Avoiding salmon in the Bering Sea pollock fishery

A new study examines how the pollock fishery might avoid salmon bycatch by better understanding how Chinook and chum respond to oceanographic conditions.

An 'average' pink salmon forecast

"The 2026 Southeast Alaska pink salmon harvest is expected to be near average, with a harvest forecast of 19 million fish," says this advisory announcement.

Personnel file

Diana Evans has been named interim executive director of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council following the retirement of David Witherell.

Notable reading

Northern Journal has launched an interesting series of articles.

Here's part one on the struggling Pacific halibut fishery.

And here's a sidebar.

Bristol Bay forecast is out!

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game is forecasting a 2026 Bristol Bay harvest of 32.3 million sockeye salmon.

Last season produced a catch of 41.2 million.

Search warrant served in Kodiak

A Kodiak organization representing the trawl industry says Alaska Wildlife Troopers this week served a search warrant at its downtown office.

Electronics including the the executive director's laptop and cell phone were seized, the Alaska Groundfish Data Bank (AGDB) said in an "urgent update" sent Wednesday to the organization's members.

A spokesman for the Alaska Wildlife Troopers today said the agency was working on a media statement regarding the matter. The Alaska Groundfish Data Bank has represented Gulf of Alaska shoreside trawl catcher vessels and processors since 1986, the organization's website says.

The investigation doesn't appear to be focused on AGDB per se. Rather, the search is believed to be part of a broader investigation into the disposition of "prohibited species catch" such as salmon and halibut. These fish are taken as bycatch in trawl groundfish fisheries and can't be sold.

AGDB's executive director, Julie Bonney, in October testified before the North Pacific Fishery Management Council regarding a recent change of management policy to bar turning prohibited species catch into fishmeal.

Such fish now are hauled from processing plants to sea and dumped.

"AGDB does not have anything to hide, so it's extremely unfortunate that authorities have chose to take this route," the member update said.

Where have all the fishermen gone?

The state Department of Labor's latest Alaska Economic Trends magazine has a cover story devoted to fishing jobs.

"Alaska lost seafood harvesting jobs for a fifth straight year in 2024, bringing the industry to its lowest job count since data collection began in 2001," the department reports.