A group of more than 230 scientists is urging Congress to enact stronger protections for wild salmon in the Tongass National Forest in southeast Alaska by supporting a legislative proposal called the Tongass 77.
Federal fisheries managers meeting in Juneau plan to put a 7,500 fish limit on Chinook salmon bycatch by some 60 bottom trawlers harvesting flatfish, rockfish and Pacific cod in the Gulf of Alaska.
The famed Copper River district salmon fishery is running well ahead of forecast and appears likely now to have a robust regular commercial fishing schedule, with openers twice weekly averaging 24 to 36 hours, state biologists say.
May 31 was supposed to be the final day to submit public comment on the Environmental Protection Agency’s draft Bristol Bay watershed assessment, but that deadline has been extended until June 30.