Alaska fisheries article

Sad story on the state of Alaska's fisheries.

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/03/03/alaskas-fisheries-collapsing-peltola-industry-blame-00066843

Sad story.   Thanks for the link Chopper.

Awful. Regulatory capture is a hell of a drug.

Been going to Homer and Kenai Peninsula for past 20 years, and this is first year I'm considering not going.  Halibut and king salmon fisheries have been decimated.  Silver salmon have also declined.  But we've been getting record sockeye salmon runs the past two years.  Go figure.

And this:
https://www.adn.com/outdoors-adventure/fishing/2023/03/03/state-shutters-most-cook-inlet-king-salmon-fishing-this-summer-in-unprecented-array-of-emergency-closures/

Ouch !

Sad. So many variables affect fisheries. But IMHO it boils down to loss of habitat (applies to Salmon in CA, WA, for example) and overfishing.

Shaking my damn head.

Money and a seemingly limitless desire for comfort and longevity in the absence of conscience appears to be overriding our instincts to perpetuate our own species!

My advice is to find out what is sacred to you, and if it doesn't directly relate to a better future for human beings, check yourself!

A shift in priorities is in order, and hoping it's not too late seems like folly at this point.

Buckle up.

But we've been getting record sockeye salmon runs the past two years.  Go figure.

Warming ocean conditions have greatly benefited sockeye and pink salmon, to the point where there's more salmon in the ocean now than in the last century. Billions upon billions of these fish, particularly pinks, are decimating the building blocks of the food chain. As pinks devour zooplankton, there's less food available for herring and other "forage" fish that Chinook and coho feed upon.

Pink salmon are doing too well, to the detriment of other salmon species. Nearly three out of every four salmon in the Pacific is a pink salmon. They're quickly colonizing newly accessible rivers as a result of climate change. The US, Japan, and Russia pump out billions of pink and chum salmon into the ocean, and all these fish intermingle and compete for the same resources.

It sounds crazy to produce pinks in hatcheries when they're doing so well on their own these days. Large seafood corporations lobby hard to promote pink salmon hatchery production, and suggesting a reduction in hatchery production is basically a David v Goliath situation.

https://hakaimagazine.com/features/too-many-pinks-in-the-pacific/

https://afspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/mcf2.10023

Nice post Clayman.  Let me add, regarding king salmon, that for years we lobbied Fish and Game to ban treble hooks with roe. We saw, so called sport fisherman and guides ripping the face of fish with treble hooks and releasing them ... to get a bigger trophy king.  It brought in the tourist, so nothing was done until it was too late. 

Interesting reads -- Thanks!