Posted on November 16, 2025 by Al Bergstein
The Seattle Times has a good article about the recent collapse of halibut in the Gulf of Alaska.
During his career, the fishing has become a lot tougher, and, last year, a fall fishing trip in the Bering Sea was an outright disaster. A once prime area was largely barren of fish. In the few spots where he still encountered halibut, hungry killer whales stripped away most of the catch before he could bring them onto the boat…Halibut now appear to be at, or near, their lowest point of the past century.
If you have noticed that halibut has vanished from local restaurants or the price for halibut has skyrocketed in your local fish mart, this is the reason.
The reasons are not clearly understood but have many possible causes.
Read it and weep.
https://www.seattletimes.com/pacific-nw-magazine/wa-and-alaska-halibut-fishing-crews-see-troubling-signs-in-recent-harvests/
Filed under: fisheries, Halibut | Tagged: bering sea halibut, commercial fishing, fish market prices, gulf of alaska fishing, halibut collapse | Comments Off on Halibut collapse in the Bering Sea
Posted on August 25, 2014 by Al Bergstein
The story of how this year’s great hot weather has affected the salmon runs.
In a development that has left local fishermen scratching their heads, it appears an unusually warm section of ocean water is helping send nearly the entire sockeye salmon run into Canadian fishing waters this season. According to data from the Pacific Salmon Commission through Tuesday, Aug. 19, in recent weeks about 99 percent of the sockeye salmon has gone through the Johnstone Strait around the northern part of Vancouver Island into Canadian waters. That’s made a big difference in who is catching the fish: Nearly 2.9 million sockeye salmon have been caught in Canadian waters, while the U.S. fishermen had caught around 98,000 through Aug. 19. Dave Gallagher reports. (Bellingham Herald)
http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2014/08/24/3815002_warm-blob-keeps-possible-record.html
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Filed under: Salmon | Tagged: Canada, commercial fishing, fishing, Salmon Recovery, sockeye salmon | Comments Off on ‘Warm blob’ keeps possible record sockeye run away from U.S. waters – Bellingham Herald
