Wednesday, September 10, 2025
- admin04655
- Sep 9
- 7 min read
Alaska
2025 season marks Kodiak's third largest pink salmon run
KMXT by Brian Venua - September 9, 2025
It's the only region in the state with a higher harvest for the species compared to the last odd year season. Ayakulik sockeye escapement hit a 10-year high, but other south side rivers have had "weak" runs. Kodiak Chinook returns once again near record lows.
Alaska Seafood Roundtable Highlights Push for Domestic Competitiveness Under Trump Administration
Expana by Ryan Doyle - September 10, 2025
Alaska’s seafood sector took center stage as a September 9 roundtable brought together state lawmakers, industry leaders and senior Trump administration officials to chart a path for strengthening the domestic fishery supply chain, addressing aging fleets and bolstering international competitiveness under President Trump’s April 2025 Executive Order on 'Restoring American Seafood Competitiveness.'Top officials, including US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick and Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, signaled a "whole-of-government" approach to keeping Alaska's wild fisheries resilient amid global pressures and regulatory challenges.US Senator Dan Sullivan's (R-AK) office said discussions focused on policy priorities and ways the administration can address threats to wild Alaska seafood production and marketing, as well as the domestic seafood supply chain."We talked about how seafood is fundamental for America," Lutnick said in a message following the meeting. "It's a national asset; it's a national treasure. We need to figure out working together as a whole of government approach on how to make sure seafood is top of mind and top of the table."Sullivan highlighted Lutnick's confirmation hearing, where he said he would be the "godfather of American fishermen." Sullivan praised Lutnick for hosting the meeting. Lutnick did promise in June that he would sit down with Alaska leaders to discuss the state's critical seafood industry, as Expana reported. Sullivan's office explained that the Alaska seafood industry employs roughly 48,000 workers and provides a tax base for over 140 communities in the state."The men and women of Alaska's seafood sector are tough, patriotic and resilient entrepreneurs who do not often seek help from their government. But these great Americans, and the communities they support, are facing a perfect storm of challenges: the accelerating costs of aging fleets and infrastructure, unfair competition from America's adversaries—particularly Russia and China, and burdensome federal regulations," Sullivan said in a statement.US Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) said the Trump administration has moved to elevate the domestic seafood industry, noting the aforementioned EO."The Alaska panel outlined the challenges the seafood sector has both at home and abroad and discussed priorities such as recapitalizing our aging fleet of fishing vessels, accurate labeling of seafood products, keeping more of our seafood in America and enforcing fair trade practices for Alaska's wild seafood. I appreciate that the administration recognizes that a whole government approach is required to ensure that our seafood industry remains the gold standard worldwide," Murkowski added.Here's a look at some of the fisheries leaders present for the roundtable:- Alvin Osterback, mayor of the Aleutians East Borough;- Vincent Tutiakoff, mayor of Unalaska;- Matt Alward, president of the United Fishermen of Alaska (UFA);- Joe Bundrant, CEO of Trident Seafoods;- Cora Campbell, president and CEO of Silver Bay Seafoods;- Eric Deakin, CEO of the Coastal Villages Region Fund; and- Luke Fanning, CEO of Aleutian Pribilof Island Community Development AssociationAlaska Congressman Nick Begich (R-AK) said domestic seafood producers need an "advantaged playing field at home" if they are to compete with international fishing industries.Begich commented:"Regulatory barriers add costs to capital equipment while competitors are heavily subsidized, engage in illegal, unreported, and unregulated activities, operate with low or in some cases no environmental standards, and utilize labor forces in ways that Americans would find abhorrent. Capital formation, international trade agreements, treaties, and American production provide the tools necessary for American industries to compete, and thankfully we have an America First Administration committed to engaging each of these levels for the benefit of American producers. I want to thank Secretary Lutnick and Secretary Rollins for coming to the table today with a clear-eyed, problem-solving mindset to address these challenges.""I am hopeful that this roundtable meeting will be the start of a strong, closely coordinated inter-agency effort to bolster the competitiveness of Alaska seafood and ensure our incredible fishermen and Alaska's coastal communities can continue to do what they do best: harvest the freshest and most sustainable seafood in the world," Sullivan concluded.
ANALYSIS: 2025 Coho Salmon Season Starts Strong, Dips Early
Expana by Joshua Bickert - September 9, 2025
The 2025 coho season began a notable uptrend in week 27, with harvests rising sharply through week 31 and peaking soon after. Through the completed weeks, the year-to-date harvest stands at about 1.94 million fish in Alaska, up from last year’s roughly 1.47 million and tracking near the five-year average of 1.84 million for the same period. Peak volumes this year are softer than the two-year-ago spike, resulting in a thinner supply profile as the season progresses. Demand appears moderate to active, providing some support for firmer pricing if buyer interest sustains. Market participants will be closely watching weeks 37–39 to determine whether flows hold or fade more quickly, which would tighten near-term inventories...
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West Coast
ODFW Shifting Fish Production to Minimize Salmon River Hatchery Funding Loss
SeafoodNews by Susan Chambers - September 9, 2025
Funding for routine fisheries work has been challenging at the federal level; states have had their own issues, too. In Oregon, that funding loss will result in ceasing operations at one of 30 state-run hatcheries.The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s recent legislatively adopted budget did not include funding to continue the operation of Salmon River Hatchery. The cost of operating and maintaining the hatchery exceeded available revenue, but funding is just one of the issues facing the State's hatchery system. Impacts from wildfire, decreasing stream-flows, rising stream temperatures, and a large, deferred maintenance backlog are other challenges, ODFW said in a statement."Closing a hatchery is a very difficult decision, and it's also very rare. In the past three decades or more, ODFW has closed only one hatchery, and that was because of ongoing disease issues," ODFW Deputy Director Shaun Clements said. "Today however, the system faces many challenges, including funding shortfalls, and we are working harder than ever to continue producing fish and delivering fisheries."Salmon River Hatchery has been raising fall Chinook for Salmon River, coho for the lower Columbia, summer steelhead for the Siletz River, and rainbow trout for mid- and north coast locations. After carefully considering these and the hatchery programs at other facilities in northwestern Oregon, ODFW has developed a plan for hatchery production that maximizes opportunity in ongoing fisheries while serving cultural interests and international treaty obligations."Robust fisheries are extremely important to us. We've been working hard to maintain as many of the fisheries as we can in the face of these challenges by shifting the hatchery's production to other facilities," Clements said. "No hatchery program will be eliminated as we shift production to other facilities, though some production will have to be reduced," he added.Under the plan to shift production to other facilities, for example, Lower Columbia coho will be relocated to a Columbia River hatchery, and Salmon River fall Chinook will be transferred to the nearby Cedar Creek Hatchery.Some work will continue at Salmon River Hatchery for the next five years to collect brood and acclimate and release fall Chinook smolts in Salmon River. The Salmon River fall Chinook program is used as an "Exploitation Rate Indicator Stock" under the U.S./Canada Pacific Salmon Treaty, making it vital for managing fishing in international waters and assuring Oregon's fish are not over-harvested and return to Oregon in sufficient numbers. It will take time to transition away from using Salmon River Hatchery, and ODFW will work to identify a new location or stock during the five-year time period.Originally built in 1975, Salmon River Hatchery now has a number of problems. Its water supply is at risk due to aging diversion infrastructure and high water temperatures in the summer that make it inhospitable to fish. The facility is also already prone to flooding, which is only expected to worsen with anticipated sea level rise and increased winter flows from a changing environment. Given these ongoing and long-term challenges to keep the facility raising fish, Salmon River Hatchery was selected for possible funding reduction when ODFW developed its 2025-27 budget.Hatcheries are critical to providing fishing opportunities and conserving fish species, ODFW said. They are also a very expensive part of ODFW's budget, representing over one-third of Fish Division's budget (~$95 million/biennia). Because of this, the Department, with legislative support, has invested in gathering information to inform where and how future investments can be made to make the system more sustainable in the long run.A legislatively mandated and funded Oregon hatchery vulnerability and resiliency study, completed last year, is helping inform the strategy for investing in a more resilient hatchery system moving forward. The study identified Salmon River Hatchery as one of the state's more vulnerable hatcheries.
Arctic commission describes research needs in terms of military and community ‘security’
Alaska Beacon by Yereth Rosen-September 8, 2025
More study of changing conditions in the Arctic, a region where Russia and other nations are increasing their military presence, is needed to support U.S. national defense, according to a new federal report.
Warming seas threaten key phytoplankton that fuel the food web
Associated Press by Annika Hammerschlag - September 9, 2025
SEATTLE — For decades, scientists believed Prochlorococcus, the smallest and most abundant phytoplankton on Earth, would thrive in a warmer world. But new research suggests the microscopic bacterium, which forms the foundation of the marine food web and helps regulate the planet’s climate, will decline sharply as seas heat up.
FYI’s
Ferry port calls to Unalaska, Akutan cancelled after fall storm reroutes aging Tustumena
KUCB by Maggie Nelson- September 5, 2025
The Tustumena was set to arrive at Unalaska on Saturday. Instead, the ship will stay in Cold Bay until Sep. 7, when it will head back up the chain.
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