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.