.5 million pink salmon, 9.3 million chum, 1.2 million coho, 1.1 million sockeye, and 257,000 king salmon. Even though the total harvest was half of last year’s (58 million catch), the total value at the docks for Southeast increasedby $12 million this year, to $144 million. That rise in value came primarily because the price per pound of chum salmon increased by half this year compared to last year, at a region-wide average of $1.18 per pound. >click to read< 08:34
St. Paul government declares emergency in attempt to get ahead of looming crab crash
The Pribilof Island of St. Paul runs on snow crab — also known as opilio crab. The community’s Trident Seafoods is one of the largest crab processing plants in the world. So when fisheries management officials announced the species “overfished” and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game shut down snow crab for the first time in the fishery’s history in October, City Manager Phillip Zavadil knew the community needed to act fast. “We’re trying to get creative and have people understand that this is going to happen more and more, and that we need to address it,” Zavadil said. “We can do something now, instead of waiting for next year, when we don’t have any funding or we can’t provide services.” About two weeks after ADF&G’s closure announcement, the city declared a cultural, economic and social emergency. >click to read< 10:51
Did climate change really kill billions of snow crabs in Alaska?
In October 2022, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced that the lucrative snow crab fishery in the Bering Sea would close for the first time, following a population decline of 80% between 2018 and 2022. While fisheries managers and biologists say climate change is to blame for the species’ retreat, some fishers and crab experts suggest that trawling bycatch and other fishing activity may have played a role in the snow crab’s decline. The fishery’s closure has amplified a chorus of concerns about Alaska’s trawling industry and the knowledge gaps around its potential impact on fisheries. The disappearance of billions snow crabs from the Bering Sea has captivated the world’s attention since Alaska shut down the fishery for the first time in October 2022. But where exactly did these snow crabs go? And what caused them to vanish so quickly? >click to read< 08:02
After record haul, Bristol Bay sockeye harvest forecast to drop next year
Alaska’s Bristol Bay sockeye salmon harvest is forecast to tumble next year to some 36.6 million fish, according to Alaska state Department of Fish and Game biologists. The downturn comes on the heels of a record 2022 haul of more than 60 million sockeye. The Bristol Bay region in Southwest Alaska sustains the world’s biggest sockeye runs and draws fishermen from Alaska, Washington and other states. The record 2022 harvest was 104% higher than the 20-year average, and these fish, as well as smaller numbers of other salmon, were collectively worth more than $351 million. The 2023 harvest, if the forecast is accurate,,, >click to read< 12:45
Dungeness crab die-off underway along US West Coast
An important species of crab found primarily along the West Coast is fighting off a combination of stressors that experts at the North Atlantic and Atmospheric Administration say has fishermen finding piles of dead shellfish, and the impacts are affecting the economy. Dungeness crabs are typically found along water beds, and their harvest can be worth a quarter-billion dollars annually. NOAA Fisheries believes the combination of a lack of oxygen, harmful algal blooms, water temperatures and ocean acidification are playing a role in the animal’s disappearance. >click to read< 16:12
Canceled crab season could devastate Unalaska
As the top fishing port by volume in the nation, fishing runs in the veins of Unalaska. Officials say that nearly everyone in the city relies on the robust seafood industry. “Our only industry is our fishing industry. So everything that goes on in communities are related,” said Frank Kelty, the Fishery consultant for the City of Unalaska. “In 2019, we had the quota of 45 million pounds. Then last year, we were down to 25 million pounds,” Kelty said. This year, that industry came to a drastic halt. “You know 60, 70 boats not buying fuel. Not buying groceries. It adds up pretty quick,” Kelty said. “Those boats aren’t fishing, they are not buying groceries every five days when they come in for a trip, Video, >click to read< 13:42
Fishing family brings Alaskan halibut to Flathead Valley
As a devoted fisherman with over 40 years of experience, Steve Box and his wife Molly are excited to bring fresh, wild, and sustainably caught Alaskan halibut to their neighbors in the Flathead Valley. Born and raised in Juneau, Alaska, Steve has spent most of his life exploring the pristine waters of Glacier Bay National Park in search of salmon, crab and halibut. His career started at just 13 years old when he crewed with a longtime family friend on a commercial fishing boat. In 1990, Steve bought his first boat and in 1997, he started his company Worthy Seafoods. The enterprise is a family endeavor as Steve and Molly’s children, Corey and Nikki, also work on the boat. >click to read< 11:27
Southeast Alaska’s summer Dungeness crab fishery worth $10M less than last year
State managers closed Southeast’s Dungeness summer fishery, which opened June 15, two weeks early by emergency order because of low harvest numbers. It’s been five years since the last time that’s happened. This summer season harvest was just under 1.3 million pounds, nearly two million pounds less than last year. Along with the lower harvest, was a corresponding drop in value. This year the fishery was worth $3.77 million. Last year it was $13.03 million. This year’s price was $2.96 per pound. That’s about average for Dungeness crab over the last decade. >click to read< 11:41
Coast Guard reports second operational fatality-free year for Alaska commercial fishing industry
The Coast Guard 17th District Commercial Fishing Vessel Safety office reported the second fatality-free commercial fishing season in Alaska for the fiscal year 2022. The first fatality-free year in the Alaskan fishing industry occurred in 2015. An operational fatality is defined as a death occurring as a result of an incident at sea, such as a man overboard, a sunken or lost vessel, or an on-deck accident, to name a few. “I give most all the credit to the fishing industry when it comes to staying safe and alive,” said Scott Wilwert, Commercial Fishing Vessel Safety Coordinator, Coast Guard 17th District. >click to read<, Photos, 09:14
Massive losses predicted from Bering Sea crab closures
While other crab stocks have been declining in the North Pacific for years, the snow crab fishery’s collapse is doubly shocking for the industry. Not only is it one of the larger crab fisheries by volume in Alaska, it has also gone from booming and healthy to overfished and collapsing within five years, with little warning or clear explanation. Fishermen who made investments in permits and boats less than five years ago are now looking at bankruptcy. Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers, the trade organization representing the industry, has estimated the direct financial losses at about $500 million. Adding in the ripple effects to the economy, that estimate rises to about $1 billion. >click to read< 07:50
Virtual Alaska Fisherman EXPO to be held in November
The Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association and the Alaska Sustainable Fisheries Trust are hosting a Fall Fishermen’s EXPO, aimed at providing educational workshops and training to new and experienced local fishermen as well as others with interest in the fishing sector. At the November 9th EXPO, all the workshops and presentations will be offered virtually. Commercial and subsistence fishermen of all gear types will have the opportunity to attend free and interactive classes on permit and quota purchasing, gear recycling, Energy Transitions Initiative Partnership Project updates, PredictWind updates, marine mammal deterrents and proposed regulations, mental health and commercial fishing, harmful algae blooms and more. >click to read<, and register.13:44
Here’s the Untold Truth of “Deadliest Catch Captain Rip Carlton
Carlton denied “Deadliest Catch” producers’ access to his boat numerous times, claiming that the show would slow down his operation. With the Red King crab season closed in the 2021 to 2022 season, Captain Rip Carlton joined the show to show us how Golden King crab fishing is done. As stated in his bio on the Patricia Lee’s website, Rip “is the captain of one of only five boats that harvest Golden King Crab,” which positions him as “one of the world’s foremost authorities on Goldens.” The F/V Patricia Lee’s “long lining” fishing style is a major factor in its dominance. On top of Carlton’s experience in Golden King crab fishing, his boat discharges up to 50 pots at one time, while most other boats only drop one at a time. When pulling up this string, the pots come up every 90 seconds. >click to read< 20:06
Why Did 11 Billion Alaskan Snow Crabs Suddenly Disappear?
Earlier this month, Alaska announced that it had canceled the entire snow crab harvest for the year. The news heralded a catastrophic population collapse for the animals, in which nine out of ten died out between 2018 to 2021. It’s a terrible development for those who make a living harvesting the crabs in a region of the world that’s warming unusually fast because of its proximity to the North Pole. (Alaska officials also canceled the fall Bristol Bay red king crab harvest for a second year in a row.) This isn’t a small industry; Alaska’s crab fishing is worth more than $200 million a year. The sudden shutdown has left the state, well, shell-shocked. >click to read< 12:04
Alaskans question fishery management as snow crabs disappear
The state, which has long dominated U.S. seafood production, is reeling after the Alaska Department of Fish and Game last week canceled the winter snow crab season in the Bering Sea for the first time in history Oct. 12. The department said the population of the popular snow crabs had dropped by nearly 90 percent from 2018 to 2021, plunging from 8 billion to 1 billion. In both cases, NOAA Fisheries said the declines were likely the result of climate change,,, Crabbers, however, said they had been led astray by inaccurate data and poor management decisions. “It’s going to be really devastating to kind of make ends meet and go forward here with our business,” said Gabriel Prout, 32, who runs a family fishing vessel business in Kodiak, Alaska. Last year, PEER filed a complaint under the Information Quality Act, alleging that NOAA Fisheries had paved the way for a collapse “by engaging in sampling bias and data falsification” that inflated population estimates and led to years of overfishing. >click to read< 16:59
Company touts benefits of micro nuclear reactors for rural Alaska
Alaskans looking for clean, safe energy sources should consider nuclear power, according to a company that is working on developing a micro nuclear reactor it says will be particularly suited for rural Alaska. Westinghouse Electric President Eddie Saab made a presentation Friday in front of Word Trade Center Anchorage, a private non-profit that focuses on trade and business opportunities. Saab told the crowd that the micro-reactor they’re developing, the eVinci, is small enough to be loaded on a truck or placed on a barge. Perfect, Saab says, to provide stable power for remote locations. >click to read< 12:59
Bycatch task force considers new rules, more research to protect Alaska fish intercepted at sea
In the search for a solution to the problem of bycatch, the unintended at-sea harvest of non-target species, the stakes in Alaska are high. Now a special task force is nearing the end of a year-long process to find solutions that satisfy competing interests to the problem of bycatch, which refers to fish that are caught incidentally by commercial fishers who are targeting other fish. The Alaska Bycatch Review Task Force, created by Gov. Mike Dunleavy last November, is due to release its final report by the end of next month. At least two additional meetings are to be held between now and then. >click to read< 11:50
Fishermen fear going out of business after Alaska cancels snow and king crab harvest
For the first time ever, the Bering Sea snow crab harvest is closed, and for the second consecutive year, the Bristol Bay red king crab harvest is as well. The closure will result in fewer King and Snow crabs showing up on the menu, but the biggest impact is being felt by fishermen. “My husband is a 5th generation fisherman. His mom grew up in Ketchikan,” said Bri Dwyer who is a Commercial Fishing Industry photographer and storyteller. Her husband Captain Sean Dwyer is featured on the TV show Deadliest Catch. The family found out with everyone else this week that their crabbing season in the Bering Sea could be nonexistent. Video, >click to read< 08:48
Bering Sea king and snow crab seasons canceled amid population declines – Gabriel Prout co-owns the F/V Silver Spray with his dad and brothers. The Silver Spray is a 116-foot steel crabber that’s homeported in Kodiak. “The real shocking part is the total and complete collapse of the snow crab fishery which no one expected last year when it happened, and a complete closure this year was equally as shocking,” Prout said. >click to read<
Police chief rescues crew from grounded fishing vessel
Juneau Police Chief Ed Mercer on Friday was out on his boat when he saw something that didn’t look familiar within an area he had been to many times. Mercer happened upon a 60-foot fishing vessel with three people aboard that had run aground on Favorite Reef near Juneau. He said when he first approached the boat it appeared as though no one was still on board. Mercer confirmed there were three adults on board the boat, two men and one woman, all in good health under the circumstances,,, >click to read< 08:18
Conservation concerns cancel Alaska’s Bering snow, king crab seasons
Alaska officials have canceled the fall Bristol Bay red king crab harvest, and in a first-ever move, also scuttled the winter harvest of smaller snow crab. The move is a double whammy to a fleet from Alaska, Washington and Oregon pursuing Bering Sea crab in harvests that as recently as 2016 grossed $280 million. “I am struggling for words. This is so unbelievable that this is happening,” said Jamie Goen, executive director of the Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers. “We have third-generation fishermen who are going to go out of business.” >click to read< 14:47
Pro-fish or primarily pro-tribe? Critics say Peltola shows true goal as congresswoman for some, not all Alaskans
Is Mary Peltola really the pro-fish candidate? What does pro-fish mean, when the ultimate intent is to not put salmon in a wildlife refuge, but conserve a resource so you can kill the fish, slice them up, and eat them? According to some in the fishing crowd in Kodiak last week, Peltola misses the mark when it comes to fishing, as an economy and as a way of life for many Alaskans. Not all were impressed with her at the Kodiak candidate forum focused on fishing. Before she left Washington, D.C. at the end of September, Peltola, the Democrat congresswoman finishing Congressman Don Young’s term, voted in the House Natural Resources Committee to authorize a rewrite of the Magnuson Stevens Act with an important added provision: Bycatch would be banned, so severely curtailed that critics claim a judge could rule that commercial fishing itself could be shut down, depending on what environmentalist litigants want. >click to read< 09:18
Feds working on new plan for contentious Cook Inlet fishery
Federal fisheries managers say they’ve started working on a new management plan for the Cook Inlet salmon fishery, months after a court said their plan to completely close the fishery was unjust. At a meeting in Anchorage Thursday, Jon Furland with NOAA Fisheries told the North Pacific Fishery Management Council that time is of the essence to create a new plan and comply with the court. In 2020, following a lawsuit from the United Cook Inlet Drift Association over management of the drift fishery, the council voted to close a large swath of Cook Inlet to commercial salmon fishing. The closure applied to Cook Inlet’s federal waters,,, >click to read< 16:48
Bristol Bay’s sockeye runs break records, but local permit ownership has declined for decades
This summer, 79 million sockeye returned to Bristol Bay. It was the largest run on record. But over the past half-century, there has been a dramatic shift in who fishes commercially in Bristol Bay. Local permit ownership has declined sharply, and research shows that’s due in part to a regulatory change to Alaska’s fishery management from the 1970s. Propelled by years of low salmon returns and more people coming to the state to fish, Alaskans voted in 1972 to amend the state’s constitution and implement a limited entry system. This system restricted the number of commercial fishing permits in areas around the state, including Bristol Bay. >click to read< 08:14
A rare summer-long chinook opener was not enough to lure SE trollers away from Chumageddon
Chinook trollers in Southeast may have left a sizeable portion of their allocation in the water when the summer season wrapped up on September 20 – but that doesn’t mean it was a bad year. Instead, it was a rather unusual year. “Being able to retain chinook for the entire summer is not something that they’re used to,” said Grant Hagerman, troll management biologist for the Alaska Department of Fish & Game in Sitka. Commercial trolling for king salmon was open all summer, with only three days off to allow silver salmon – or coho – time to escape into their natal streams, lakes, and rivers. Hagerman says the long summer season wasn’t due to a lack of king salmon; rather, it was an abundance of choice. Commercial trolling has changed. >click to read/listen< 12:37
Elliott Neese on ‘Deadliest Catch’ Sentenced to Federal Prison for Dealing Heroin
In December 2019, Elliott Neese sold heroin to a CI (confidential informant). That led to a search warrant that uncovered 160 grams of heroin, some meth, drug scales, guns, a cash-counting machine, and items “used in the distribution of narcotics”. The Deadliest Catch star immediately confessed to being part of a larger narcotics ring operating on the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska and said he mostly sold heroin. Sealed documents further complicate matters. What was clear from the outset is that Elliott was a small cog in a larger drug-selling operation. Prosecutors asked for a stiffer sentence because he was selling heroin in a small community, at high risk for narcotics issues. >click to read< 20:01
Worst storm in years batters Western Alaska coast
A powerful, historic storm continued to batter a huge swath of the Western Alaska coast Saturday, causing severe flooding, evacuations, power outages and wind damage to communities throughout the region. No fatalities, injuries or missing persons had been reported by Saturday night, but many communities were underwater and without power as the storm approached its peak. As the massive storm, the remnants of a Pacific typhoon, barreled north across the Bering Sea, it pounded villages from the Kuskokwim River delta to the Bering Strait. By late afternoon, it was moving into the Chukchi Sea. Photos, >click to read< 07:52
NMFS survey delivers more bad news to Bering Sea crab fleet
A Bering Sea survey by federal scientists contains more bad news for Alaska, Washington and Oregon-based crabbers hoping for an upturn in upcoming harvests that last year fell to rock-bottom levels. The federal survey results for Bristol Bay king crab are bleak and crabbers have been warned that for a second consecutive year there may not be a fall harvest, according to Jamie Goen, executive director of the Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers. “We have got an emergency,” Goen said. “I’m trying to get Congress to act to help.” The National Marine Fisheries Service survey does offer hope for improved harvests three to five years from now, as young snow crabs grow to adult size. >click to read< 12:20
‘A life on the mud’ for setnetter who fishes from Bristol Bay beach
Liz Moore spends most of the year working from her Shoreline, Wash., home office, where she helps evaluate programs run by governments and nonprofits. In the late spring of each year, she returns to this Southwest Alaska community, where she was raised, to pick sockeye out of setnets that stretch from a muddy beach. The shoreline setnet operation she runs includes a half-dozen skiffs and a crew of 10 men and women, some of whom come from as far away as New York. “When we get back to Seattle … it’s a life on pavement,” Moore said. “Here, it’s a life on mud, and I think I’m much more suited for a life on the mud.” >click to read< 15:04
