Sunflower Sea Star Proposed for Listing Under ESA

A sunflower sea star. Photo: Janna Nichols/NOAA. NOAA Fisheries officials on March 15 proposed listing the sunflower sea star, once common along the Pacific coast of North America, as threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), due to its sharp decline and the threat of a lethal pathogen. More than 90% of sunflower sea stars […]

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ComFish Alaska 2023 Takes On Climate Change, Legal Challenges to State’s Fisheries

Image: ComFish Alaska. Participants in ComFish Alaska 2023, undeterred by a spring snowstorm that halted jet traffic in and out of Kodiak for a day, tackled climate challenges to fisheries, including plastics pollution and prospective economic and environmental benefits of the mushrooming kelp mariculture efforts. The state’s biggest and longest-running commercial fisheries trade show, which […]

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Southeast Alaska Tribes Want Voice in BC Mines Permitting

Image: Southeast Alaska Indigenous Transboundary Commission. An umbrella entity for 15 Southeast Alaska Native tribes seeking better protection of transboundary watersheds of the Taku, Stikine and Unuk rivers is asking for a seat at the table whenever British Columbia processes permits for new mines. The request from the Southeast Alaska Indigenous Transboundary Commission (SEITC) on […]

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CVRF’s Tsukada Nominated to Alaska Seat on NPFMC

Image: North Pacific Fishery Management Council. Ryuichi ‘Rudy’ Tsukada, chief operating officer for the Coastal Villages Region Fund (CVRF), one of six Western Alaska Community Development Quota Program groups, has been nominated to fill the obligatory state of Alaska seat on the North Pacific Fishery Management Council (NPFMC). Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy nominated Tsukada on […]

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2023 Commercial Ocean Troll Salmon Fishery Cancelled

Image: Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. Commercial ocean troll salmon fishery seasons that were scheduled to open between March 15 and May 15 in all areas from Cape Falcon to the Oregon-California border have been cancelled for 2023, officials with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) announced March 9. They said the […]

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PFMC Urges Rescinding Oregon Offshore Wind Energy Call Areas

Two Oregon call areas totaling 1.1 million acres. Image via Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. The Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) on March 9 joined commercial fisheries entities in recommending that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) rescind the current Oregon call areas designated for floating offshore wind energy management and restart the siting […]

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ComFish 2023 Comes to Kodiak, Alaska March 16-18

Image: ComFish Alaska. ComFish Alaska, billed as the state’s premier commercial fisheries trade show, opens for its 44th year in Kodiak on March 16, with forums ranging from federal and state fisheries issues to bycatch harvests, vessel safety, marine debris and the future of kelp mariculture in the state. Forty-five vendors, ranging from gear vendors to […]

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Report Contends that Alaska’s Fisheries are Collapsing

Wild salmon. File photo. A report in the online publication Politico contends that while nearly 250 trawl boats continue to have banner seasons, harvesting between 3-4 billion pounds of fish annually, the Alaska fisheries overall are collapsing. The report, produced in partnership with Type Investigations – where the article’s author, Adam Federman, is a reporting […]

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Peter Pan Seafoods Wins Grand Prize at New Product Competition

Image: Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation. Wild Alaska sockeye salmon with ribbon kelp chimichurri by Peter Pan Seafoods claimed the grand prize at the 2023 Alaska Symphony of Seafoods, an annual competition promoting new products made with wild Alaska seafood. Peter Pan’s entry also claimed first place in retail competition with this recipe, which was the […]

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From the Editor: Borealization

The first-ever cancellation of Alaska’s Bering Sea snow crab harvest due to population declines was a shock to the state’s fishing industry last fall, but in the decades to come, the ocean conditions that triggered the snow crab crash and harvest closure are expected to become common. This is according to according to several scientists […]

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