A big price increase for Bristol Bay fishermen

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game has released the 2026 Bristol Bay salmon season summary. Here are a few highlights:

• The commercial harvest of 30.1 million sockeye was 7 percent below forecast.

• Average ex-vessel price for sockeye was $1.72 a pound, with total sockeye fishery value for the season totaling $260.2 million.

• By comparison, the 2025 season summary showed a catch of 41.2 million sockeye, a price of $1.03 a pound and a fishery value of $214.3 million.

• Average sockeye weight this season was about 5 pounds, equaling the recent five-year average.

• Egegik was the most productive fishing district with a catch of 9.2 million sockeye, edging the Nushagak with 9.1 million.

UFA's new skipper

Thatcher Brouwer is the new executive director for United Fishermen of Alaska, the state's top commercial fishing organization.

Brouwer is a 20-year commercial fisherman who also has worked as a legislative aide every winter since 2015, said an announcement on Facebook.

He succeeds UFA's former executive director, Tracy Welch, who was appointed to the Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission.

Ideas, anyone?

An Alaska Board of Fisheries committee will meet Sept. 25 to discuss, among other things, ways to "most efficiently utilize time during board meetings." More information here.

Washington watch

Alaska Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan, who is in a tough reelection fight, today celebrated passage of his Bycatch Reduction Act (S. 4938) out of the Senate Commerce Committee.

Sullivan, in a social media post, called it "the most comprehensive bycatch bill ever introduced in the Congress."

The legislation now heads to the Senate floor, he said.

Major trawl organizations are less than pleased with the bill and issued this joint press release.

Trawl bycatch has become a hot topic during this election season, with candidates in congressional and gubernatorial races all chiming in on the arcane topic.

Addressing trawl issues in Alaska

Here's a column by state Fish and Game Commissioner Doug Vincent-Lang.

Kodiak fisheries debates

Here are all the details.

Wrangell declares Dungeness fishery disaster

Here's a press release.

Salmon notes

• This is a down year in terms of catch volume. With the fishing season substantially concluded, the statewide harvest stands at 87.2 million salmon. That's far below the state's preseason projection of 125.5 million. The last time Alaska's annual salmon harvest finished below 100 million fish was nearly four decades ago, in 1987.

• Much of the shortfall owes to a poor pink salmon harvest. About 56 million pinks were expected, but the industry thus far has taken only 38 million. Regionally, results vary widely. Kodiak has slightly exceeded projections with a catch of 12.8 million, while Prince William Sound is experiencing disaster with only 3.8 million pinks taken on a forecast of 18.6 million. Most Prince William Sound pinks come from hatcheries.

• The statewide sockeye harvest lags projections by 24 percent, and the chum harvest is 41 percent behind.

• On the bright side, the weak harvest appears to be boosting prices for commercial fishermen. For example, the Southeast Alaska purse seine harvest is expected to exceed the 2016-25 average value of $56.5 million, with the Department of Fish and Game reporting salmon prices are "substantially higher than they have been for many years."

• Southeast Alaska trollers were expected to reach the limit of 33,000 treaty Chinook salmon by the midnight Friday closure of the second summer opener. Based on reported average prices and weights, each Chinook is worth about $97.

Blotter

Check out The Brig for some federal fisheries enforcement news.

Norway's King Harald V crosses the bar

King Harald V of Norway has died at the age of 89. Here's a CNN article on his passing,

The king came to Seattle in 1995 and again in 2015, when his itinerary included a visit to Pacific Fishermen Shipyard in Ballard.

Ballard is headquarters for the North Pacific commercial fishing industry and the traditional center of Seattle's Scandinavian community.

Here's a video of the king's Pacific Fishermen visit. You're sure to recognize some famous figures from Alaska's fishing industry.

CFEC sets a meeting

The Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission plans to meet Sept. 2, and the agenda includes some quite significant items.

Alaska resident sought for halibut commission

Here's the Federal Register notice.

National ensign at half-mast for Dolly Parton

Here's a bulletin from the U.S. Coast Guard.

NSEDC celebrates new Savoonga halibut plant

Here's a press release.

Man overboard reported in Prince William Sound

Here's a press release from the U.S. Coast Guard.

Login.gov

National Fisherman has an article on a federal cybersecurity initiative causing concern in Alaska's fishing industry.

Looking ahead to 2027 in Bristol Bay

University researchers have issued a preliminary harvest forecast of 28.6 million sockeye next year at Bristol Bay.

That would approach this season's respectable catch of 29.8 million sockeye.

Fields puts up a fight

Duncan Fields, a prominent Kodiak fisherman facing numerous criminal charges related to alleged unlawful permit transfers in the family's salmon setnet operation, is mounting a vigorous defense and has filed this 55-page motion to dismiss.

Salmon notes

• The Bristol Bay sockeye season is all but over, and the catch is 29.7 million fish. That's a decent tally but well short of the state's preseason forecast of 32.3 million. The Egegik and Nushagak districts led the way this year with each producing a catch of just over 9 million sockeye.

• Elsewhere around Alaska, lagging catches of chum and pink salmon are causing considerable worry. Statewide, the chum harvest was down 61 percent from 2025, and the pink catch was down by more than 90 percent in Prince William Sound and Southeast Alaska compared to 2024, a historically low year in those regions, McKinley Research Group reported today for the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute.

• The National Marine Fisheries Service is prohibiting commercial fishing for salmon in the Cook Inlet Exclusive Economic Zone, effective at 7 a.m. tomorrow. The action is necessary to conserve coho, the agency says. Here are the latest Cook Inlet EEZ catch totals.

Fatality reported at Akutan

From the Alaska State Troopers:

Location: Akutan

Type: Death investigation

On July 30, 2026, at 7:30 p.m., the Alaska State Troopers were notified that 36-year-old Seattle resident Vincent Short had fallen from the mast of a boat in Akutan and sustained significant injuries. Shortly after, he succumbed to his injuries. Next of kin has been notified. The U.S. Coast Guard has assumed case responsibility, and the investigation remains ongoing.