Site Logo

News

Manage salmon for salmon’s sake

As a life-long outdoors man and fisherman in Washington State, I have seen the West Coast sport and…

News

Fish groups should unite for salmon

Finally the most politically, powerful seafood brokerage in the world has West Coast commercial, sport and personal use…

News

Area fishermen air concerns; officials listen

Suspicious of being targeted by state law enforcement, Russian Old Believers who fish in Bristol Bay met with…

Conserving the Kenai king is a mandate for board, ADFG

News

Conserving the Kenai king is a mandate for board, ADFG

Editor’s note: This is the 10th and final part of the Morris Communications series “The case for conserving…

Setnetters in the Kasilof Section of the East Side Setnet Fishery push a boat into shore June 27, 2013. On Monday, Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell rejected a proposed initiative that would have banned the use of setnets in Cook Inlet.

News

State rejects setnet initiative

An initiative proposing a ban on setnets in certain parts of the state was rejected Monday as a…

Joe Edwards of Houston, Texas, watches as his king salmon weights in at 16.2 pounds at the Douglas Harbor for the Golden North Salmon Derby in August of 2011. Scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Juneau said the 28-inch size limit for chinook salmon, while intended as a conservation measure, may be removing fast-growing fish from the population over time.

News

A king without a crown: Chinook vulnerable to ocean forces

Editor’s note: This is the ninth in the Morris Communications series “The case for conserving the Kenai king…

Endangered Species Act at work for 40 years

News

Endangered Species Act at work for 40 years

NOAA is celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act. President Nixon signed the ESA into law…

A spawned out sockeye salmon floats in Quartz Creek, an upper tributary to the Kenai River. Making sure the right amount of salmon reach the spawning grounds — known as an escapement goal — is the primary objective for Alaska Department of Fish and Game managers in the summer. That objective is a difficult one to achieve when sockeye are abundant and king salmon are not, as has been the case in the last several years. The way ADFG sets, and achieves, escapement goals is a matter of much debate because of the impacts on sport and commercial users as well as the impact missed goals can have on future returns.

News

Fishermen focus on how ADFG sets, achieves escapement goals

Editor’s note: This is the eighth in the Morris Communications series, “The case for conserving the Kenai king…

News

Law governing federal fisheries getting public comment as it gets updated

Re-authorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, or MSA, governing federal fisheries, is slowly making its way through the system,…

Kenai Mayor Pat Porter, left, speaks to Alaska Department of Fish and Game Commissioner Cora Campbell following a news conference on July 20, 2012, in Anchorage. Porter attended a news conference led by Campbell and Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell to address actions the state can take in light of the poor king salmon run statewide, affecting both subsistence, sport and commercial fishermen. During the 2013 legislative session, Parnell successfully lobbied for $30 million over five years to research king salmon and possible causes for the decline in productivity seen statewide.-Photo by Mark Thiessen, Associated Press

News

Management challenge: Inlet ‘fish wars’ escalate as king productivity ebbs

Editor’s note: This is the seventh in the Morris Communications series, “The case for conserving the Kenai king…

Boundaries for Port Dick salmon seine fishery moved

News

Boundaries for Port Dick salmon seine fishery moved

The Alaska Board of Fisheries wrapped up its meeting last week on Lower Cook Inlet issues with a…

Alaska Department of Fish and Game sonar technician Brandon Key shows off the latest iteration of software and hardware that runs the sonar program on the Kenai River Nov. 1 in Soldotna. Currently there are two sonar sites on the river counting king salmon, one that is used for management and the other a research site which could eventually become the primary sonar on the river. In the weeks since the late run of Kenai River king salmon ended, Key has spent his time analyzing footage from the site that researchers did not have time to watch during the fishing season.

News

Questions remain about king counts after ADFG shift to high-tech sonar

Editor’s note: This is the sixth story in the Morris Communications series “The case for conserving the Kenai…

HB 77, aka, the Silencing Alaskans Act

News

HB 77, aka, the Silencing Alaskans Act

As a long-time Alaskan who has lived in Alaska since 1969, I will not be silenced by House…