Federal fisheries managers have approved a 15 percent reduction in the tons of halibut that may be caught incidentally in groundfish fisheries in the Gulf of Alaska, in a plan expected to reduce the waste by some 300 metric tons annually.
Commercial harvesters have topped the one million mark in their harvest of the famed Copper River sockeye salmon – which are already sold out in one popular Anchorage seafood shop – while the Chinook harvest remains below average.
The federal Environmental Protection Agency heard from several hundred people in Anchorage this week about their thoughts on a draft Bristol Bay watershed assessment that stands to play a role in whether or not the Pebble mine will be developed.
Thirty scientists from NOAA’s Alaska Fisheries Science Center will spend the next few months on the Bering Sea, collecting data in annual and biennial bottom trawl surveys of groundfish and crab species.