Molly Dischner

Thousands of cans of Bristol Bay sockeye will make their way to school lunches and other federal food programs around the country this winter as part of a USDA bailout. KDLG’s Molly Dischner has more.

The United States Department of Agriculture announced Wednesday that it will buy half-pound cans of sockeye salmon from Icicle Seafoods and Peter Pan for federal food programs.

The Pebble Limited Partnership is asking for a former Environmental Protection Agency official to be subpoenaed as part of the lawsuit over the agency’s alleged violation of federal regulations. The case is in front of Federal District Court Judge H. Russel Holland, who denied the EPA’s motion to dismiss the case in June.

The Togiak National Wildlife Refuge encompasses 4.7 million acres in southwestern Alaska, from the west side of Bristol Bay, near Dillingham, west to Togiak and north to the Quinhagak and Platinum region. Each year, refuge staff organizes a high school science camp, conducted via float trip, to show area students a little sliver of the refuge in their backyard. Earlier this month, six students from Dillingham and Twin Hills floated the Pungokepuk River.Download Audio

The Alaska salmon processors at odds over who can use the the Marine Stewardship Council’s blue sustainability logo have finally reached an agreement.

Despite the new ways of marketing and selling salmon, canned fish remains a major product in Bristol Bay. In 2013, 38 percent of the salmon coming out of the bay was put into cans. But they aren’t exactly flying off the shelves. A marketing maestro working with the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute to change that.Download Audio

Bristol Bay fishermen had their biggest haul of the season July 8, with about 1.7 million sockeye harvested, including 1 million from the Naknek-Kvichak district.Download Audio:

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game is still finalizing a plan to for the most recent cut to its budget, but Bristol Bay shouldn’t see too many more cuts, said Commercial Fisheries Director Jeff Regnart during a recent visit to Dillingham

After fishermen pointed out what they thought was a change in the size of king salmon returning to the Copper River, researchers from Fish and Game looked at data from 10 Alaska rivers.Download Audio

The two groups of processors at odds over who can put the Marine Stewardship Council’s blue sustainability label on their fish appear to be at an impasse, says Chris Hladick, the state’s commissioner of commerce, community and economic development.