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The city of King Cove is worried about the future after its seafood processor announced earlier this month that it will cease operations. The plant, formerly owned by Peter Pan Seafood Company, is the economic engine of the community on the Alaska Peninsula. A new owner will take over the processing plant, but it’s unclear when the facility will reopen. Kirsten Dobroth is the Alaska reporter for Undercurrent News, which is a commercial fishing and seafood industry trade magazine. She’s been reporting on what this means just ahead of salmon season.
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The commercial season for Dungeness crab in the North Peninsula District opens May 1, and officials say this year’s harvest trajectory looks good. The individual pot limit for the area this year is 500 per vessel.
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The Alaska Department of Fish and Game is set to decide Friday whether or not to reopen the Bristol Bay red king crab fishery, which has been closed since 2021.Their decision will be based on recommendations from the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, which is meeting through Oct. 11 in Anchorage.
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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has fined one of Alaska’s biggest fishing companies nearly $1 million for Clean Water Act violations.
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A federal government shutdown likely won’t affect the start of a Bristol Bay red king crab season, according to fisheries officials.The North Pacific Fishery Management Council will meet in early October to discuss opening the crab fishery, which has been closed since 2021. The federal government shutdown, which could start Sunday, wouldn’t stop the regional council from meeting, but it could affect whether or not the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration can distribute IFQ or Individual Fishing Quota, following the Council’s recommendation.
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Federal officials are looking into the deaths of nine orcas that were hauled up by groundfish trawlers in Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands fisheries this year.
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The International Longshore and Warehouse Alaska Longshore Division voted late last week to adopt a new contract after nearly two years of negotiations.
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An Unalaska resident has been charged with 10 counts of illegal subsistence fishing violations. Fifty-nine-year-old Juliann Tucker received the citation Wednesday after a nearly three-month investigation.
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U.S. Coast Guard Rescue teams from across the state responded to five calls for help over the weekend. Teams operated rescues for fishing vessels, a cruise ship and a stranding.
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Starting in January, the fleet will fish under a “rationalization” system where each catcher vessel will have a maximum catch limit, which will be assigned through quota.
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Thirty or more dead salmon had been stripped of their roe and discarded back into the river at the end of Captains Bay without any of the edible meat being harvested, as required by regulation.
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Wildlife troopers charged a Homer man this week with four counts of illegal fishing in Unalaska waters. Bernardo Cheremnov is facing up to $4,500 in fines.