noaa fisheries

Scientists have long thought that the genetic diversity of the Alaska red king crab fell into three main groups. But researchers recently found that the species should be split into six, maybe even seven, genetically distinct groups.

The Bering Sea pollock fishery is getting a 6% increase in its total catch limit next year. The North Pacific Fishery Management Council on Friday approved 2025 catch amounts for Alaska’s federal fisheries, setting the Bering Sea pollock fishery at 1.375 million metric tons—up from 2024’s 1.3 million.

Scientists had previously linked the crash of the Bering Sea snow crab population to warming ocean waters. But a new study released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Aug. 21 deepens the connection between human-caused climate change and the die off.

Years after two crab fisheries disasters occurred in the Norton Sound and Bering Sea, millions in relief funds are finally available to impacted fishermen.In March of 2020 a fishery disaster was declared for the 2019 Norton Sound Red King crab fishery and a year later for the 2019-2020 Bering Sea Tanner crab fishery. Roughly four years later, affected fishers can now apply to receive a portion of $14,368,336 in total federal relief funds for both fisheries.

The pollock fishery currently has a cap on Chinook bycatch, but those asking for stricter limits say the restrictions don’t go far enough.

The Alaska Marine Mammal Stranding Network is working with local responders to gather images and information to coordinate helping an entangled humpback in Unalaska’s Iliuliuk Bay.

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council will not move forward with a request to close the Bristol Bay red king crab savings area to all commercial fishing. At its February meeting, the regulatory council looked at the effectiveness of closing the 4,000-square-nautical-mile section of the eastern Bering Sea to commercial trawl, pot and longline fishing, but decided not to tighten regulations in the area.

A federal investigation into the unusually large number of Bering Sea and Aleutian killer whales found dead this summer determined that most but not all of the deaths were killed by entanglement in fishing gear.

The Center for Biological Diversity said in a Monday statement that NOAA Fisheries needs to uphold its duty to protect the killer whales, which are protected by the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

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.