Marcia Lynn

The final day of the 2011 commercial halibut fishery was on Friday, and the season ended with Kodiak overtaking Homer as the top port for halibut landings in the state.

An unusual whale washed up on a small beach near Homer recently. The dead whale was found on the beach in Little Tutka Bay. A team from the Alaska Sealife Center in Seward arrived to do a necropsy on the animal.

A new plan to manage halibut in Southeast Alaska and the Central Gulf has just been put out for public review and comment by NOAA Fisheries.