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(From left) Alaska Salmon Fellows Mary Sattler Peltola and Ben Stevens, Sen. Peter Micciche (R-Soldotna) and Cook Inlet east side setnetter Ken Coleman listen as North Pacific Fishery Management Council member and charter captain Andy Mezirow talks during a panel at the Kenai River Sportfishing Association’s Classic Roundtable event on Wednesday, Aug. 22, 2018 in Soldotna, Alaska. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)

Roundtable discussion focuses on salmon sustainability, culture

With participants from a broad swathe of the salmon spectrum, the Kenai River Sportfishing Association’s Classic Roundtable discussion Wednesday focused on new research and management… Continue reading

(From left) Alaska Salmon Fellows Mary Sattler Peltola and Ben Stevens, Sen. Peter Micciche (R-Soldotna) and Cook Inlet east side setnetter Ken Coleman listen as North Pacific Fishery Management Council member and charter captain Andy Mezirow talks during a panel at the Kenai River Sportfishing Association’s Classic Roundtable event on Wednesday, Aug. 22, 2018 in Soldotna, Alaska. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)
A boat motors down the Kenai Rier just upstream of Soldotna Creek Park on Wednesday, Aug. 22, 2018 in Soldotna, Alaska. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)

Sockeye reopen on Kenai with late run

Evening on the Kenai River these days takes the sun down earlier but brings the salmon up to the surface early. From the boardwalk at… Continue reading

A boat motors down the Kenai Rier just upstream of Soldotna Creek Park on Wednesday, Aug. 22, 2018 in Soldotna, Alaska. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)
McKay Mills wrangles a sockeye salmon on the end of his fishing line on the banks of the Kenai River in Soldotna Creek Park on Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2017 in Soldotna, Alaska. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion, file)

Kenai River to reopen to sockeye salmon fishing

Sockeye anglers can again hit the Kenai River this week. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game issued an emergency order Tuesday reopening the Kenai… Continue reading

McKay Mills wrangles a sockeye salmon on the end of his fishing line on the banks of the Kenai River in Soldotna Creek Park on Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2017 in Soldotna, Alaska. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion, file)
A sockeye salmon’s tail protrudes above the edge of a bin on a setnet site July 11, 2016 near Kenai, Alaska. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion, file)

US-China trade war escalates, with more taxes on seafood

The trade war between the U.S. and China is amping up for Alaska’s commercial fishermen. In June, China announced its intentions to levy a 25… Continue reading

A sockeye salmon’s tail protrudes above the edge of a bin on a setnet site July 11, 2016 near Kenai, Alaska. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion, file)
Fishermen cast for silver salmon from a boardwalk near the Soldotna Visitors Center on Wednesday, Aug. 8, 2018 in Soldotna, Alaska. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)

Coming up silver on the Kenai

The silver salmon tease the fishermen on the Kenai River. A few inches away from an angler’s bobber, a silver salmon’s dark back will flick… Continue reading

Fishermen cast for silver salmon from a boardwalk near the Soldotna Visitors Center on Wednesday, Aug. 8, 2018 in Soldotna, Alaska. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)
This screenshot taken from Google Maps shows Koyuktolik Bay, known as Dog Fish Bay, south of Homer on the Kenai Peninsula. Four commercial fishermen from the Homer area are charged with illegally commercial fishing in Dog Fish Bay. (Courtesy Alphabet Inc)

4 charged in illegal commercial fishing near Homer

The state has filed charges against four commercial fishermen accused of illegal harvesting salmon in a bay south of Homer. Alaska Wildlife Troopers wrote in… Continue reading

This screenshot taken from Google Maps shows Koyuktolik Bay, known as Dog Fish Bay, south of Homer on the Kenai Peninsula. Four commercial fishermen from the Homer area are charged with illegally commercial fishing in Dog Fish Bay. (Courtesy Alphabet Inc)
In this 2012 photo, Bob Condon of Soldotna examines the moose he shot in the Arctic. (Photo courtesy Bob Condon)

Across 20 years and the entire country, Alaska and Florida couples build friendship

Though he’s only here for about a month each summer, Paul Coleman knows many of the fishermen on the Kenai River bank in Soldotna. Through… Continue reading

In this 2012 photo, Bob Condon of Soldotna examines the moose he shot in the Arctic. (Photo courtesy Bob Condon)
A fisherman’s stringer of Kasilof River sockeye salmon caught in the personal-use dipnet fishery lies on the beach on Tuesday, July 31, 2018 in Kasilof, Alaska. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)

Fish and Game increases Kasilof sockeye bag limit

With the Kasilof River sockeye run safely within the optimum escapement goal, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game will allow anglers to keep more… Continue reading

A fisherman’s stringer of Kasilof River sockeye salmon caught in the personal-use dipnet fishery lies on the beach on Tuesday, July 31, 2018 in Kasilof, Alaska. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)
A sockeye salmon caught in a dipnet from the Kasilof River lies on the beach on Tuesday, July 31, 2018 in Kasilof, Alaska. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)

Kasilof dipnet fishery hot on high tide, silvers reach Kenai

Tuesday night brought a ray of sunshine, a high tide and a fresh bloom of fish into the mouth of the Kasilof River, straight into… Continue reading

A sockeye salmon caught in a dipnet from the Kasilof River lies on the beach on Tuesday, July 31, 2018 in Kasilof, Alaska. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)
A guide motors a boat full of anglers up the Kenai River near Soldotna Creek Park on Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2018 in Soldotna, Alaska. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)

Kenai River sockeye fishing to close Saturday

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game is closing the Kenai River entirely to sockeye salmon fishing for the rest of the season. Effective Saturday… Continue reading

A guide motors a boat full of anglers up the Kenai River near Soldotna Creek Park on Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2018 in Soldotna, Alaska. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)
A commercial fishing vessel motors slowly past lines of personal-use dipnet fishermen in the mouth of the Kasilof River on Tuesday, July 31, 2018 in Kasilof, Alaska. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)

Evening on the Kasilof

^ Evening on the Kasilof A commercial fishing vessel motors slowly past lines of personal-use dipnet fishermen in the mouth of the Kasilof River on… Continue reading

A commercial fishing vessel motors slowly past lines of personal-use dipnet fishermen in the mouth of the Kasilof River on Tuesday, July 31, 2018 in Kasilof, Alaska. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)
Personal-use dipnet fishermen pull up to the bank of the Kenai River beneath the Warren Ames Bridge on Saturday, July 21, 2018 in Kenai, Alaska. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)

78-pound king caught on Kenai; sockeye fishing up and down

Despite its nickname as the Land of the Midnight Sun, there are in fact hours of darkness on the Kenai Peninsula in July. But the… Continue reading

Personal-use dipnet fishermen pull up to the bank of the Kenai River beneath the Warren Ames Bridge on Saturday, July 21, 2018 in Kenai, Alaska. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)
A brailer bag full of commercially-caught salmon is hoisted up to the Snug Harbor Seafoods dock for processing on Thursday, July 12, 2018 in Kenai, Alaska. On Tuesday the Alaska Department of Fish and Game downgraded its estimated Kenai River sockeye run from 2.5 million fish to less than 2.3 million, changing some of the management procedures for commercial fishing in Upper Cook Inlet. (Photo by Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion)

Fish and Game lowers Kenai River sockeye estimate

The sockeye salmon run to the Kenai River is weaker than the Alaska Department of Fish and Game predicted in the preseason forecast, according to… Continue reading

A brailer bag full of commercially-caught salmon is hoisted up to the Snug Harbor Seafoods dock for processing on Thursday, July 12, 2018 in Kenai, Alaska. On Tuesday the Alaska Department of Fish and Game downgraded its estimated Kenai River sockeye run from 2.5 million fish to less than 2.3 million, changing some of the management procedures for commercial fishing in Upper Cook Inlet. (Photo by Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion)
This May 15, 2017 photo shows a drift gillnet reel on the back of a commercial fishing vessel docked in the Homer small boat harbor in Homer, Alaska. (Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)

Federal council names 5 commercial fishermen to committee

A committee of five fishermen, four of whom live on the Kenai Peninsula, will help provide advice to the council that will write a new… Continue reading

This May 15, 2017 photo shows a drift gillnet reel on the back of a commercial fishing vessel docked in the Homer small boat harbor in Homer, Alaska. (Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)
Tasi Fosi of Anchorage, who has been dipnetting in Chitina since 1991, holds up two king salmon on July 9, 2018 as seagulls hover overhead. (Photo courtesy Mary Catharine Martin)

Low Copper River sockeye return effects ripple outward

It’s a summer tradition for many in Alaska: pack up the car, drive to Chitina and dipnet for Copper River red salmon. It’s a tradition,… Continue reading

Tasi Fosi of Anchorage, who has been dipnetting in Chitina since 1991, holds up two king salmon on July 9, 2018 as seagulls hover overhead. (Photo courtesy Mary Catharine Martin)
An angler casts her line into the Kenai River near Soldotna Creek Park on Wednesday, July 18, 2018 in Soldotna, Alaska. The water in the Kenai River is a little higher than usual — about 9.71 feet, according to U.S. Geological Survey’s gauge at Soldotna — but has fallen since last week and is significantly below the flood stage of 12 feet. Anglers were hitting the banks on Wednesday morning for sockeye salmon, which normally peak in returning numbers to the Kenai River in mid-July. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)

Sockeye fishing remains slow on Kenai, counts pick up on Kasilof

Anglers are hitting the banks of the Kenai River in more serious numbers now, though the sockeye have yet to show up in real force.… Continue reading

An angler casts her line into the Kenai River near Soldotna Creek Park on Wednesday, July 18, 2018 in Soldotna, Alaska. The water in the Kenai River is a little higher than usual — about 9.71 feet, according to U.S. Geological Survey’s gauge at Soldotna — but has fallen since last week and is significantly below the flood stage of 12 feet. Anglers were hitting the banks on Wednesday morning for sockeye salmon, which normally peak in returning numbers to the Kenai River in mid-July. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)

Fish board denies emergency petition on hatchery permit

The Board of Fisheries declined to take up an emergency petition related to hatchery pink salmon production in Prince William Sound, though members agreed the… Continue reading

Angler Mark Higgins fishes the Kenai River from the stairs at Centennial Park on Monday, July 16, 2018 in Soldotna, Alaska. It’s the peak of the fishing season, but runs have been far below those of past years — as of Sunday, <a href="https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/sf/FishCounts/index.cfm?ADFG=main.displayResults&COUNTLOCATIONID=40&SpeciesID=420" target="_blank">the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s sonar had counted a cummulative 105,819 sockeye</a> in the Kenai River this year, versus138,568 sockeye by that date in 2017. Like many anglers on the river, Higgins had an unsucessful Monday afternoon. “Chances are low, but you might as well be fishing rather than sitting in the camper,” he said. (Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion)

By Ben Boettger Peninsula Clarion… Continue reading

Angler Mark Higgins fishes the Kenai River from the stairs at Centennial Park on Monday, July 16, 2018 in Soldotna, Alaska. It’s the peak of the fishing season, but runs have been far below those of past years — as of Sunday, <a href="https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/sf/FishCounts/index.cfm?ADFG=main.displayResults&COUNTLOCATIONID=40&SpeciesID=420" target="_blank">the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s sonar had counted a cummulative 105,819 sockeye</a> in the Kenai River this year, versus138,568 sockeye by that date in 2017. Like many anglers on the river, Higgins had an unsucessful Monday afternoon. “Chances are low, but you might as well be fishing rather than sitting in the camper,” he said. (Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion)

More restrictions for Kenai, Kasilof king salmon

Anglers won’t be able to keep a king salmon on the Kenai and Kasilof rivers after Wednesday. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced… Continue reading

Kodiak hatchery experiments with salt water exposure to mark its pink salmon

Editor’s note: This is the third part of a three-story series about the operations of Alaska’s salmon hatcheries and their consideration in the North Pacific.… Continue reading