Brian Hagenbuch

Alaska’s earliest salmon fishery – the famed Copper River run – kicked off last week with slow fishing and lower year-on-year prices.

As fishermen scraped through a scant opener, rumors circulated online and in news outlets that Copper River Seafoods was paying out just USD 3.50 (EUR 3.19) for sockeye and USD 6.50 (EUR 5.93) for kings. That would represent a sharp fall from last year’s starting price of USD 10.00 (EUR

Pacific Seafood temporarily closed a plant in Warrenton, Oregon, U.S.A. after a worker tested positive for COVID-19 last week. It was the first positive coronavirus test for Pacific Seafood, which is among the largest seafood companies in the United States.

John King, the general manager of the plant in Warrenton, released a statement late last week saying the seafood giant is now among “many businesses that have been directly touched by

A worker for Ocean Beauty Seafoods became the first positive case of COVID-19 in Cordova, Alaska, the home port of the famous Copper River salmon fishery.

Ocean Beauty’s president Mark Palmer told KLAM radio on Wednesday, 6 May, that the worker was asymptomatic and had been isolated in a bunk room.

The worker, a machinist, is among the first 15 employees Ocean Beauty sent up for the 2020 salmon season, set for its opener on 14 May.

Cordova

Governor Mike Dunleavy’s administration released an extensive new health mandate laying out the latest guidelines for Alaska’s upcoming fishing seasons last week, amidst concerns of the spread of COVID-19 in rural areas of the state.

Health Mandate 17 – which went into effect on Friday, 24 April, and which will be reevaluated on 20 May – is designed “to ensure a safe, productive fishing season this year, while still

The city of Dillingham and the Curyung Tribal Council in Bristol Bay, Alaska, sent a letter to Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy requesting the closure of the world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery in 2020, amidst concerns that a COVID-19 outbreak in rural Alaska will result if it was left open.

“The City of Dillingham and Curyung Tribal Council want to keep the residents of our community, our region and our state safe,” reads the

The seafood industry is adapting and tightening its safety protocols as fears grow over summer fishing activities spreading COVID-19 in rural Alaska.

In Bristol Bay, Alaska, a recently released document signed by local industry heavyweights like the Bristol Bay Regional Development Association and the Bristol Bay Native Corporation suggests that all workers test negative within 48 hours of traveling to the region.

Upon arrival in Bristol Bay,

Alaska issued a mandate late on Monday, 24 March, qualifying the state’s commercial fishing industry as “critical infrastructure,” a move that frees up the Bristol Bay fishery to move forward with preparations for the 2020 season.

But uncertainty looms as the world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery discusses how it might bring nearly 12,000 non-resident workers into remote western Alaska amid the coronavirus

Crowds have thinned at Seattle’s famed Pike Place Fish Market, as fears of the spread of coronavirus are keeping more and more consumers home.

The normal scrum of phone-wielding tourists surrounding the typically boisterous fish market was practically absent over the weekend, but Anders Miller, one of the market’s four co-owners, said the drop in foot traffic has coincided with a spike in online orders.

“We’re definitely