The Fish Ticket is BACK! Did you miss me? The amount of calls and emails I've received asking where the Fish Ticket went is astronomical. I'm humbled by and grateful for the support and appreciation for this newsletter. While I truly do enjoy writing it, I had to step away for a bit because we were just too busy too keep up with it this spring. Thankfully, all of our wonderful clients are juuust about set for salmon season and will leave me alone for a while (joke) so I can get back to the things that are truly important: fisheries news and some light sarcasm. Thanks for sticking around; let's get caught up, shall we? - Maddie

Permits & State Fisheries

Permit activity has been hot and heavy this spring, with Bristol Bay drift permits approaching $160,000 and set net permits hitting $62,000, Cook Inlet drift permits hitting $38,000 with leases going for over $7,000 and PWS seine permits hitting $160,000 - all up from this time last year. Notably, PWS drift permits weren't flying off the shelves this spring, despite ADFG's "excellent" forecast (they may have been right to hold off).

When I was in Cordova just before the season started (a week later than in the past), many drifters expressed concern over how the state would manage the fishery in light of the low Chinook numbers and their concerns appear warranted. ADFG has been managing conservatively thus far and the total harvest to date is 3,480 Chinook and 223,000 sockeye salmon (the 5-year average sockeye harvest through June 5 is 198,000 and the 10-year is 290,000). But, it's still too early to make any definitive calls and the drifters will see another 24 hour opener tomorrow.

As for the rest of the state, if ADFG's forecasts hold true, our statewide harvest could look like: 52.9 million sockeye (10.8 million more than 2024), 138.4 million pink (98.2 million more than 2024), 2.4 million coho (544,000 more than 2024), 20.8 million chum, (876,000 more than 2024), and 144,000 Chinook (100,000 fewer than 2024), for a total harvest of 214.6 million fish (more than twice last year's 103.5 million).

IFQs & Federal Fisheries

The start of 2025 saw massive cuts to halibut quota and IFQ prices were very low. The season kicked off in March, picking up at roughly the same dock prices as the year before and quota sales were slow. However, with dock prices holding strong above the $8.00 mark in Homer and elsewhere for the last month or so, the quota market has picked up. Buyers are currently offering $27.00 for 3A unblocked shares. 3B shares are finally getting some attention with a recent sale of blocked quota at $14.00 and a current offer of the same. 3B unblocked quota is available at $20.00. In 2C, a 2,200 pound block of B class sold at $38.50 this week.

The market for black cod quota remains slow, although average ex-vessel prices seem to be improving. Buyers currently offering $6.75 for unblocked SE quota are not finding any at that price, and a recent sale went for $7.00. 

A quick heads up: June 13 is the last day to submit applications for the 2020 Gulf of Alaska Pacific cod disaster relief funds.

In Case You Missed It

ICYMI: Erik Velsko and I gave a presentation to Sea Grant on the current state of Alaska's commercial fisheries. If you're feeling a bit behind or you could use a refresher as to where we are as an industry and how we got here, give it a watch (link will open in YouTube).

What else?

This is a long one, but I have faith in you and I promise next week's will be shorter (probably). Let's get to it!

The Alaska legislature wrapped up their first session last month, with a handful of seafood-related bills either having passed (although not yet signed by Gov. Dunleavy) or moving through committees and set to be addressed next session:

• - HB 116 allows Alaska fishing orgs to establish their own insurance co-ops (because, in news that will surprise none of you, insurance is expensive as heck) (passed)
• - SB 156 gives the Alaska Commercial Fishing and Agriculture Bank (CFAB) a much-needed cash infusion to prevent it from shuttering its doors (passed)
• - HB 31 exempts USCG documented commercial fishing vessels with a valid CFEC vessel license from the requirement to register with the Alaska DMV (passed)
• - The state budget sent to Dunleavy includes $10 million for ASMI (the legislature tried the same thing last year only for it to be vetoed by Dunleavy) (passed)
• - SB 135 would increase local governments' share of seafood taxes from 50% to up to 75% (currently split 50% to local gov and 50% to state gov) (pending)
• - HB 129 + SB 130 would expand the state tax credit for companies buying equipment to create value-added seafood products (pending)
• - HB 125 would create designated seats on the Board of Fisheries: two seats each for the commercial/sport/subsistence sectors and one "science" seat (pending) 
• - SB 131 + HB 135 (versions of a bill introduced by Dunleavy) would allow ASMI to market mariculture products (pending) 
• - HB 233, introduced just before the session closed, would expand on the EPA's 2023 decision prohibiting permitting of the Pebble Project in Bristol Bay, taking it one step further and banning all metallic sulfide mining in an area designated as the "Bristol Bay Fisheries Reserve" (pending)

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick agreed to meet with Alaska seafood industry leaders and Sen. Murkowski to discuss Russia, fair trade, and ways the Trump Administration can help moving forward.

Trade groups are speaking out about how vulnerable Alaska's seafood industry is to tariffs, particularly when it comes to China, where Alaska pollock, for example, has a 500% higher tariff than Russian pollock. Oof.

Representatives Huffman, Moylan, and Case have reintroduced the Sustaining America’s Fisheries for the Future Act, which aims to reauthorize the MSA with updates addressing climate, critical habitats, equitable access, and fisheries data collection and oversight. This is the third time such legislation has been introduced in recent years.

In last week's oversight hearing of the Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries, part of the House Natural Resources Committee, witnesses including AMCC deputy director Jamie O'Connor testified to the incongruent nature of select Trump Administration policies and the effects on the US seafood industry. The President's EO to restore seafood competitiveness, for example, is at odds with his drastic and broad cuts to NOAA Fisheries. (NMFS Alaska Region has seen a 24% reduction in staff.)

On that note, Linda Behnken's recent op-ed notes the importance of funding for sustainable fisheries in Alaska and highlights multiple cuts in President Trump's proposed 2026 budget, including eliminating funding for the Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund and an additional 28% cut to NOAA. For another good read, SeafoodNews Founder John Sackton's op-ed dives even deeper into the issue.

The US House recently passed the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" (AKA the reconciliation bill), the seafood-related effects of which would include massive reductions to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP); the rescinding of all unobligated Inflation Reduction Act funding allocated for coastal communities, climate resilience and improvements to NOAA facilities; and reduced borrowing costs for real property used in the aquaculture, fishing, and seafood processing industries, among many, many others. The bill still needs to make it through the Senate, where it faces an uphill battle and likely some substantive changes, so it's far too early to make predictions as to what the final draft will look like.

Coastal Native villages have been urging lawmakers to address barriers to entry in Alaska's fishing industry for years, suggesting updates to the Limited Entry Act governing permits for state fisheries like salmon and herring. In the politically delicate position of weighing those concerns against the interests of thousands of resident permit holders, lawmakers have yet to address the issue.

A Kodiak fisherman was sentenced to one year in prison and two years on supervised release for directing the illegal transport of Alaska crab to Washington in early 2024, a violation of the Lacey Act.

Senators Booker (D-NJ) and Sullivan (R-AK) recently reintroduced the Keep Finfish Free Act, which aims to prohibit federal agencies from authorizing commercial finfish aquaculture operations in US federal waters (finfish farming is already illegal in the state waters of Alaska and Washington). A+ on this one, guys.

Last week's Bering Sea Barometer: The history of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline; ADFG concerns about poor Chinook returns at Copper River; and a Washington nonprofit's efforts to get Chinook salmon on the endangered species list.

This week's Alaska's Fisheries Report: A grim preview of the Yukon salmon season; the sentencing of a Kodiak crab fisherman; reduced daily limit for rockfish in Cook Inlet; and a nine-year-old has won the Sitka Salmon Derby.

What's Up Next?

Our roundup of upcoming meetings, events, deadlines, and more! (Many meetings offer hybrid format for those who can't attend in person!)

• Jun 2-10: NPFMC Meeting, Westport [more]
• Jun 10-12: IPHC Scientific Review Board, Seattle [more] 
• Jun 13: Application deadline for 2020 Gulf Pacific Cod disaster relief funds [more]
• Aug 11: Application deadline for ASMI advisory committees [more]
• Aug 31: Submission deadline for UFA's hoodie design contest [more]
• Sep 23-25: IPHC Scientific Review Board, Seattle [more] 
• Sep 29-Oct 8: NPFMC Meeting, Anchorage [more]
• Oct 28-29: BOF Work Session, Anchorage [more]
• Oct 30-31: BOF Alaska Peninsula/BSAI/Chignik Pacific Cod, Anchorage [more]
• Nov 18-19: IPHC Research Advisory Board, Seattle [more]
• Nov 18-22: BOF Arctic/Yukon/Kuskokwim Finfish, Fairbanks [more]
• Nov 20-22: Pacific Marine Expo, Seattle [more]
• Dec 1-9: NPFMC Meeting, Anchorage [more]
• Dec 2: IPHC Interim Meeting, virtual [more]