Counting Atka mackerel became really important when Steller sea lions were declared endangered in 1997, according to National Marine Fisheries Service Biologist Suzanne McDermott.
Fisheries
Personal use king crab fishery in Juneau area to open for 5 days
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game will allow each household to take two male crab total for the five-day summer season. It’s been years since any personal use king crab could be taken.
Wreckage of crabber Destination discovered after disappearing in February
Wreckage from the F/V Destination has been found off St. George Island. The boat and its six crew members were fishing for snow crab when they disappeared Feb. 11.
Catch rates higher than expected in first Southeast summer king troll opening
Southeast Alaska’s commercial salmon troll fleet had higher than expected catch rates of king salmon during the first summer opening at the start of the month.
Fishermen on Yukon lose economic opportunity when buyer becomes overloaded, cancels opening
Fishermen are selling more salmon than the Yukon River’s only buyer can handle. Record-breaking sales Monday closed a commercial opening for fishermen upriver.
Yukon kings arriving in early blast; Kuskokwim kings arriving in late trickle
The Kuskokwim and Yukon Rivers are having opposite experiences with king salmon this season.
Interest in kelp farming drives state tideland applications
The Alaska Department of Natural Resources is beginning to work through tideland lease applications for the mariculture industry. Current and potentially new farmers are applying to use state tidelands to grow Pacific oysters and geoducks.
Ecosystem study unlocks the mystery of black cod survival
Over the past couple of decades black cod — or sablefish — has become one of Southeast Alaska’s most commercially important species. Longliners target them in deep waters off the continental shelf, during the same season as halibut. Although stocks are strong, biologists don’t fully grasp black cod population ecology. A research partnership in Sitka hopes to change that.
ADN reports large salaries, small workload for state fisheries commission
Two state commissioners are making big money even though they don’t have much work left to do. That’s the story recently reported by Nathaniel Herz with the Alaska Dispatch News, who investigated the state’s Commercial Fisheries Entry Commiss
“Red Horde” swims through Nome escapement goals; managers predict strong silver run
Jim Menard, says he and his staff are encouraging subsistence fishers to get out there and stop the “red horde” before it overtakes Salmon Lake.