The fishing industry has been a significant economic driver in the Southeast region for many years, and its importance has only grown over the past two decades. As a public official for the past decade, I have been working hard to support the industr...

No question last year was pretty miserable for Alaska’s commercial fishing industry — the people who catch and clean salmon; the processors that buy, prep and ship the fish; the communities that depend on the summer jobs and tax revenues. And no ques...

Even in winter, there are hot opportunities. And since the state’s prospects for economic well-being are in short supply these days — like being short of buyers for Alaska salmon, running short of energy for Southcentral residents and bus...

Russian fish flooding global markets and other economic forces beyond the state’s border have created dire conditions for Alaska’s seafood industry. Now key state legislators are seeking to establish a task force to come up with responses to the low... Full story

After a scaled-back reopening last summer following a three-year closure of its Wrangell processing facilities, Trident Seafoods anticipates having 200 to 240 workers on the job during the peak salmon months this summer. That would be about double...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture will purchase about 50 million pounds of Alaska seafood to use in national food and nutrition-assistance programs, state officials said on Feb. 20. The seafood purchase is to benefit needy children and adults and... Full story

I’ve never seen market conditions as bad as they are now,” Doug Vincent-Lang, commissioner of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, told a conference of Southeast business, community and municipal government leaders last week. “Last year we said...

It’s a good time to take a break from distressing international conflicts and too many deaths, depressing national politics of too much dishonesty and too little compromise, and the difficult state politics of short-funded schools and public s...

Russian-caught pollock, cod, salmon and crab that is processed in China will no longer be legally allowed in U.S. markets, under an executive order issued Dec. 22 by President Joe Biden. The action seeks to close a loophole that the Russian seafood... Full story

Oversupply from bumper harvests last year and inflationary pressures squeezing household food budgets have made it a terrible year for Alaska salmon prices. A near-record pink salmon harvest in Russia isn’t helping by adding more fish to the m...

Oil and water don’t mix. We learned that in high school. And we learned it again when water got into a heating fuel line. In Alaska, oil and salmon don’t mix either, unless the oil is brushed on the grill before cooking a fillet. However, oil and...

Sockeye and chum runs have been hovering around average this season, according to local fishers, and the upcoming coho season is showing signs of promise. For gillnetters Jacob and Keisha Rushmore, this year’s sockeye run has been underwhelming. ...

More than 100 salmon trollers packed a Sitka meeting on June 7 with sharp questions about the future of their fishery, facing what could be an unprecedented full shutdown of this year’s chinook trolling season. “I’m optimistic, but I’m also scared...

Shoreline Wild Salmon co-founder Marie Rose is feeling like a small fish in a big pond after the Southeast Alaska-based company was recently listed in Good Housekeeping magazine’s 10 Best Seafood Delivery Services & Subscriptions of 2023. “A lot of...

To optimists, the plants that grow in the sea promise to diversify Alaska’s economy, revitalize small coastal towns struggling with undependable fisheries and help communities adapt to climate change — and even mitigate it by absorbing atm... Full story

More than 90,000 pounds of canned Alaska pink salmon purchased and donated by the state of Alaska is being distributed as wartime relief in Ukraine. The cans were donated to the nonprofit World Central Kitchen and arrived in Ukraine this month after... Full story

Before departing Sitka on a recent cruise stop, The Serenade of the Seas took more than passengers aboard — it took 2,000 pounds of fresh Sitka seafood. It’s the latest development in a collaborative effort that started decades ago among seafood pro...

The arrival of herring signals the start of Alaska’s spring fisheries and this year’s commercial catch limits from each of the three main areas are record breakers. But much of the catch will go unharvested — there is no market. Combined harvests fro...

First a trade war, then a battle against an infectious virus and now a real war are all affecting Alaska seafood exports. Shipments to China fell from as high as 30% of Alaska’s total seafood export value in the 2010s to 20% in 2020. “The U.S...

March means more fishing boats are out on the water with the start of the Pacific halibut and sablefish (black cod) fisheries this past Sunday, followed by Alaska’s first big herring fishery at Sitka Sound. For halibut, the coastwide catch from w...

Waterbody, operated by Angie Flickinger, of Wrangell, won the grand prize for its Deep Blue Sea Bath Soak at the Alaska Symphony of Seafood awards ceremony on Feb. 24 in Juneau. Made with bull kelp and sea salts, the soak is described as “smelling l...

Frigid February fishing in Alaska features crabbing from the Panhandle to the Bering Sea, followed in March by halibut, black cod and herring. Southeast crabbers will drop pots for Tanners on Friday, and they’re expecting one of the best seasons ever...

Seafood is Alaska’s biggest export by far, and state legislators want the federal government to get tougher on trade policies that they say unfairly hurt global sales. Two resolutions (Senate Joint Resolution 16 and SJR17) were advanced last week b...