Two Bering Sea groundfish catcher-processor vessels have been accused of tampering with the scales used to weigh their harvest. As KUCB’s Stephanie Joyce reports, the alleged violations carry hefty penalties for the vessels’ parent company, American Seafoods.
A hot herring season has instead cooled, leading to slow fishing across the Kodiak archipelago. As of Monday afternoon, only about 4,000 tons of herring had been harvested from a quota of 5,410 tons. While 40 boats were registered for the fishery before its April 15 opening, only about 10 remain. The rest have gone west to the Togiak herring fishery, Alaska's largest.
The question of offshore oil and gas development has hung over Bristol Bay and the southeast Bering Sea for 35 years. Lease sales have been scheduled, fought, sold and repurchased only to be scheduled again once temporary moratoriums expired or were lifted.
Commercial fishermen in the Togiak Sac Roe Herring Fishery are off to a good start with nearly 5-thousand tons of herring harvested during the first 2 days of fishing. KDLG's Mike Mason has the details.
It’s been more than 50 years since there were year-round permanent residents on King Island. And today, most King Island community members who now live in Nome, Fairbanks or Anchorage have never been to their homeland. But one person is raising money to bring members of her community to the island in the Bering Sea.
An Anchorage based Community Development Quota group wants a greater share of Alaska’s deep sea fisheries. The Coastal Villages Region Fund, which represents 20 villages in Western Alaska, has asked the state’s Congressional delegation to make changes in how the fisheries quotas are allocated, but critics call the plan “reckless” and say it could endanger the entire CDQ program.
State fisheries biologists flew an aerial survey of the Togiak herring fishery on May 5, under clear skies, with light to moderate winds, but no herring were observed.
A delegation of Kamchatka border guards is on an official visit in Alaska, where they are discussing plans of joint work in 2013 with their colleagues from the United States Coast Guard.
A power struggle over who confirms sustainability of Alaska's wild salmon appears to be giving the state an edge, with the bulk of the 2013 harvest to be certified under a third party certification program provided by Ireland-based Global Trust.
The Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute announced April 16 that about 80 percent of the state's wild salmon would be available under this United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization-based Responsible Fisheries Management program.
“Icicle has worked incredibly hard in the two years since we took it over to make the Adak plant a viable operation,” said Amy Humphreys, Icicle’s new president and CEO. “We strongly support policies that encourage the development and sustainability of Alaska’s coastal communities and recognize this goal is often best achieved with a resident fishing fleet and year round seafood processing operation. However, given the questionable outlook for the Pacific cod fishery in the area and the high costs of operating in this remote location, we have decided to focus ou
As scientists from around the state and country gathered to discuss Arctic shift last week, it became clear that more questions than conclusions are available about Arctic fish populations - and where the warm winds of change will take them.
The Sitka Sound sac roe herring fishery got underway last week with two openings March 27 and 28 that scooped up nearly half of the 11,549-ton quota.
The two openings combined produced a catch of 5,700 tons of very ripe, “excellent quality” herring, with roe counts averaging between 12.3 and 15.9 percent.
The fleet of 48 seine boats took some time off to allow processors to catch up, but then were given another opportunity March 30.
The NPFMC is taking up a proposal to create a more flexible catch shares environment for the Amendment 80 fleet. This video and computer animation explains the challenges faced by the fleet, along with proposed solutions.
Two weeks ago, a group of Bristol Bay fishermen traveled to Washington, D.C. to meet with lawmakers and fight for the protection of their livelihoods and investments from a risky mega mine project, the Pebble Mine. During this time, on March 20th the CEO of the Pebble Partnership John Shively made shocking remarks at a Seattle meeting of the Northwest Fisheries Association.
The Tanana Chiefs Conference has gathered leaders from interior Alaska Native villages in Fairbanks to talk about Yukon River salmon. There’s frustration with the depressed state of Yukon River Chinook stocks.
Last summer, Nuvista Light and Electric Cooperative started a feasibility study for a hydroelectric dam project at Chikuminuk Lake in the Wood Tikchik State Park. DNR blocked much of the work, judging that because a dam at that site is not compatible with the park's charter, neither were invasive studies aimed at putting a dam there. But because the feasibility study was sponsored by the Legislature to the tune of $10 million, some stakeholders expected the current Legislature to pass something to gently clear the way for the studies to proceed.
Come February, a federal fisheries council will continue to discuss catch-sharing programs in Alaska trawl fisheries - this time with a bigger voice from southwest fishermen.
