Saving Seafood

ALASKA: King salmon’s disappearance has changed the Kenai River, but a soaring sockeye run is keeping it in business

August 11, 2025 — A trio of anglers leaned on the edge of Jordan Carter’s boat in shallow water on the Kenai River last month, victoriously enjoying a cold beverage.

Their ride with Carter, a local fishing guide, was brief but bountiful. The group pulled in 18 sockeye salmon in a flash, easily reaching their limit with time left to enjoy the sunny day.

“He was 30 minutes, I was 45, and he was like 46,” Bryan Fanning said, pointing at fishing partners as he recounted the timelines for reaching their respective limits. “Coming up here and doing the sockeye, it’s great.”

It’s a different river from what Fanning recalls from his youth. The king salmon run that for so long was the centerpiece of the Kenai River has virtually dried up, with the fishery closed for a third straight summer.

Fanning remembers the family fishing excursions in the 1990s that could take more than a day to reel in a single king. Now living in Wyoming, his annual fishing trips north have become more eventful with the bustling sockeye fishery providing a reasonable alternative.

This summer’s late-run sockeye have been an absolute rocket ship, with multiple days of fish counts reaching over 240,000 in late July. By Thursday, the late-run sockeye count had passed 3.7 million, setting a new record amid a string of strong seasons.

The booming sockeye runs of recent years couldn’t have come at a better time, providing a lifeline for the fishing trade that has been the main economic driver on the Kenai Peninsula for decades.

The shift from kings has also shortened the fishing window — and with it, the associated tourism season — and brought a different demographic group to the region.

Read the full article at Anchorage Daily News

ALASKA: State closes commercial king salmon troll fishery

July 10, 2025 — The Southeast and Yakutat commercial troll fishery for king salmon closed on Friday, July 4, as the Alaska Department of Fish and Game projected that the fleet would hit the harvest limit for the season’s first opener in just four days.

The target harvest set by the state for the opening which began on July 1 was 38,000 fish. State fisheries managers forecast the catch would total 37,700 kings as of the evening of July 4, pending a final count of fish tickets.

After the closure, all trollers are required to offload any kings before setting out gear for other salmon species.

The short opening was expected under this year’s more restrictive catch numbers, intended to preserve low salmon runs.

The commercial troll harvest limit for this year was set at 92,700 so-called treaty kings — salmon governed by the U.S.-Canada Pacific Salmon Treaty — a steep drop from last year’s limit of 153,000. Hatchery kings from Alaska facilities are excluded from the treaty.

Read the full article at Wrangell Sentinel

Federal subsistence king salmon fishery closes this season on Stikine River

April 28, 2025 — The Wrangell Ranger District will close the federal subsistence Chinook or king salmon fishery in the Stikine River between May 15 and June 30. It’s the ninth year in a row that the fishery has been closed.

According to a press release from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the preseason forecast for king salmon in the Stikine is low, at 10,000 large kings – salmon greater than 28 inches in length.

Read the full story at KSTK

UAF study links declining salmon to extreme climate, smaller size

December 4, 2024 — A new University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) study published in the scientific journal Global Change Biology, says extreme climate and smaller body size have led to declining Yukon and Kuskokwim Rivers’ King Salmon populations.

Over the last decade, the lower number of certain salmon species making it to rural Alaska villages, along the two tributaries, has led the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to impose catching restrictions.

UAF researcher Erik Schoen said the study began in 2020, and examined 26 different spawning areas across the two river basins.

“Across the board, there were a few big drivers that affected all of these populations. Some of those were out in the ocean. So ocean climate, extreme conditions like really cold winters and really hot summers in the ocean had big negative effects,” Schoen said.

Read the full story at Alaska’s News Source

ALASKA: Petersburg Borough Assembly rebukes petition to put Gulf of Alaska king salmon on Endangered Species List

August 28, 2024 — Petersburg’s Borough Assembly voted unanimously to write a letter opposing a move to add Gulf of Alaska king salmon to the Endangered Species List.

In June, the National Marine Fisheries Service found that a petition to list Gulf king salmon as endangered warrants further scientific review. The Washington-based conservation group, Wild Fish Conservancy, authored the petition. The Fisheries Service’s finding is just the first major step in a longer regulatory process, but many say it could have far-reaching implications for Alaska’s fishing industry and coastal communities.

Read the full article at KFSK

9th Circuit Court of Appeals to hear oral arguments on Southeast king salmon troll fishery lawsuit

July 17, 2024 — A panel of federal judges will hear oral arguments on Thursday, July 18, in an appeal of a lower court ruling that threatened to halt the Southeast troll fishery for king salmon.

The Alaska Trollers Association, the State of Alaska, and other entities are appealing a Washington District Court ruling that found NOAA Fisheries violated endangered species and environmental laws. The ruling says they did so by allowing the Southeast trollers to harvest king salmon at rates that harmed a small population of endangered killer whales in Puget Sound, as well as well as several king salmon populations from the lower Columbia River.

That ruling would have effectively stopped Southeast trollers from fishing for kings — at least, until the National Marine Fisheries Service corrects its environmental analysis. But the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay on the lower court order in June of 2023, allowing the fishery to stay open — for now.

The Washington-based conservation group Wild Fish Conservancy filed the initial suit four years ago. The organization’s case rests on the idea that the trollers are intercepting salmon that would otherwise feed the Puget Sound killer whales. The Wild Fish Conservancy has since petitioned the federal government to give Endangered Species Act protections to king salmon across the entire Gulf of Alaska.

Read the full article at KFSK

ALASKA: Southeast Alaska not ready for a hatchery-only king fishery, study finds

May 13, 2024 — Should Southeast Alaska have a hatchery-only king salmon sports fishery? Researchers recently tried to answer that question as a possible solution to a declining number of wild kings.

Chinook or king salmon are the largest and most valuable salmon species. They’re sought-after by sport, commercial, and subsistence fishermen alike. But in recent decades, their harvest has become more restricted as populations plummet. A recent study considered if a new Southeast fishery could help – one that allows sport fishermen to keep only hatchery king salmon and release wild ones.

“And an important question there is could this actually be done within the current management context? And is this something that is desirable for folks in Alaska?” asked Anne Beaudreau, who led the study, which took about a year.

Beaudreau is an associate professor with the University of Washington’s School of Marine and Environmental Affairs. The study was initiated and funded by the Alaska delegation of the Pacific Salmon Commission. Members asked the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to explore the possibility of a hatchery-based sports fishery, and the state then contracted with the university.

As part of the study, Beaudreau helped run several public meetings throughout Southeast. Dozens of people participated.

“We heard a lot of concern brought up at these meetings,” she said.

Read the full article at CoastAlaska

CALIFORNIA: California’s salmon fishing season could face second year of total closure

April 8, 2024 — Fishing regulators are poised to potentially shut down California’s king salmon season for the second time in two years, and just the third time in history.

The Pacific Fisheries Management Council kicked-off its annual meeting in Seattle, Washington where it will determine the upcoming season which normally begins in May. But still feeling the impacts of the recent drought which has decimated the salmon population, the council is considering either closing the season entirely, or allowing extremely limited fishing.

“For the second year in a row we’re looking at very likely a full closure,” anticipated Jared Davis, owner of the Salty Lady charter fishing boat in Sausalito.

Although California has seen two consecutive winters of heavy rains, the issue with the adult salmon has tentacles in the drought. Salmon are on a three-year life cycle and this year’s crop of adult fish were spawned in the grips of the drought. The complete closure of last year’s season was only the second full closure in history and hit the fishing industry hard.

Read the full article at NBC 4

King salmon populations are dying, simultaneously affecting orcas and local Alaskan communities

March 2, 2024 — Tad Fujioka always had great problem-solving skills. After studying and working as an engineer, he left the field 14 years ago to become a troll fisherman based in Sitka, Alaska.

“If you’re good at solving problems in one environment, that translates directly to another environment,” he told ABC News, adding that there are other benefits to the job. “I love the freedom to follow my instincts, I don’t have to report to a boss, I love being out on the water in a beautiful country.”

Today he’s the chairman of the Seafood Producers Cooperative in Sitka, Alaska, and supports his family by troll fishing on his 31-foot boat, the Sakura. One of the most important types of fish he reels in is king salmon — the largest and most expensive species of salmon in the Pacific.

Read the full article at ABC News

ALASKA: Conservation group petitions for Alaska king salmon to be listed as an endangered species

January 13, 2024 — A Washington-based conservation group filed a petition with federal regulators Wednesday, requesting that they list Alaska king salmon as an endangered species.

The Wild Fish Conservancy argued in its 67-page petition that king, or chinook, salmon numbers have declined to the point where the species is at risk of extinction in Alaska. The group cites state data indicating that the decline has been predominately caused by climate change, habit destruction and hatchery salmon competing for food with wild fish.

The group is asking that the National Marine Fisheries Service formally review king salmon numbers across the Gulf of Alaska, the Aleutian Islands and Southeast Alaska before considering stricter protections. Those could include critical habit protections and expanding ways to protect king salmon smolt — among other measures the group lists.

The petition is a first step in a process that could take years to be resolved with court challenges possible. But legal experts say there could be broad implications if the request is approved to list Alaska king salmon as threatened or endangered under the 1973 Endangered Species Act.

Read the full article at Anchorage Daily News