Fisheries

On the east coast, these hardy crustaceans are known as aggressive eaters and have meant millions of dollars lost in fisheries for clams, mussels and scallops. The crab are destructive to eelgrass beds, which are important to young fish. They’re also known to eat juvenile salmon and could compete with native Dungeness crab.

Federal managers voted to close a huge swath of Upper Cook Inlet to commercial salmon fishing, capping a two-year fight over the fate of the fishery and its 500 permit-holders.

All crew members remain on board, with the one negative individual segregated from the remaining crew.

Debris from landslides caused by heavy rain is making it difficult to repair the damaged pipeline.

For opponents of the project, the Army Corps’ decision released a wave of relief. For those who backed the project, the decision comes as a harsh blow.

Low predicted king salmon runs in the Taku and Stikine river systems mean Southeast’s troll and gillnet fleets can expect restrictions for sockeye and king salmon harvests in areas around Juneau and Wrangell.

The chum salmon run on the Chilkat was a record low this year — just a fraction of the expected return. It’s impacted the whole ecosystem: eagles, fishermen and bears.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game is forecasting a harvest of 28 million pinks in the region next summer. This year’s catch wound up at 8.1 million pinks, roughly the same harvest as two years ago.

Not only were fishermen catching fewer fish, in many cases they were getting paid less for them. Processors faced steep bills for implementing COVID mitigation strategies, and the value of sockeye was the lowest it’s been in more than 10 years.

Text messages and meeting notes show that behind the scenes, leaders of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources have been collaborating with Pebble to create the final piece of Pebble’s application.