Friday, April 3, 2026
- 3 days ago
- 5 min read
Alaska
Alaska House advances bill to allow commingling of fish for salmon setnetters
Alaska Beacon by Sean Maguire - April 3, 2026
Rep. Louise Stutes, R-Kodaik, speaks on the House floor on May 20, 2025, in support of Senate Bill 156, a measure to support the Alaska Commercial Fishing and Agriculture Bank.
Alaska oyster farmers see opportunity as MSX, vibrio pressures hit North American supply
'The Eastern oyster is very different from us, both in the price point and total supply. But I think there is an opportunity' -- Markos Scheer, Seagrove
Undercurrent News by Amanda Buckle - April 2, 2026
Oyster growers along North America's eastern seaboard are increasingly struggling with harvesting interruptions caused by warming water temperatures and losses to disease...
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Wrangell group takes lead to protect shrimp trawlers
Wrangell Sentinel by staff - April 1, 2026
Following a mid-March luncheon, a group of Wrangell residents launched a formal petition to challenge new shrimping regulations that closed the Southeast fishery from March 1 to April 30, and …
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Public can comment on potential Alaska seafloor mining
KMXT by Katherine Irving - April 1, 2026
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is considering holding a mineral lease sale in swaths of Alaska waters, including the Chukchi Sea, Aleutian Islands and the Gulf of Alaska. According to BOEM’s website, the sale could happen as soon as next year.
Southeast Alaska Troll Chinook Limit Jumps 57% to 146,000 Fish for 2026
SeafoodNews by Peggy Parker - April 1, 2026
Yesterday, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced that the annual all-gear allowable catch limit for Southeast Alaska/Yakutat (SEAK) is 207,400 treaty Chinook salmon, or non-Alaska hatchery-produced Chinook salmon.
This year’s all-gear catch limit includes a 1% reduction that will serve as a buffer to avoid exceeding the all-gear limit and payback provisions within the treaty. The resulting preseason troll treaty harvest allocation for 2026 is 146,000 Chinook salmon, which is 53,200 fish above the preseason limit available in 2025.
At last year’s Alaska Board of Fisheries meeting held in Ketchikan, the Allocation of King Salmon in the Southeastern Alaska-Yakutat Area and the Southeast Alaska King Salmon Management Plan were amended. For the troll fishery, the allocated proportions of the all-gear catch limit between troll and sport gear were amended and regulatory language that directly transferred any underage or overage in the SEAK sport fishery to or from the commercial troll allocation of Chinook salmon was removed.
After subtracting the net fisheries allocation from the annual all-gear Chinook salmon catch limit, the remaining all-gear allocation is divided between troll and sport gear at 77% for troll and 23% for sport. Annual catch limits for the SEAK Chinook salmon fishery are now based on measures of Chinook abundance using the abundance index output from the Pacific Salmon Commission Chinook model.
Use of this model to set the SEAK catch limit began following decisions by the Pacific Salmon Commission in January 2024, in accordance with Chapter 3 of the treaty. The summer troll fishery harvest allocation is calculated by subtracting the sum of the treaty Chinook salmon harvested in the winter and spring troll fisheries from the annual troll treaty allocation.
The winter fishery is managed to a seasonal guideline harvest level (GHL) of 45,000 treaty Chinook salmon and will close by emergency order on April 15, unless the GHL is reached prior to that date. While there is no explicit guideline harvest level for Chinook salmon harvested in the spring, fisheries are managed to limit the harvest of treaty Chinook salmon; non-Alaska hatchery fish are counted towards the annual treaty harvest limit of Chinook salmon, while most of the Alaska hatchery fish are not.
With spring fisheries in progress through June 30, preliminary harvest estimates for treaty Chinook salmon in the spring fisheries will not be determined until late June. The summer fishery will be managed to harvest 70% of the remaining fish on the annual troll allocation during the first summer Chinook salmon opening in July, with the remainder available for harvest in a second opening, which typically occurs in August.
If the remainder of the annual troll allocation is not harvested during that second opening, and if the department determines that the remaining troll allocation is insufficient to allow for a competitive fishery, the commissioner may, by emergency order, reopen the troll fishery to the retention of Chinook salmon during a limited harvest fishery.
The 2026 Pacific Salmon Commission Chinook Model Calibration Memo is the source of the new allocation plan.ADF&G said the initial spring areas opening may be as early as May 1, 2026.
National
US small boat harvesters warn EU’s looming catch reporting unworkable
'This is a bureaucratic problem that may halt seafood trade from the US to the EU' -- Julie Decker, Pacific Seafood Processors Association
Undercurrent News by Jacob Resneck - April 2, 2026
European Union import regulations designed to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing could freeze out US products from small boat fisheries, industry sources told Undercurrent ...
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Federal Register
Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Reallocation of Pacific Cod in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area
A Rule by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on 04/02/2026
NMFS is reallocating the projected unused amount of Pacific cod total allowable catch (TAC) from vessels using jig gear to catcher vessels less than 60 feet (18.3 meters (m)) length overall (LOA) using hook-and-line or pot gear in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands (BSAI) management area.
Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone off Alaska; Gulf of Alaska; Final 2026 and 2027 Harvest Specifications for Groundfish; 2026 Rockfish Program Cooperative Allocations
A Rule by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on 04/02/2026
NMFS is providing notification for the Rockfish Program cooperative allocations as described in the final rule that published on March 11, 2026, implementing the final 2026 and 2027 harvest specifications and prohibited species catch limits for the groundfish fishery of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA).
Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Pollock in Statistical Area 620 in the Gulf of Alaska
A Rule by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on 04/03/2026
NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for pollock in Statistical Area 620 in the Gulf of Alaska (GOA). This action is necessary to prevent exceeding the A season allowance of the 2026 total allowable catch (TAC) of pollock for Statistical Area 620 in the GOA.
Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Reallocation of Pollock in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands
A Rule by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on 04/03/2026
NMFS is reallocating the projected unused amounts of the Aleut Corporation and the Community Development Quota (CDQ) pollock directed fishing allowances (DFA) from the Aleutian Islands subarea to the Bering Sea subarea.
FYI’s
ComFish Alaska scheduled for April 16-18
National Fisherman by NF Staff - April 2, 2026
ComFish is the largest and longest-running fisheries trade show in Alaska, scheduled for April 16-18, 2026.
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