"rockfish"

Recently the total rockfish harvest in Cook Inlet saltwater skyrocketed to over 50,000 fish a year — a 300% increase from the historical average.

The ban includes all  six species of “nonpelagic” rockfish. However, the yelloweye, often called red snapper, is by far the most prized.

A Ketchikan band has a rap song about rockfish recompression. And you’d better listen up, because their easy-to-build gadget will soon be required by regulation in Southeast.

In two years, anglers sport fishing from a boat in Southeast Alaska will be required to have a device on board for releasing rockfish well below the surface, which is already a requirement for the charter boat fleet. Alaska’s Board of Fisheries made the change during their January meeting in Sitka.

For sport anglers in Southeast Alaska having a slow day trying for salmon or halibut this August there will be no “plan B” for bottom-dwelling rockfish. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game is closing all sportfishing for nonpelagic rockfish in outside waters from Yakutat to Ketchikan for three weeks beginning Aug. 1, to conserve…

Once depleted by decades of overfishing, rockfish have rebounded. But it’s hard to tell this conservation and fishery management success story if purveyors continue to misidentify the tasty fish.

Alaska Department of Fish and Game sampling for sport-caught ling cod, rockfish, and king and coho salmon has been scheduled for various ports in Southeast Alaska.