salmon

Volunteers gather around a captured salmon during one of Cook Inletkeeper’s Mapping Salmon Habitat Solution field days in August<ins> 2025</ins>. Every year, Cook Inletkeeper creates programs designed to get community members involved with mapping salmon habitat.

Cook Inletkeeper program promotes community engagement

Backyard Salmonscapes aims to map undocumented salmon habitat with the help of volunteers.

 

A sockeye salmon is carried from the waters of Cook Inlet on North Kenai Beach in Kenai, Alaska, during the first day of the Kenai River personal use dipnet fishery on Thursday, July 10, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

Alaska Department of Fish and Game publishes 2025 commercial salmon summary

The 2025 commercial harvest was 41% greater than the recent 20-year annual average.

 

Salmonfest-goers crowd in front of the Ocean Stage during Blackwater Railroad’s performance on Saturday, Aug. 2, at the Kenai Peninsula Fairgrounds in Ninilchik. (Delcenia Cosman/Homer News)

Celebrating salmon, art and culture

Salmonfest was held in Ninilchik last weekend, featuring music, community and advocacy.

 

John Raymond accepts his tenth place trophy during the 2025 Homer Winter King Salmon Tournament on Saturday, March 22, 2025, at the Deep Water Dock on the Homer Spit in Homer, Alaska. (Delcenia Cosman/Homer News)

Weimann wins fishing tournament championship

The 31st annual Homer Winter King Tournament saw high turnout Saturday.

John Raymond accepts his tenth place trophy during the 2025 Homer Winter King Salmon Tournament on Saturday, March 22, 2025, at the Deep Water Dock on the Homer Spit in Homer, Alaska. (Delcenia Cosman/Homer News)
Chris Keithley, 2024 Homer Winter King Salmon Tournament champion, poses with his prize fish after the awards ceremony at the Deep Water Dock on the Spit in Homer, Alaska on Saturday, March 23, 2024. (Delcenia Cosman/Homer News)

Winter King Tournament scheduled for March 22

This year’s event will be held at the Deep Water Dock at 4667 Freight Dock Road.

Chris Keithley, 2024 Homer Winter King Salmon Tournament champion, poses with his prize fish after the awards ceremony at the Deep Water Dock on the Spit in Homer, Alaska on Saturday, March 23, 2024. (Delcenia Cosman/Homer News)
Upper Cook Inlet Exclusive Economic Zone can be seen on this map provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. (Image via fisheries.noaa.gov)

NOAA to hear public comment about Cook Inlet salmon management

The hearing will be held online as a webinar May 18

Upper Cook Inlet Exclusive Economic Zone can be seen on this map provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. (Image via fisheries.noaa.gov)
Sockeye salmon return to Steep Creek to spawn. Alaska’s overall commercial salmon harvest across all species is currently up 15% from 2021 (2020 for pinks) with Bristol Bay and the Prince William Sound largely carrying the weight while other regions lag, according to data from the most recent Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute weekly salmon harvest update. (Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire)

Statewide salmon harvest on the upswing compared to last year

Bristol Bay and Prince William Sound are mainly pulling the weight

Sockeye salmon return to Steep Creek to spawn. Alaska’s overall commercial salmon harvest across all species is currently up 15% from 2021 (2020 for pinks) with Bristol Bay and the Prince William Sound largely carrying the weight while other regions lag, according to data from the most recent Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute weekly salmon harvest update. (Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire)
Michael Penn / Juneau Empire File A male pink salmon fights its way up stream to spawn in a Southeast Alaska stream in August 2010. A recent report out of Washington state details a dire situation for the state’s salmon. Advocates in Alaska say the report offers a warning to Alaska about salmon-safe development.

Salmon advocates: Dire Washington report offers warning to Alaska

A salmon story with a different ending?

Michael Penn / Juneau Empire File A male pink salmon fights its way up stream to spawn in a Southeast Alaska stream in August 2010. A recent report out of Washington state details a dire situation for the state’s salmon. Advocates in Alaska say the report offers a warning to Alaska about salmon-safe development.
Anglers practice social distancing on the upper Kenai River in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge in late June 2020. (Photo provided by Nick Longobardi/Kenai National Wildlife Refuge)

Kenai River fishing rules tightened

Only unbaited single hooks and artificial lures will be allowed.

Anglers practice social distancing on the upper Kenai River in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge in late June 2020. (Photo provided by Nick Longobardi/Kenai National Wildlife Refuge)
A juvenile Chinook salmon swims in Campbell Creek in Anchorage in this undated photo. (Photo courtesy U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)

Warmer water, rainfall tied to king salmon decline, study suggests

The study looks at nine different indicators for 15 Cook Inlet chinook popluations.

A juvenile Chinook salmon swims in Campbell Creek in Anchorage in this undated photo. (Photo courtesy U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)
‘Devastating,’ meager chum salmon returns worry the fishing industry

‘Devastating,’ meager chum salmon returns worry the fishing industry

‘Unprecedented and staggeringly poor.’

‘Devastating,’ meager chum salmon returns worry the fishing industry
Opinion: The salmon way is worth fighting for

Opinion: The salmon way is worth fighting for

Alaska is our country’s last salmon state.

Opinion: The salmon way is worth fighting for
Contributed photo/Michael Humling, U.S. Fish Wildlife Service Spring Chinook Salmon.

2019 king outlook below average

If the outlook proves true, 2019 will be the fourth-lowest run in 34 years of records

Contributed photo/Michael Humling, U.S. Fish Wildlife Service Spring Chinook Salmon.
Kenai legislators question Board of Fisheries decision

Kenai legislators question Board of Fisheries decision

Peninsula lawmakers question actions by Board of Fisheries

Kenai legislators question Board of Fisheries decision
Sockeye salmon are pictured in this file photo. (File)

Fish and Game optimistic about 2019 sockeye run

After a poor sockeye return last summer, Alaska’s Department of Fish and Game is slightly more optimistic about 2019. Six million sockeye salmon are forecasted… Continue reading

Sockeye salmon are pictured in this file photo. (File)
Board of Fisheries Should Act to Protect Wild Salmon Stocks

Board of Fisheries Should Act to Protect Wild Salmon Stocks

When the Alaska Board of Fisheries meets in Anchorage this October, it can act to place the protection of wild stocks of salmon above expansion… Continue reading

Board of Fisheries Should Act to Protect Wild Salmon Stocks
Sculptor Nichole Hoop works on a carving during the Alaska Wild Salmon Day festivities in Soldotna Creek Park on Friday in Soldotna. The event, organized by the conservation nonprofit Cook Inletkeeper, featured salmon-themed art, servings of salmon chowder, readings by fisher-poets, and music by Tyson James and Motown Fever. (Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion)

Photo: In praise of salmon

By Ben Boettger Peninsula Clarion… Continue reading

Sculptor Nichole Hoop works on a carving during the Alaska Wild Salmon Day festivities in Soldotna Creek Park on Friday in Soldotna. The event, organized by the conservation nonprofit Cook Inletkeeper, featured salmon-themed art, servings of salmon chowder, readings by fisher-poets, and music by Tyson James and Motown Fever. (Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion)

People from across the Peninsula celebrated three days of fish, love and music over the weekend at the eighth-annual Salmonfest in Ninilchik. Hosted at the… Continue reading

Sterling teen awarded Youth Salmon Fellowship

Eve Downing, a 16-year-old from Sterling, has been chosen as an Alaska Youth for Environmental Action Youth Salmon Fellow, an extension of the Alaska Center… 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)

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)