Background Articles

A University of Alaska Fairbanks study links king salmon decline in the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers to climate change impacts such as warming temperatures, which decrease salmon body size and breeding efficiency.

Alaska's commercial salmon harvest in 2024 hit the third lowest recorded since 1985 both in fish quantity and financial returns.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game's preliminary report for 2024 shows a record low in Norton Sound's commercial fishery, with an exvessel value of $146,326 from a salmon harvest of 21,490. Statewide salmon harvests declined by 56% from the previous year.

Alaska's seafood industry is facing significant challenges due to climate change, geopolitical factors, and economic pressures. Efforts to address these issues are underway, but solutions are complex and require substantial investment and policy change.

The seafood industry around the world has faced market turmoil. Few Alaska communities have been hit harder than King Cove.

Bethel high school students in the Alaska Native Science and Engineering Program have taken up magnet fishing, retrieving over 50 bikes and various other items from Brown's Slough.

Researchers believe that if permafrost thaw continues at its current rate and mercury keeps being released, it could pose a real threat to many communities throughout northern and western Alaska.

Alaska's largest sockeye salmon run exceeded expectations in numbers but featured the smallest fish on record, posing challenges for commercial harvest.

A family with a 70-year history of setting nets in Cook Inlet has observed significant changes in salmon size and population, with a notable decrease in average earnings for fishermen.

Sockeye salmon returning to Bristol Bay this year were, on average, the smallest the Alaska Department of Fish and Game has ever seen. So far, the average weight of Bristol Bay sockeye was 4.2 pounds this year. Fish and Game biologist Stacy Vega said that’s the smallest average weight on record.

Climate change is affecting nearly every aspect of life, said Gwich’in Council International board member Evon Taa’ąįį Peter, who is Neetsaii Gwich’in and Koyukon Athabascan. For one thing, he told ICT, more than 60% of the forest lands of the Alaskan Gwich’in nation have burned in wildfires in the past 10 years. As of July 10, 582,000 acres had burned this year in 328 wildfires in Alaska. “I couldn’t open the windows of my house for seven days straight, I think, because it would just let smoke billow into my home, which was already too unhealthy for us to be outside. So most of us just had to remain indoors…so there’s definitely very real dramatic and in-our-face impacts from climate change across the state, even in (an urban area like) Fairbanks,” Peter said.

Mattilsynet has rejected Ode's request to double the size of their cod farming facility due to unacceptable infection risks to wild cod populations.

These worms, present in halibut, cod, salmon and other saltwater fish, are increasing. If the worms are well frozen or cooked, they don’t pose a health threat.

A new federal program expedites the repair of Alaska's mining-damaged waterways, incorporating a streamlined environmental assessment process to restore up to 5 miles of habitat annually over 25 years.

Juneau's king salmon fishery will be closed this summer due to low hatchery returns caused by a 2020 landslide that disrupted the freshwater supply and forced premature salmon release.

An increase in chum salmon in the Canadian Arctic, potentially linked to climate change, may be the same fish missing from Western Alaska, raising ecological concerns.

Industry representatives assert that trawling near Kuskokwim Bay complies with regulations and does not impact salmon, despite local concerns about habitat damage and fish migration.

A petition to list king salmon as endangered in Alaska faces opposition due to concerns about its impact on local fisheries and management practices.

The EPA is pushing Alaska to update water pollution rules due to Alaskans' high seafood consumption, with state officials acknowledging the need for revised standards.

Experts decided that during the fishing season, red fish in the water area of the Anadyr estuary can be caught only two days a week. It was decided to introduce a large number of passing days to preserve the chum salmon population spawning in this basin.