Winter king salmon trolling was slow in Southeast Alaska for much of this past year, very slow, but the commercial catch brought sustained, record-high prices. According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, the fleet landed just under 26 thousand, four hundred kings during the winter season, which runs from mid-October through April. The state manages the winter fishery with a 45,000 king cap.
The 55th annual Kodiak Crab Festival will not live up to its name. With time running out to register for space at the festival, no vendor has announced intentions to sell crab. There will be plenty of salmon and halibut, but no snow crab, no Tanner crab and no king crab.
The initial Copper River opener on Thursday came on less bad weather than expected, and resulted in a harvest of 82,000 sockeye and 700 kings. The sockeye harvest was twice as much as expected, while kings were less than half. However, both totals were well below last year, with sockeye down nearly 50%. Total was about 500,00 lbs. of sockeye. The next opener is today, Monday, with a forecast for good weather.
Brazilian supplier Noronha Pescado is launching what it says are the first salmon, cod and pollock fillets from Alaska to be sold directly into Brazil.
Alaska Airlines' summer service to Dillingham and King Salmon is scheduled to start June 9th. "That's daily service between both destinations," said Marianne Lindsey, a spokesperson with Alaska Airlines.
Winter king salmon trolling was slow in Southeast Alaska for much of this past year, very slow, but the commercial catch brought sustained, record-high prices. According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, the fleet landed just under 26 thousand, four hundred kings during the winter season, which runs from mid-October through April. The state manages the winter fishery with a 45,000 king cap.
NOAA is seeking public comment for a rule that will restrict the use of "hired skippers" to fish IFQ's of halibut and sablefish in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands and the Gulf of Alaska in a move by the agency to preserve the region's owner-operator fleet.
The Copper River salmon season began early Thursday amid windy, dreary weather. But the gray skies didn't stop Alaska's commercial fishermen from crowding the waters to participate in one of the state's most renowned wild salmon runs, a highly prized stock of kings and reds famous in Alaska and the Lower 48.
The Alaska Airlines plane arrived early this morning with Copper River king and sockeye salmon from three seafood processors: Ocean Beauty Seafoods, Trident Seafoods and Copper River Seafoods. At least four more Alaska Airlines flights today will transport salmon from Cordova, Alaska, to Anchorage, Alaska, Seattle and across the United States.
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.
The prices of high-grade Alaskan pollock roe--raw materials for mentai spiced roe and other pollock roe products in Japan have been on a declining trend.
Alaska has unparalleled vistas, gorgeous wildlife, glaciers, mountains, rivers, streams, beaches, and so much more. The state boasts plant and animal life not found anywhere else in the world, much of which is marine in nature. That same marine wildlife is a boon for the state's economy, drawing hundreds of commercial fishermen each year hoping for a big catch.
After a costly economic closure not supported by peer reviewed science, NOAA has issued a new EIS for steller sea lions in the Western Aleutians that will somewhat restore the status quo prior to the agencies emergency action in 2011. In particular, the preferred alternative, if adopted would return to fishery exclusion zones of 3 miles and ten miles around haulouts and rookeries, and allow some fishing elsewhere in what are now closed areas.
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 Seafood Nutrition Partnership, a non-profit to address seafood deficiency and build awareness of the health and nutritional benefits of seafood, is taking shape.
Between 60 and 70 percent of Alaska’s seafood is exported to customers around the globe, and the strength of foreign currencies against the US dollar plays a big role in annual sales. Tracking by the Juneau-based McDowell Group for the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute shows mid-year ups and downs for Alaska’s biggest seafood buyers.
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.
The salmon fry that resided in Margaret Lake this winter have matured and are already being placed in their new locations. The Kodiak Regional Aquiculture Association began raising the salmon in one of Kodiak’s local lakes in August of 2012.
One of the major fuel suppliers in the Bristol Bay region is looking at expanding to provide a place for large marine vessels to be stored in Dillingham. KDLG's Mike Mason has the details.
