Commercial fishing is a bedrock industry in Alaska, and has been for more than a century. Every year scores of fishermen net millions of migrating salmon, challenge the icy Bering Sea to trap king crabs, lay miles and miles of baited hooks for halibut, and scoop up enough pollock for a zillion fish sticks. And when fishermen aren't out fishing, they're usually talking about fishing. That's what this blog is all about. Cast your net here for commercial fishing news and notes. And if you've got a bone to pick, post a comment.
About me:
I've pounded the commercial fishing beat for the Anchorage Daily News since 1999. I hail originally from Tennessee. I've never fished commercially, but I've spent much time as a journalist aboard boats and inside fish-processing plants. Of course, I'm a big consumer of Alaska seafood. One of my favorites: canned sockeye.
Contact Wesley Loy at wloy@adn.com.
Relax, Ketchikan - 1/7/2009 2:42 pm
Update on lost crabber - 1/7/2009 1:54 pm
Ketchikan on alert - 1/7/2009 10:24 am
Man overboard update - 1/6/2009 9:16 pm
Man overboard in crab fishery - 1/6/2009 2:01 pm
Forecast for 2009 - 1/6/2009 12:43 am
Top 10 Alaska fish stories of 2008 - 1/2/2009 3:42 pm
Cook Inlet salmon report could be delayed - 12/26/2008 6:43 pm
Feds again seek one-fish limit on halibut - 12/22/2008 11:20 am
Storm hits American Seafoods - 12/20/2008 9:23 pm
Crab ratz update - 12/19/2008 2:36 pm
Go online for permit, vessel license renewals - 12/19/2008 12:32 pm
Obama names NOAA boss - 12/18/2008 4:28 pm
Rat cops raid Seward - 12/17/2008 8:35 pm
Greenpeace keeps fighting - 12/17/2008 3:45 pm
A day for crab ratz - 12/15/2008 11:57 pm
More on next year’s catch limits - 12/15/2008 11:37 pm
Full report on pollock - 12/13/2008 9:45 pm
Council endorses big cut in pollock catch - 12/13/2008 4:43 pm
Coast Guard, factory fleet hold safety summit - 12/12/2008 8:41 pm
Katmai hearings resume - 12/12/2008 1:03 am
Christmas time at the council - 12/12/2008 12:13 am
Posted: August 22, 2008 - 10:24 am
What? A seiner in Bristol Bay?
Alaskans no doubt are sick of the advertising barrage surrounding Tuesday’s vote on Ballot Measure 4, whose sponsors say would protect Bristol Bay’s abundant salmon from water pollution from the proposed Pebble copper and gold mine.
My mailbox has been stuffed in recent days with bombastic ads urging me to vote yes or no on Ballot Measure 4.
The Highliner has no doubt of the sincerity of the folks mailing these ads. And Bristol Bay’s commercial salmon industry surely has many fervent and well-informed defenders.
But I wonder whether one outfit pushing the Pebble initiative, Americans for Job Security based in Alexandria, Va., might need a little education on how the state’s richest salmon fishery works.
It mailed me an ad screaming, in part, “ONE MINE COULD COST US THOUSANDS OF JOBS.”
It features a photograph of a big ol’ seine boat with net in the water.
Seiners, of course, are illegal fishing gear in the Bristol Bay salmon fishery, where gillnets rule.
August 27, 2008 - 2:53pm | BravoSierra
WOW You are REALLY well informed!???
I would like to get one of those permits. Maybe even two!! I want to move to the other side of the Peninsula where they actually have good red runs. I hope I don't have to cut my seiner down to 32 feet.
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1 August 22, 2008 - 3:45pm | akman00
the message here is do not shoot the messenger, the
message is pebble will construct the world's largest
earthen dam,fill it with all sorts of toxic things,then when done leave,it will be there forever or will it breach
in the end,10,20,100 years down the road and leave
more crap for our grandchildren to clean up.
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August 24, 2008 - 6:06pm | Smeece
and then go to work to protect our waterways.
Pebble and its potential to pollute is of great concern, but Measure 4 won't effectively address it. The multimillion dollar lies being told by both sides of the debate simply muddy the waters (to coin a phrase) and will do nothing to insure clean water in our future. The only real beneficiaries of the Measure will be attorneys who will have the opportunity to engage in endless litigation over the Measure's imprecise, confusing, and contradictory language.
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2 August 27, 2008 - 9:36am | chugachak
Be more informed
I guess this person has never fished in Chignik which is in Bristol Bay and it is strictly purse seiners.
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