Laine Welch

Laine Welch: Magnetism problems spark revamping of halibut tags

It's back to the drawing board for halibut iTags that will soon tell us more about where the fish travel than ever before. The internal tags, which were deployed in 30 halibut two years ago, were the first to test smartphone geomagnetic advances to track the migrations of fish.

Read story

Archive by category ''Laine Welch

LAINE WELCH

Laine Welch: Experiment reveals good news in golden king crab fishery

Amid the salmon fisheries starting up across the state, several Alaska crab seasons also get underway each summer. In mid-June, the summer Dungeness crab fishery opens in the Panhandle, as does red king crab at Norton Sound. Those are followed in August by golden kings along the Aleutian Islands...
LAINE WELCH

Laine Welch: Over a Kodiak beer, Murkowski discusses Frankenfish

Salmon setnet families streamed out of Kodiak all week, headed to their sites to get ready for the June 9 season opener. Their departures wrapped up a busy week of Memorial Day festivities on "the rock," including festivals, fleet blessings, a landslide on Cannery Row and visits by both of Alaska...
LAINE WELCH

Laine Welch: Report shows nice gains throughout salmon value chain

It takes quite a crew to get an Alaska salmon from "boat to throat," and everyone along the line gets a cut of the catch. How that "value chain" has paid out in the past few years shows nice gains for Alaska fishermen and processors.
LAINE WELCH

Laine Welch: Fuel cell technology boosts long-distance fish shipping

A maritime milestone will be set this week as a container of 18 tons of fresh salmon from Chile is offloaded from a cargo ship in California after a month at sea -- without being frozen.
LAINE WELCH

Laine Welch: Buyers of Alaska seafood face ups and downs

Between 60 percent and 70 percent of Alaska's seafood is exported to customers around the globe, and the strength of foreign currencies against the U.S. dollar plays a big role in annual sales. Tracking by the Juneau-based McDowell Group for the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute shows mid-year ...
LAINE WELCH

Laine Welch: Copper River's ballyhooed salmon season starts May 16

It might feel like winter, but Alaska's 2013 salmon season officially gets under way on May 16, when the first runs of reds and kings are scheduled to arrive at Copper River.
LAINE WELCH

Laine Welch: Industry and feds mull methods for cutting Gulf bycatch

Fishing industry stakeholders and federal managers in June will begin crafting a plan to reduce accidental bycatch in trawl groundfish fisheries in the Gulf. It will include some form of catch-share plan. As the main delivery port for more than $100 million worth of pollock, cod, flats and other...
LAINE WELCH

Laine Welch: Legislature passes reduced Chinook research spending

Chinook salmon research money made it through the Alaska Legislature this session but most other fish bills flopped.
LAINE WELCH

Laine Welch: Seeking clues to shrinking stocks, scientists eye crab diets

Did you know that red king crabs are cannibals and eat their babies but blue king crabs do not? Or that deep-water golden king crabs along the Aleutian Islands are almost indestructible and appear to resist the effects of ocean acidification?
LAINE WELCH

Laine Welch: Enthusiasm down among buyers for first halibut of this year's season

Absent from supermarket flyers this spring have been ads featuring the year's first fresh halibut, reflecting the anticipated pushback by buyers to the high-priced fish. "No excitement this year," said more than one major buyer.