Andy Mezirow News Today

The debate is increasingly urgent, as subsistence harvesting bans continue and proposed fixes threaten to impose steep costs on industry.

Recently the total rockfish harvest in Cook Inlet saltwater skyrocketed to over 50,000 fish a year — a 300% increase from the historical average.

The plan has been in development for the last several years, with much contention between user groups and at least two lawsuits in the mix.

New controls on how fish are commercially harvested and more research to understand the effects of climate change in the ocean and in freshwater spawning grounds are some of the

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council moved this week to tie Pacific halibut bycatch limits for Bering Sea groundfish trawlers to abundance, which is expected to lead to immediate cuts to the trawlers.

All three Kenai Peninsula representatives to Juneau have signed onto a letter to the council that oversees commercial fishing in Alaska’s federal waters,

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council voted Monday, 13 December, to approve a compromise option on halibut bycatch caps.

All three Kenai Peninsula representatives to Juneau have signed onto a letter to the council that oversees commercial fishing in Alaska’s federal waters, joining a bipartisan chorus of voices demanding reduction of halibut bycatch.Specifically, representatives are asking the North Pacific Fishery Management Council to approve Alternative 4 at its meeting next week, which would take the most significant swing toward linking the trawl fleet’s fishing with halibut abundance in the Bering Sea.

“We’re not policy experts,” Kuskokwim River Intertribal Fish Commission Executive Director Mary Peltola said, “We’re not scientists. We’re not career people. This isn’t part of our career ladder. We’re very desperate to pass on the knowledge that we’ve received over 12,000 years on how to live in harmony with salmon and utilize salmon as our foundational diet.”

Regulations for halibut charters are looser this summer for the second year in a row . The bodies regulating halibut fishing in Alaska relaxed restrictions