ALASKA DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND GAME

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game was unable to get funding to count fish and collect data this summer at Unalaska’s McLees Lake, where the community harvests a large majority of its subsistence sockeye salmon.

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.

On April 1, a young humpback whale was found tied up in a probable fishing line and anchored down in a busy area in Iliuliuk Bay. Four days later, a group of whale entanglement experts carefully cut the line wrapped around the humpback's mouth and tail.

The majority of Alaska’s Bristol Bay commercial red king crab have been caught for the season. This year’s quota was rather low, coming in at about 2.1 million pounds for the entire fleet. To compare, that’s less than half the total allowable catch, or TAC, for the 2018/2019 season. Ethan Nichols is the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s area management biologist for groundfish and shellfish in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands region. He said even just a couple million pounds was a welcome amount for harvesters during historic lows in the state’s commercial crab industry.

The Alaska Salmon Research Task Force is seeking public input on its report about Alaska salmon and their life cycles. Members of the federal group — which formed in June — are tasked with building a report on data gaps in Pacific salmon research and supporting sustainable management of declining salmon stocks, especially in the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game has reopened the Bristol Bay red king crab fishery, following a two-year closure.ADF&G announced Friday morning that the lucrative crab fishery will open Oct. 15, following analysis of survey data by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council.

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.

Fisheries technicians wrapped up the 2023 season at Unalaska's McLees Lake weir last week, reporting a total escapement of 26,945 sockeye salmon — the weir's highest count since 2016.

Julia O’Malley has been writing about the state’s climate, food, politics and culture for more than two decades. She recently visited St. Paul to better understand how the island community is dealing with the snow crab crash, and to learn what’s at stake.

McLees Lake has reached its salmon escapement goal, which means subsistence fishing regulations in Reese Bay will be lifted.More than 10,700 sockeye salmon passed through the McLees Lake weir as of Sunday, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.