October 30, 2024 — Candidates for the sole U.S. House of Representatives seat up for election in Alaska were able to make their positions on the state’s struggling seafood industry heard during the 2024 Alaska Fisheries Debate, hosted by the Kodiak Chamber of Commerce.
Incumbent U.S. Representative Mary Peltola (D-Alaska) touted her record on providing support to the state’s commercial fishing sector while pointing to the bills she has sponsored as a path forward for the industry.
October 10, 2024 — A two-hour debate on Alaska fisheries issues turned contentious in its final moments as Republican U.S. House candidate Nick Begich criticized incumbent Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola over an ad stating that a Begich victory would mean “our fish are gone.”
The exchange was the lone heated issue between the two frontrunners in Alaska’s U.S. House election, which will decide one of only a few tossup races in the 435-seat House of Representatives. With the House closely divided between Republicans and Democrats, the winner of Alaska’s race is likely to help decide control of the House overall.
Tuesday’s debate was largely cordial and included an at-times-technical discussion of fisheries policy.
February 21, 2024 — The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is in the process of expanding the critical habitat of North Pacific Right Whales off the coast of Alaska. If finalized, the rare marine species could have further protections near Kodiak Island and other waters across the Gulf of Alaska.
It’s estimated that less than 50 North Pacific Right Whales exist today in a range that extends from Hawaii to the southeastern Bering Sea and beyond. The rare species of whale has been on the Endangered Species List since 1970 after historical whaling activities decimated the population.
Conservation areas for the whales already exist in parts of the Southeastern Bering Sea and a small area south of Kodiak Island in the Gulf of Alaska, totaling over 35,000 square miles. They were established 15 years ago in 2008, when the NMFS established critical habitat for the endangered whale.
But in 2022, two environmental groups: the Center for Biological Diversity and Save the North Pacific Right Whale, petitioned the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to add thousands more square miles to the animals’ critical habitat area in Alaska. NMFS announced its intent to expand those boundaries last fall after completing a year-long review.
August 31, 2021 — Alaska’s 2021 salmon harvest has blown past the forecast and by Aug. 27 had topped 201 million fish, well above the 190 million projected at the start of the season.
The catch was bolstered by a surge of pink salmon to the three top-producing regions: Prince William Sound, Southeast and Kodiak, combined with strong landings of sockeyes.
“Pink salmon runs are over 95% complete, based on average run timing. Effort drops off quickly this late in the season, so it is difficult to predict where that harvest will end up,” said Forrest Bowers, deputy director of the Commercial Fisheries Division at the Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game. “My guess is up to another half million late-run sockeye salmon and perhaps 10 million pink salmon will be harvested. If that occurs, we will end up with around 143 million pink salmon, 54 million sockeye, and 207 million total salmon harvested. 2021 could end up being the sixth-largest sockeye and sixth- or seventh-largest pink salmon harvest on record.”
Pinks are the “bread and butter” catch for Alaska salmon fishermen and total landings were approaching 137 million, well above the 124 million projected for this season.
At Prince William Sound, which had a catch forecast of about 25 million pinks, nearly 62 million had crossed the docks.
“Wild stocks are returning stronger than anticipated (to PWS) given the uncertainty about spawning success from the 2019 parent year which was negatively impacted by drought conditions,” said the weekly Fish and Game inseason summary.
June 24, 2021 — Crab has been one of the hottest commodities since the COVID-19 pandemic forced people in 2020 to buy and cook seafood at home, and demand is even higher this year.
Crab is now perceived as being more affordable when compared to the cost to enjoy it at restaurants, said global seafood supplier Tradex, and prices continue to soar.
That’s how it’s playing out for Dungeness crab at Kodiak and hopefully, at Southeast Alaska where the summer fishery got underway on June 15.
Kodiak’s fishery opened on May 1 and 76,499 pounds have been landed so far by just eight boats, compared to 29 last year. The Kodiak price this season was reported as high as $4.25 per pound for the crab that weigh just more than two pounds on average. That compares to a 2020 price of $1.85 for a catch of nearly 3 million pounds, the highest in 30 years, with a fishery value of nearly $5.3 million.
The pulls are skimpy though, averaging just two crab per pot. Kodiak’s Dungeness stocks are very cyclical and the fishery could be tapping out the tail end of a peak. Managers say this summer should tell the tale.
April 13, 2021 — U.S. fishermen based in Kodiak, Alaska, have reported aggressive interactions with Russian navy ships and fighter jets while fishing in American waters. NBC News’ Kevin Tibbles speaks to one fisherman about fishing near Russian waters and encountering foreign naval war games.
February 3, 2021 — Alaska scallopers fished on a guideline harvest level of 277,500 pounds of shucked meat for the 2020-21 season. That’s up from the GHL of 271,300 pounds from the year before. Harvests, however, have been declining, and the 2019-20 landings of 224,765 pounds were the lowest since the 1993-94 season.
Scallops mature into the fishery at 4 years old, and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game conducts population surveys in rotating areas each year, according to Andrew Olson, an area management biologist, in Yakutat. Of the management areas lying in the waters offshore of Yakutat, Kodiak, the Alaska Peninsula, Dutch Harbor and Bristol Bay, the area near Yakutat has maintained the highest GHL in recent years. The GHL for the Yakutat in the 2020-21 season had been set at 145,000 pounds, shucked.
Like many other fisheries, covid caused some ripples in this year’s season, primarily with lining up observers for the two vessels that fish the scallops in a cooperative harvest agreement. As per federal regulations, the scallopers operate under 100 percent observer coverage. This year that meant quarantining the observers before they boarded. After that, the season went off without a hitch and fishing began.
October 23, 2020 — Lightweight collapsible pots prevent whales from pirating pricey black cod from longline hooks and give a break to small boats.
“Getting whaled” is so pervasive that fishery managers allowed black cod, aka sablefish, fishermen to switch from baited lines to rigid pots in the Bering Sea in 2008 and in the Gulf of Alaska starting in 2017. (Interestingly, killer whales rob the hooks in the Bering Sea, while sperm whales are the culprits in the Gulf.)
“The whale predation has just been so horrible,” said Frank Miles of Kodiak, owner of 58-foot and 78-foot fishing boats. “The last couple years I tried to do it with hooks, and it just got to the point to where we left tens of thousands of pounds of black cod unharvested because we were going backwards feeding the whales. You can spread your strings 10 miles apart, and you might get one or two skates up and they find you. And then they pretty much strip you blind.”
Analyses from federal surveys in 2013 showed that when killer whales were present during annual sablefish stock surveys, the whales removed 54% to 72% from the hooks.
September 24, 2020 — Kodiak’s representatives at the state and federal levels Zoomed into ComFish on Sept. 18 and 19 to tout their work on fishing and other coastal issues.
U.S. Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, U.S. Rep. Don Young, state Rep. Louise Stutes and state Sen. Gary Stevens all spoke virtually via Zoom at the event.
August 7, 2020 — The recent rash of COVID-19 outbreaks in the seafood industry has spread to the Kodiak Island Borough.
The community had 26 non-resident cases “in a remote area of the borough,”the Kodiak Area Emergency Services Organization said Wednesday. They did not name the area.
All of the people who tested positive are nonresidents and work in the seafood industry.