Circle Seafoods touts salmon prices for 2026

Here's the announcement.

Juneau watch

A bill up for a hearing tomorrow in the House Special Committee on Fisheries aims to make Metlakatla tribal interests eligible for state hatchery financing.

One commercial fishing group is very opposed.

The sponsor of House Bill 253 is Ketchikan Republican Rep. Jeremy Bynum, whose district includes Metlakatla.

Salmon notes

• The North Pacific Fishery Management Council has set a total allowable catch of 1,487,153 sockeye for this year's Cook Inlet Exclusive Economic Zone salmon fishery. That's well above last year's 800,126 sockeye.

• In legislative action in Juneau, the Senate Resources Committee yesterday held a hearing on Senate Bill 158. Sponsored by Sen. Jesse Bjorkman, R-Nikiski, the bill would segregate eastside Cook Inlet setnet permits into their own district separate from the rest of the inlet. The sponsor says this would help the setnetters — who have been mostly shut down in recent years to conserve scarce Chinook salmon — pursue relief such as a buyback of permits. Video of the hearing is available here and is well worth watching.

• Circle Seafoods, of Aberdeen, Washington, announced plans for the upcoming salmon season: "In partnership with the Metlakatla Indian Community, Circle plans to operate on Annette Island during the 2026 salmon season. The Circle I barge, with a daily production capacity of 500,000 pounds and 1M pounds of salmon tank capacity, is expected to moor at the city dock in Metlakatla and buy fish off the port side." The company posted a video of its rapid slush ice delivery system. Circle debuted its newly built processing barge last year at Metlakatla.

An update on the Metlakatla case

Here's the story from Alaska Public Media's Eric Stone.

Runaway barge!

Undercurrent News is reporting the Circle Seafoods processing barge has broken free of its moorings in foul weather at Metlakatla.

Notable reading

Alaska Public Media has an update on the Metlakatla fishing rights case.

And Alaska pollock trawlers, in a column in the Anchorage Daily News, defend their fishery.

Circle Seafoods barge set to sail for Southeast

Circle Seafoods, of Aberdeen, Washington, issued this statement today regarding its newly built processing platform:

Circle I, the first floating salmon processor, freezer and transportation barge of Circle Seafoods, is scheduled to sail from Aberdeen to Metlakatla, Alaska in time to support the peak of the Southeast Alaska Salmon season.

The barge will buy and freeze salmon in Metlakatla during the 2025 season. After salmon is frozen, it is held in the barge’s cold storage area at ultra low temperatures or shipped out of Alaska in ultra low temperature containers.

The sailing of Circle I is a massive milestone in our journey to shape the future of wild seafood. A huge thank you goes out to our construction and production teams, industry partners, and the communities of Aberdeen and Metlakatla for their contributions in getting us to this point.

For more on the company's planned operations this season at Metlakatla, check out this press release.

Metlakatla's powerful ally

The Metlakatla Indian Community continues to press its federal lawsuit against the state seeking expanded fishing rights in Southeast Alaska.

The U.S. Department of Justice is siding with Metlakatla, filing this amicus curiae brief on Friday.

The continuing fight over Metlakatla's fishing rights

Alaska is petitioning the San Francisco appeals court to reconsider its recent ruling that would appear to exempt Metlakatla Indian Community fishermen from the state's limited entry program.

A blow to state fisheries management

A federal appeals court has ruled that Metlakatla tribal members may fish commercially in waters off their Southeast Alaska reservation — specifically, in districts 1 and 2 — and they don't need a state permit to do so.

This startling court opinion would seem to knock a serious hole in the state's fishery management authority, in particular the limited entry program.

Metlakatla case dismissed

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit the Metlakatla Indian Community filed against the state seeking off-reservation fishing rights in Southeast Alaska.

Metlakatla works to boost hatchery production

Read about it here.

Metlakatla plans big cold storage project

The Metlakatla Indian Community is inviting bids for a big freezer expansion project for its Annette Island Packing Co.

According to an ad published in Friday's Anchorage Daily News, the project involves design of a storage room big enough to hold 1 million pounds of seafood.

The town of Metlakatla is on Annette Island, south of Ketchikan. It anchors the only Indian reservation in Alaska.

The local salmon fishery, tribally managed, won Marine Stewardship Council certification in June 2011.

Four out of five ain't bad

The Metlakatla Indian Community has won Marine Stewardship Council certification for its salmon fishery in waters surrounding the Annette Islands Reserve, a federal Indian reservation in Southeast Alaska.

The MSC certification, which signifies sustainable management, covers pink, chum, coho and king salmon taken with gillnet, seine or troll gear.

And what about sockeye, you ask?

The MSC press release mentions something about "depleted local sockeye salmon populations."

Sea cucumber diver dies near Annette Island

This just in from the U.S. Coast Guard:

Jan. 13, 2011

Coast Guard investigates commercial fisheries-related death

JUNEAU — Coast Guard investigators from Marine Safety Detachment Ketchikan are working with the Annette Island Department of Fish and Game and the Metlakatla Police Department in the investigation of a commercial diving death that occurred Wednesday on the 68-foot fishing tender Island Dancer near Annette Island.

Metlakatla police reported the incident to the Coast Guard at 2:30 p.m. and two Ketchikan-based investigators flew to Metlakatla to begin the investigation.

The crew of the commercial vessel Island Dancer has reportedly told investigators the diver surfaced and took off his mask and immediately sank about 1 p.m.

The crew reportedly pulled the diver out of the water using the air hose and immediately provided first aid.

The Island Dancer crew was reportedly fishing for sea cucumbers in Chester Bay near Metlakatla at the time of the incident.

Boat reported sunk near Metlakatla

The U.S. Coast Guard released this around 3:30 p.m. today:

March 31, 2010

Coast Guard responds to sunken vessel east of Metlakatla

KODIAK — The Coast Guard is responding to the sinking of the 45-foot fishing vessel Millie B in Crab Bay, east of Annette Island.

Marine Safety Detachment Ketchikan watchstanders received a call from personnel at Annette Island Gas about 11 a.m. today reporting the sunken vessel and a light sheen on the water.

Coast Guard responders went to Crab Bay and discovered the vessel sunk in approximately 65 to 80 feet of water and not posing a navigational hazard. The vessel has approximately 80 gallons of diesel aboard. The responders did not observe a sheen or smell diesel.

It was reported to the MSD that one person was aboard the vessel but transferred to the vessel's skiff before the Millie B sank. The owner is working with the Coast Guard and reports he will raise the vessel as soon as possible.

Personnel from MSD Ketchikan will continue to investigate the situation.

What? Alaska salmon not MSC-certified?

Here's news that the Metlakatla Indian Community in Southeast Alaska will seek Marine Stewardship Council certification.

It seems the Metlakatla tribe, in conjunction with the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs, manages a small commercial salmon fishery around Annette Island and neighboring isles south of Ketchikan.

The state manages the rest of Alaska's vast salmon fisheries. And, as regular visitors to this blog know, the state has achieved MSC certification for Alaska salmon as a sustainable fishery.

All the best to Metlakatla.

But one wonders what happens if the Annette Island Reserve salmon fishery doesn't qualify for the MSC ecolabel.

Will we no longer be able to say without qualification that "Alaska salmon" is MSC-certified?