Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 892
Invasive European Green Crabs first showed up in Alaska on July 19, 2022, and have been slowly but surely advancing north, with Etolin Island just south of Wrangell being their northernmost sighting. Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program Agent Sunny Rice and her Community Engaged Fellowship intern Bergen Kludt-Painter checked traps kept on Mitkof Island on July 2, 2026 to see if any European Green Crabs had arrived. To their relief, there were no Green Crab in the traps at Woodpecker Cove....
HAINES — The Alaska Department of Fish and Game last week increased the king salmon take allowed for non-resident anglers this summer, in response, department officials say, to lower-than-expected harvest. Previously, non-residents across Southeast had been permitted to keep one king salmon from July 1 onward. With the new regulations, non-residents will be permitted two, with king salmon caught before July 1 counted toward that limit. The new regulations make no changes to other user groups; resident anglers may keep two king salmon per day w...
Southeast Alaska's summer commercial Dungeness crab season will close three weeks early, after Alaska Department of Fish and Game's Dungeness harvest estimate came in the lowest in at least 25 years. ADF&G announced Monday, June 29, that the 2026/27 summer season will close at 11:59 p.m. Saturday, July 25, after allowing a total of 40 days of fishing. Crab gear must be removed from the water entirely by 11:59 p.m. Aug. 1, though pots may be stored in closed waters for up to seven days if all...
Jane Smith reeled in this hefty king salmon this week off the coast of Prince of Wales Island. It weighed in at 42 pounds and was caught from the Helmisu, a boat once owned by Petersburg fishing legend Gordon Jensen. Jane Smith and Scott Roberge bought the vessel from Sue Paulson, daughter of old-time Petersburg icons Gordon and Helmi Jensen....
King Salmon King salmon fishing in the Wrangell Narrows/Blind Slough Terminal Harvest Area (THA) is going well, with many anglers reporting early catches. We have creel technicians both on the docks and out at Blind Slough. A few minutes of your time may be asked for to record your catch and effort. If you caught a fish, it may be sampled by one of our technicians. This information helps support healthy and sustainable fisheries. Harvest should increase over the next few weeks throughout the THA, usually peaking around the third week in June....
King Salmon: King salmon fishing began on May 15 in the Wrangell Narrows/Blind Slough Terminal Harvest Area (THA), where Alaska hatchery-produced king salmon are returning. We will have a creel technician on the docks starting this weekend, asking anglers about their catch and taking biological samples. I have heard of king salmon being caught in the saltwater portion of the THA. I have not heard of a king salmon being caught in the freshwater portion (Blind Slough), where we have a creel technician this summer, but I have heard the trout...
Sport fishing on a popular slough south of Petersburg is open to all anglers this summer. Recreational anglers can harvest hatchery-produced king salmon in the Wrangell Narrows-Blind Slough Terminal Harvest Area from May 15 to Aug. 15. The area includes a stretch of the Wrangell Narrows saltwater and the Blind Slough freshwater that the salmon travel through when instinctually returning to the Crystal Lake Hatchery upstream. Resident anglers can harvest up to two king salmon a day of any size.... Full story
The federal government has rejected a request to list three populations of Gulf of Alaska king salmon as endangered, according to a public notice scheduled for publication on Thursday. The listing was requested in 2024 by a Washington state conservation group amid long-term declines in king salmon numbers in Alaska. If the listing had been approved, it could have resulted in new limits on development in Alaska as well as major restrictions on commercial, sport and personal-use fishing in the state. State officials opposed the listing, and in a... Full story
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Division of Sport Fish, announced the sport fishing regulations for Alaska hatchery-produced king salmon in the areas near Petersburg and Wrangell. Anita Bay Terminal Harvest Area, described as the waters of Anita Bay south and west of a line from Anita Point to 56° 14.26' N. lat., 132° 23.92' W. long. The following regulations will be in effect Monday, June 1, through Sunday, June 14, 2026: Residents: Bag and possession limit of two king salmon greater than 28 inches in length; Nonresident: Bag and p...
Steller sea lions are an everyday sight on "the red can" navigation buoy at the north end of the Wrangell Narrows, but seeing a newborn sea lion pup on the can, like this one observed around a week ago, is very unusual. Typically sea lions whelp their pups on land at rugged remote sites known as rookeries where they can more easily avoid predators and human disturbance....
Sport anglers in Southeast Alaska can fish more Chinook (king) salmon this year than last year, with a daily bag limit of two fish for residents. Any wild king salmon harvested by sport anglers must be at least 28 inches in length. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game this week announced updated sport fishing regulations for the region that went into effect April 1. Jeff Rice, a state biologist for the Petersburg/Wrangell area, said the updated regulations in place for the fishery are "more...
The Sitka Sound sac roe herring fishery remained open Monday in the south end of Sitka Sound, although fishing has slowed to a standstill, the Department of Fish and Game announced. Spawning activity also appear to have slowed, with 30.6 nautical miles of spawn measured as of this morning, biologists said. No commercial harvest was recorded for Friday, Saturday or Sunday, and the total caught to date remained at 6,555 tons. Fish and Game opened the fishery over the weekend in Deep Inlet, and from Cape Burunof to Cape Aspid, on the southernmost...
The 2026 regionwide harvest limits for Chinook salmon announced Tuesday by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game represent a rebound from the rock bottom limits set in 2025. This year, all fishermen in Southeast Alaska can catch a total 205,300 treaty Chinook salmon – fish that didn’t originate in Alaska hatcheries – the department said in the announcement. State fishery managers use their harvest target for treaty Chinook to set catch limits for treaty Chinook in the sport and commercial fisheries. This year's harvest target for South...
The numbers are in for Southeast Alaska’s 2025-26 commercial Dungeness crab season. Participants harvested 2.07 million pounds of crab during the summer and fall/winter fisheries combined. With the estimated overall price averaging $4.17 a pound, the full season amounts to a total value of $8.64 million. Joe Stratman is a regional shellfish biologist for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, which manages the fishery. He said the full harvest came in lower than what the fishery has seen over the past five years or so. “I think you could say... Full story
Petersburg – The sport, personal use, and subsistence shrimp fishery in Southeast Alaska will close to the harvest of shrimp from 12:01 a.m., Sunday, March 1, through Thursday, April 30, 2026. The Alaska Board of Fisheries adopted regulations that close regional shrimp fisheries to harvest for all user groups from March 1 through April 30. Since this is the first year of this closure, this announcement is intended as a reminder. This closure is also listed on relevant permits. The intention of this closure is to provide additional protection d...
(Petersburg) - The Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Division of Sport Fish, announced this week the sport fishing regulations for Wrangell Narrows/Blind Slough Terminal Harvest Area, described as all waters from 56° 46’N. lat. and north and east of the northern tip of Woewodski Island at 56° 36’ N. lat., 132° 59’W. long to a line upstream of Crystal Creek. The following regulations will be in effect Friday, May 15 through Saturday, August 15, 2026: Resident anglers: 2 king salmon per day, 2 in possession, any size. Nonresident anglers:...
The International Pacific Halibut Commission set the 2026 harvest at a historic low during an annual meeting that drew a Trump Administration political appointee to lead tense U.S. negotiations with Canada over shares of a shrunken fishery. The four-day late-January gathering in Bellevue, Washington came during a time of tumultuous relations between the two nations. President Donald Trump's tariff policy and blustering talk of making Canada part of the United States have spurred widespread... Full story
Southeast Alaska’s golden king crab fishery is scheduled to open February 17 at 10 a.m., with registration opening January 20 and tags available December 22, Alaska Department of Fish & Game announced earlier this month at the King and Tanner Task Force meeting. The 2026 season will include several management changes based on last season’s performance, including closure of one area, an increase in another, and the division of the Northern management area into two separate zones. The adjustments come on the heels of a record-breaking 2025 sea...
The number of elk hunt permits issued for Zarembo Island will be doubled next year, from one elk bull available for harvest to two. It’s a slow climb after the state shut down elk hunting on the island from 2006 to 2023, then allowing just one permit per year in 2024 and 2025. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game has been able to develop a better understanding of Zarembo’s elk population, and believes the herd can handle the additional harvest, said Frank Robbins, the Petersburg-based game biologist for the Wrangell-Petersburg area. The Wra...
When a young Sealaska intern walking a beach in July 2022 found the first evidence of European green crab presence in Alaska – a discarded shell on a beach on Annette Island in the state's far southeast corner – it was an ominous sign about the invasive species' northward spread. Since then, the Metlakatla Indian Community, the tribe based on Annette Island, and its partners, which include Alaska Sea Grant, have found not just more shells, but live invasive crabs. Discoveries numbered just a h... Full story
SITKA — Dozens of hunters turned out to hear details and best practices meant to deter, defuse and survive bear encounters while in the field, at a presentation last week hosted by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. In a wide-ranging discussion that touched on self-protection in active bear encounters, first aid, electric fences and communications equipment, ADF&G wildlife biologist Steve Bethune and wildlife education and outreach specialist Abby McAllister said their goal is to make sure hunters are safe when they go afield. “We wan...
Southeast Alaska’s first competitive commercial red king crab fishery in eight years opens on Saturday. Ten different areas will be open for the fishery. They’ll be managed individually based on how much crab are available in each spot. State regulations require at least 200,000 pounds of harvestable crab to be available for a commercial opener in the region. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADFG) announced earlier this fall that over 211,000 pounds of crab are available this season. Red king crab in Southeast Alaska is a low... Full story
For the organization that oversees commercial fisheries in federal waters off Alaska, the most significant impact of the federal government shutdown might materialize in December. That is when the North Pacific Fishery Management Council is scheduled to issue harvest limits for Alaska pollock – the nation’s top-volume commercial harvested species – and other types of groundfish harvested in the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska, such as Pacific cod and sablefish. The Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska pollock harvests start in January. To set the ground... Full story
