Laine Welch

LAINE WELCH

Fishing permit costs: Inlet up, Bristol Bay down

The value of Alaska fishing permits has seesawed over the past year. Cook Inlet prices have gone up, while Bristol Bay prices have fallen.

LAINE WELCH

Alaska towns vie to be called tops for fishing

Several Alaska communities are vying for the title of "Ultimate Fishing Town," a recognition that comes with $25,000 to be used for local fishing-related projects.

LAINE WELCH

Sea-monster of tsunami debris starts to foul Alaska coast

Soccer balls, motorcycles and a million other reminders of the massive tsunami in Japan a year ago are appearing along Alaska's coastlines.

LAINE WELCH

Fishery council set to cut Gulf halibut bycatch in June

It has taken a quarter of a century, but fishery managers are finally poised to take action to reduce the 5 million pounds of halibut allowed to be taken as bycatch in Gulf of Alaska fisheries. Industry watchers are hoping that public comments will sway them to make the largest of the proposed cuts.

Halibut bycatch comes center stage at workshop

Brainstorming about halibut bycatch is the theme of a two-day workshop this week in Seattle. Topping the discussions: the methods used to collect bycatch numbers and the accuracy of the data.

LAINE WELCH

Cheaper farmed salmon may change '12 market

A resurgence of farmed fish and shifting world currencies could shake up salmon markets this year. "There are two trends going into the current salmon season that we haven't seen for several years," said Gunnar Knapp, a fisheries economist at the University of Alaska Anchorage.

LAINE WELCH

DC policymakers are schooled on seafood industry

For the first time ever, industry representatives were invited to brief policymakers in Congress on seafood jobs and economic opportunities. Last Thursday the group presented a panel discussion called "Seafood Jobs in America" to the Senate Oceans Caucus and an audience of 80 people.

LAINE WELCH

Boosting quality of catch pays off for fishermen

Fishermen in the world's largest salmon fishery at Bristol Bay are getting good grades for improving the quality of their salmon, and it's boosting their bottom line.

LAINE WELCH

Judging from last year, halibut prices will be on the rise again

The Pacific halibut fishery began Saturday. If the dynamic of supply and demand holds true, prices will head up.

LAINE WELCH

Home-grown Alaska salmon return dropped in 2011

The state's annual report on its fisheries enhancement programs shows that last year hatchery returns and harvests were down by more than half from 2010, when a record 77 million hatchery salmon were caught.

LAINE WELCH

State salmon harvest projected to be lower than last year's

State fishery managers project a lower Alaska salmon harvest this year due to an expected decrease in those hard-to-predict pinks.

Federal budget mixed bag for commercial fisheries

The federal budget provides a mixed bag for commercial fisheries in the coming fiscal year. Based on the preliminary budget released last week, funds for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration went from $4.7 billion to $5.5 billion, an increase of about $750 million.

LAINE WELCH

Simple system shows if doors, hatches are open

More than half of all fishing fatalities are the result of vessels going down, and most sink because of flooding. The sinkings of the Alaska Ranger and Katmai in 2008, for example, in which 12 men died, both stemmed from water coming in through open hatches.

LAINE WELCH

Parnell backs change in DNR mission statement

Alaskans were surprised to learn that a new and very different mission statement has been adopted by the Department of Natural Resources. Questions about the mission shift dominated a recent press conference, at which Gov. Sean Parnell was quick to defend the change.

LAINE WELCH

Halibut stocks continue to decline amid concerns

As expected, there will be fewer halibut available for fishermen to catch this year -- an 18 percent reduction to 33 million pounds, split among fisheries along the West Coast, British Columbia and Alaska. That follows a 19 percent cut to the catch last year.

LAINE WELCH

19 seafood entries compete in Seattle

An array of 19 new seafood products will compete for top honors at the annual Symphony of Seafood contest in Seattle. The Symphony began nearly two decades ago as a way to introduce new Alaska seafood products and celebrate innovation.

LAINE WELCH

Website shows how sonar used to track salmon

Most people don't know that 40 years ago Alaska pioneered the use of sonar to track salmon runs, or that state fishery managers operate 15 sonar sites on 13 rivers from Southeast to the Yukon.

LAINE WELCH

Sea ice hastens Bering Sea snow crab fishery

The Bering Sea snow crab fishery is picking up earlier than usual as the fleet scrambles to pull up the catch before encroaching sea ice shuts them down. About 25 boats are out so far, soon to be joined by 60 or so more, with a weather forecast calling for frigid weather and high winds.

LAINE WELCH

Snapshot of Alaska seafood industry in '11

Alaska's seafood industry continued its mission to ramp up its message to policymakers, especially those from rail belt regions who tend to overlook its economic significance.

LAINE WELCH

Shellfish growers meet acidic water challenge

West Coast shellfish growers have learned to save the lives of their bivalve stocks by working around the upwelling of increasingly corrosive sea water.

LAINE WELCH

Sea otters get their cut from Southeast fisheries

Sea otters are taking a big bite out of valuable commercial fisheries in Southeast Alaska, and they've been doing it for decades. A second report by the McDowell Group of Juneau updates the financial hit otters have inflicted on the region's fisheries since 2005. Both reports were done for the Southeast Alaska Regional Dive Fisheries Association, based in Ketchikan.