Juneau watch

With the election behind us, leadership is taking shape for the 34th Alaska Legislature set to begin in mid-January.

It looks like Rep. Bryce Edgmon, independent from Dillingham, will serve as speaker of the House.

Rep. Louise Stutes, R-Kodiak, will chair the House Special Committee on Fisheries. She previously held the gavel from 2015-20, and will take over for Rep. Sarah Vance, R-Homer.

Sen. Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak, will serve again as Senate president.

For more on the legislative leadership, here are press releases from the House Majority Coalition and the Alaska Senate Majority.

'It's a sad story'

Buck Laukitis, a Homer commercial fisherman and former member of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, has submitted a blistering commentary on the poor state of the halibut fishery.

"I have no confidence in the IPHC's approach," he writes, referring to the International Pacific Halibut Commission.

Fishermen's News ends print edition, again

Fishermen's News, a magazine covering the North Pacific commercial fishing industry, is ending its print edition and, going forward, will be "presented in digital format only," its publisher says.

Read the announcement in the magazine's December issue.

To our knowledge, this leaves our region with no print publications devoted to covering the commercial fishing industry.

National Fisherman magazine earlier this year went online only, and publication of Pacific Fishing magazine has been suspended throughout 2024.

"While I am a big believer in print publications, and it is my preferred medium for reading magazines, the economics of printing and mailing magazines continues to move in the wrong direction. Our revenues simply cannot keep pace with the ever-increasing costs," Fishermen's News Publisher Dave Abrams writes.

Fishermen's News halted publication in 2020, but Abrams revived it the following year.

Opinion: Appreciate CDQ program, pollock fishery

In an Anchorage Daily News opinion piece, three community development quota executives tout the value of the CDQ program and the pollock fishery that underpins it.

Pro-fish Peltola defeated

Alaska Democratic Congresswoman Mary Peltola, who made fish a focal point of her campaign, has lost her bid for a second term.

Republican challenger Nick Begich is the winner.

A new skipper for American Seafoods

American Seafoods Co. announced Inge Andreassen, chief operating officer and president, has "assumed leadership of American Seafoods," succeeding CEO Einar Gustafsson.

Here's a press release.

Seattle-based American Seafoods operates a fleet of Bering Sea pollock factory trawlers.

Southeast pink salmon forecast

The Southeast Alaska pink salmon harvest in 2025 is predicted to be in the "average" range at 29 million fish.

More details in this advisory announcement.

Biden beseeched

President Biden has only a few weeks left in office, and a fishing industry who's who is urging him to "resist all proposals to create or expand" marine national monuments. Here's the letter.

Expo time!

Pacific Marine Expo is set for tomorrow through Friday at the Lumen Field Event Center in downtown Seattle. More information here.

A down year for salmon

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game has released its summary of the 2024 commercial salmon season, and the numbers are nothing to shout about.

The total catch managed to crawl above 100 million fish, finishing at 101.2 million. That's a 56 percent decrease from the 2023 total.

"The 2024 commercial salmon fishery harvest for all species was valued at approximately $304 million, a significant decrease from $398 million from the 2023 season," the department reports.

Trump's pick for commerce secretary

President-elect Donald Trump has named Wall Street billionaire investor Howard Lutnick as his choice for commerce secretary.

The Commerce Department houses key agencies including the National Marine Fisheries Service and the National Weather Service.

An update on that Kodiak trawling case

An interesting case involving an alleged trawling violation has been pending quietly for about a year and a half in Kodiak District Court.

Now, the matter seems to be heating up.

The defendant, Steven Spain, who was operator of the fishing vessel Mar Pacifico, has filed a motion to dismiss the case against him.

The Alaska Office of Special Prosecutions appears determined to press on with the case, filing this 19-page opposition to the motion to dismiss.

Spain, 63, is charged with a misdemeanor. He's accused of operating nonpelagic trawl gear in state waters closed to such gear.

The case raises an important question for the fishing industry: What constitutes a pelagic trawl — that is, gear that doesn't contact the bottom?

The complaint filed against Spain says a claimed pelagic trawl net on the Mar Pacifico had prohibited attachments including chafing gear and chain rib lines "making this net suitable for fishing on the seabed."

Prosecutors argue the state definition of pelagic trawl gear is clear.

Their opposition filing includes details about Operation Bottom Drag, an enforcement action said to have reverberated throughout the trawl industry.

A second Bristol Bay forecast

The University of Washington's 2025 Bristol Bay sockeye salmon forecast projects a harvest of 37.8 million fish.

That compares to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game forecast of 34.8 million fish.

Uncle Sam wants fish

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is looking to buy large quantities of salmon products as well as pollock products.

Seafood task force to meet Wednesday, Thursday

Here are details including the lineup of speakers.

USCG helicopter rescues three near Kayak Island

Click here for further details and a video.

Floaters begin to multiply

Circle's second barge

This past salmon season saw a notable twist in Bristol Bay with the entry of a new floating processor, the Hannah, from Bellingham-based Northline Seafoods.

The processor is the first in an emerging class of freezer barges whose developers say will revolutionize the fishing industry by improving efficiency, fish quality, and prices.

A second company, Circle Seafoods, based in Aberdeen, Washington, has been building its own freezer barge, and this week announced the purchase of a second barge for conversion as a fish processor.

This second barge is "even bigger and badder" than the first, measuring nearly 500 feet long, the company said. The barge currently is named Mineral Creek.

Circle is targeting the 2025 salmon season in Southeast Alaska for its barge debut. The company is inviting seiners to join its efforts.

Trawlers lose

A federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit challenging new regulations tightening halibut trawl bycatch limits in the Bering Sea.

Here's the 39-page decision.

A bigger Bristol Bay catch expected next year

The state has released its 2025 Bristol Bay sockeye salmon forecast, which predicts a harvest of 34.8 million fish.

That would surpass the 31.6 million sockeye taken this past season.

Another major announcement from Silver Bay

Silver Bay Seafoods says it will acquire processing plants at Dillingham and Port Moller, adding: "As part of this acquisition, Silver Bay has committed to participating in the working group formed by Rodger May to address the future of the former Peter Pan Seafoods facility in King Cove."

More in this press release.

Silver Bay, APICDA to partner at False Pass

Here's a press release.

A big cutback for Kodiak crab

The state has set a catch quota of 560,000 pounds for the Kodiak District Tanner crab fishery set to open at noon Jan. 15.

That's a big reduction from the 3 million pounds allowed last season.

Personnel file

Andrea Keikkala will be the new executive director for United Catcher Boats, taking over for Brent Paine, who is retiring after many years leading the organization.

Keikkala currently is assistant director of the International Pacific Halibut Commission.

United Catcher Boats is a trade association representing trawlers delivering Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska pollock and other groundfish to shore plants.