Fisheries

Debate over the resolutions was contentious and revealed a regional rift among tribes.

“We’ve started going through our friends,” one tugboat captain said. “Like, ‘Hey man, do you want a freaking job?’”

As salmon runs falter and western Alaska villagers suffer, some worry that measures will be too incremental and slow to provide meaningful help.

For the first time ever, the Bering Sea snow crab fishery will not open for the upcoming season. The Bristol Bay red king crab fishery will also be closed this year — for a second year in a row.

As they trap more and more green crabs, Metlakatla is still trying to figure out how to handle the arrival of a species known to destroy fish habitat eat other shellfish.

The crew of the former Deadliest Catch vessel-turned-tour boat Aleutian Ballad knows that time on the water is often dangerous. That’s why each year, they give a “memorial pot” to one coastal community impacted by accidents at sea.

Decades of research shows that rural and Alaska Native fishermen face significant economic and cultural barriers to commercial fishing.

Both candidates say incumbent Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s budget has hamstrung the state’s ability to do its own research on changing ocean conditions.

Bycatch is one of the most significant focuses of the rewrite.

One of her main campaign themes is that she’ll fight for salmon, but she’s facing strong headwinds.