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Alaska commercial fishing news and notes
About me
- Deckboss
- I'm a journalist covering Alaska's commercial fishing industry. My real name is Wesley Loy. Reach me at wloy61@gmail.com.
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2026
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August
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- Norway's King Harald V crosses the bar
- CFEC sets a meeting
- Alaska resident sought for halibut commission
- National ensign at half-mast for Dolly Parton
- NSEDC celebrates new Savoonga halibut plant
- Man overboard reported in Prince William Sound
- Login.gov
- Looking ahead to 2027 in Bristol Bay
- Fields puts up a fight
- Salmon notes
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August
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21 comments:
Maybe the contents of the Harvester Island swear jar will go towards the Duncan's legal defense?
It'll be an interesting case to watch…
The State would be wise to dismiss this. Duncan is a very sharp guy with a good legal background and he is as far from a criminal as anyone I know.
Wasting our tax dollars on a pointless legal argument for a victimless crime.
You must not have seen the video of the setnetter hacking porpoises out of his net?
The Fields are good people. They haven't made money from this fishery in a long time.
The Fields are good people. The reality is that Uyak Bay hasn’t made money in 20 years. But setnetting on Kodiak is as much a lifestyle as it is a business and lifestyles cost money. Sometimes they’re rewarding, sometimes they’re not. Ask Pete, Leon, Mark, Leigh, Jane, or any number of people who have lived it.
Was this a victimless crime? Yes. But any lawyer knows that isn’t a defense. And putting 1 million pinks on Duncan’s permit and zero on Wanda’s? That’s not exactly sophisticated, it’s just lazy.
The State is going to try to make an example out of the Field's family. It’s hard to win a fight against someone who buys ink by the barrel, a phrase often used by people who sue journalism outlets for libel) applies to the Fields.
Whether you like Duncan or not (or whether you think his years of regulatory experience create a higher burden for his behavior), the reality is that fisheries law enforcement (both federal and state) has become a farce, driven by egos and an anti-commercial bias that touches all gear types. Fisheries need robust and meaningful enforcement but nobody wins when law enforcement is reinterpreting regulations, without notice, to find ways to punish fishermen and companies.
Luckily, Kodiak seiners never do anything illegal, or outside the ADF&G regs. And tendermen, they adhere to regs certainly.
This is a distraction from the real issue in Kodiak...destructive trawling around the island with incomplete observing. Enforcement needs to focus on the real problems in the GOA.
Longline fleet discards 12 million pounds of undersized halibut with 6% coverage. We need to increase it across the board. Pollock is the only fishery with 100%.
Charter boats are commercial enterprises. They need to have observers too. Enforcement finds lodges breaking the laws every year.
Let's do a study and find out how many halibut the charter industry sorts through to get a legal-sized, slot limit, halibut.
But I heard from Bob Candopoulos that charter was the cleanest fishery in the world!
Dude, your tangential rambling is impressive. But I’m not sure what you’re saying. At all.
CFEC's own statistics prove that the Fields operated their setnet business in a manner than has been commonplace around the state for many years. This is a perfect example of selective enforcement of poorly written regulations.
Well stated!!!! Enforcement is out of control and adding very little to effective fisheries resources management as currently implemented in Alaska.
The Fields worked really hard to build what they have at Harvester and Bear and Old Uyak ... and it's not even particularly profitable. This whole prosecution is stupid. I could see if they were raking it in, but this is the opposite. The Kodiak setnet fishery is dying. The only way to stay in business is to go all in on direct market or fish a lot of gear and turn it over like crab pots.
Of all the potential state legal prosecutions this is about the most ridiculous you could come up with.
Well said, Duncan. I agree.
I am happy to see the support for the Fields. The Department of Law has to have better things to do.
Glad to see support for Duncan.
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