"Salmon Shark"

The sharks are turning up in fishermen’s nets more often, but scientists say it’s not clear whether their Alaska population has risen.

The size of king salmon returning to Western Alaska rivers to spawn has been decreasing over the past few decades.

A Petersburg fisherman gill netting near Red Bay last week pulled in an “uncommon” haul. The salmon shark was a pretty uncommon catch in the waters near Petersburg, Joe Willis said.

When you ask anyone to name animals in Alaska, answers run the gamut from wolves to whales and occasionally the erroneous penguin. But there’s one animal that hardly ever makes the list: sharks.