Alaska State News

The board voted unanimously to adopt a plan that curbs fishing time when larger sockeye runs are forecast. The Nushagak River’s king salmon runs have declined sharply in recent years even as huge sockeye returns to the district have broken records.

The Board of Fisheries and members of the public discussed the state’s action plan to protect Nushagak kings on the second day of the statewide meeting Saturday. Many people who testified discussed how many sockeye should go unharvested in order to conserve the struggling king runs.

The statewide Board of Fisheries meeting is underway in Anchorage. The board will decide whether and how to change fishing regulations in Bristol Bay’s Nushagak District to protect its faltering king salmon runs.

The meeting will be streamed live from March 10 - 14. Watch it here or on the Board of Fish website.

The deadline for public comments on the Stuy Mines application is March 14. The exploration would occur in important traditional hunting and fishing grounds for communities like Igiugig.

Smith was among four finalists for the position. He previously served as principal and superintendent at the Fossil School District in Oregon before he retired in the spring of 2022. The Fossil school brought him back last fall to work as the elementary principal.

One proposal aimed to limit the amount of chum caught in Area M’s South Peninsula fishery to allow more chum to return to Western Alaska rivers. The board ended up passing some restrictions, but it’s far short of what Western Alaska residents were hoping for. And communities near the Area M fishery say they aren’t satisfied either.

Alaska State Troopers say they received a report at 12:49 p.m. on Sunday that two people were at the scene of a single-vehicle collision.

After days of testimony, the Alaska Board of Fisheries voted to change escapement goals for Chignik’s early and late sockeye runs, which have been severely depleted for years. But it will maintain an important precedent: Two separate goals for the early and late sockeye runs.

At this week’s Board of Fisheries meeting, Area M is at the center of a debate on how to protect the record-low Yukon River chum salmon runs. The board is deliberating today, and the meeting is being streamed live.