Is industry behind Peltola?

Rep. Mary Peltola, a Democrat, holds the lone Alaska congressional seat and is righting for reelection with a "pro-fish" campaign slogan.

But how does Alaska's commercial fishing industry feel about her?

To find out, Deckboss followed the money — that is, the campaign contributions to Peltola and her main challenger, Republican Nick Begich.

We searched recent filings with the Federal Election Commission, specifically the July 15 quarterly reports for each candidate.

We're sure we didn't catch everything, but we found several significant fisheries contributions from processors, fishermen and others in the Mary Peltola for Alaska committee report. We compiled this list of Peltola contributions.

The Alaskans for Nick Begich committee, by contrast, showed only a handful of minor contributions from fishermen.

Salmon notes

Here's an update on the 2024 season, which is all but done.

• This will finish as a poor season, at least in terms of harvest volume. The statewide, all-species catch stands at 96.2 million fish. The season likely will finish with a harvest under 100 million for the first time in 37 years, since 1987, when the tally was 96.5 million.

• The Prince William Sound purse seine fishery closes today, perhaps appropriately on Friday the 13th. It's been a nightmare year for seiners with a catch of less than 5 million pink salmon, far below forecast. Expect pleas for disaster relief coming out of Cordova.

• Alaska never has produced many salmon north of the Arctic Circle, but this season's production was particularly paltry at Kotzebue. "The 2024 commercial harvest of 5,392 chum salmon was below the 1962-2023 average harvest of 231,196 chum salmon and the poorest harvest since the state started managing the Kotzebue District in 1962," the Alaska Department of Fish and Game reports.

• It wasn't gloomy everywhere this season. On Aug. 12, OBI Seafoods blew the cannery steam whistle in Petersburg to mark 100,000 cases of canned salmon produced.

'Challenging times'

Here's an interesting letter from Janet Coit, head of the National Marine Fisheries Service, to Angel Drobnica, chair of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council.

Trident names Microsoft man as COO

Here's the press release.

The salmon situation

The latest weekly harvest update from the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute offers a concise summary of the waning salmon season.

More Russian naval activity possible

Details in this U.S. Coast Guard advisory sent to the fishing industry.

Endangered Chinook?

Public comments are rolling in on a National Marine Fisheries Service finding that listing Gulf of Alaska Chinook salmon as threatened or endangered "may be warranted."

The finding was in response to a petition from the Wild Fish Conservancy, a nonprofit organization headquartered in Washington state.

The idea of listing Chinook has raised considerable alarm across Alaska's fishing industry, with many organizations and individuals warning of serious economic damage were such an action actually taken.

NMFS is taking public comment until Sept. 6. You can read all the comments here.

We'll update this post periodically with links to select comments.

Alaska Department of Fish and Game

United Fishermen of Alaska

Kenai River Sportfishing Association

Central Council of the Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska

Wild Fish Conservancy

Alaska resource associations

Alaska Trollers Association

Purse Seine Vessel Owners' Association

Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association

Southeast Alaska Guides Organization

Petersburg Borough

Alaska Marine Conservation Council

Pacific Seafood Processors Association

Mayors stick up for embattled pollock industry

Here's their column in the Anchorage Daily News.

311 brilliant ideas

The Alaska Board of Fisheries has posted its proposal book for the 2024-25 meeting cycle.

The board will hold meetings in Cordova, Ketchikan and Anchorage, and has accepted 311 proposals for review.

Blotter

Catch our companion blog The Brig for interesting enforcement news.