Trawlers

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has denied an emergency request Friday to close crucial habitat for Bristol Bay red king crab to all types of commercial fishing.That comes after Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers petitioned in late September for a closure of the red king crab savings areas to protect the species during a time of historically low stocks.The nonprofit, which represents independent crab harvesters, requested that the grounds be closed to all fishing gears from Jan. 1, 2023 through the end of June.

Salmon stocks from up and down the Pacific coast congregate in the Gulf of Alaska and the Bering Sea to feed. That’s also where trawlers go to harvest millions of pounds of pollock and other groundfish. And those trawlers often accidentally scoop up salmon and other fish in their nets, too — a problem known as bycatch. Scientists with NOAA Fisheries, which oversees federal fisheries in those waters, want to understand where the bycatch is coming from — and where those fish would return to — so that they can understand the impacts of bycatch on specific stocks. That’s especially true for stocks in western Alaska, an area of the state that is seeing dismal salmon returns.

The council that manages fishing in federal waters voted to link groundfish trawl fishing in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands to halibut abundance today. The action caps — at least for now — a six-year debate about curbing halibut bycatch in Alaska.

The number of positive COVID-19 cases among crew members on the American Triumph grew by 79 Sunday, bringing the tally of confirmed cases on the American…

A Bering Sea trawler currently docked in Dutch Harbor has reported six cases of COVID-19 among its 119 crew members, officials said Friday. The cases are…

As America's meat producers contend with thousands of COVID-19 cases among processing workers, seafood companies have drafted rigorous plans to ward off…

Two North Pacific and Bering Sea trawlers have reported COVID-19 among more than two dozen crew members. That's a tally of more than 100 people on…

The results of outstanding COVID-19 tests on an American Seafoods trawler have come back, according to the company.Earlier this week, 86 crew members on…

A company that fishes in the North Pacific and Bering Sea is testing crew members on two more vessels after more than 80 people on a different ship tested…

86 crew members of an American Seafoods trawler have tested positive for COVID-19, according to a press release from the seafood company Sunday night.…