Maritime News

Published on: October 20, 2026

The Comeback of the Yelloweye Rockfish

Most folks who grew up along the Pacific Northwest coast remember rockfish on the dinner table. The firm, mild white fillets were a fixture at fish counters and family tables as they were sturdy enough to fry, bake, or simmer in a chowder. That firm white flesh also worked well with butter, garlic, and herbs. Of the many rockfish species, the yelloweye, often sold as “red snapper,” was considered a high-quality protein. After a quarter century off the menu, it is on its way back.

Yelloweye rockfish are hard to mistake, with bright orange bodies, golden eyes, and rough ridges above each eye. They are among the largest rockfish, reaching about three feet in length and over 30 pounds, and they live on rugged, rocky reefs where they hunt smaller fish, crab, and squid. They reside in the East Pacific and range from Baja California to Dutch Harbor in Alaska. What sets them apart is their lifespan, as yelloweye rockfish can live as long as 147 years. They grow slowly, and it takes about 20 years before even half of them are old enough to reproduce.

That slow growth is what made them vulnerable. Catches peaked from the late 1970s through the late 1990s, and the population could not be sustained. In 2002, yelloweye rockfish were declared overfished off the West Coast, and keeping them was prohibited. With an average generation time of 44 years, fishery managers projected only a 50 percent chance of recovery by 2027, even if all fishing stopped.

Published on: October 13, 2026

Bering Sea Crab Seasons Open October 15, 2026, With Higher King and Tanner Crab Quotas

by Nigel Stacey

Crabbers across the Bering Sea are getting ready for opening day. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game has released catch limits for the Bristol Bay red king crab, Bering Sea snow crab, and Tanner crab seasons, which all open this week on Thursday, October 15th, 2026.

The Bristol Bay red king crab total allowable catch is set at 3.41 million pounds, more than half a million pounds above last season. The limit for Tanner crab rose even more significantly, to 32.1 million pounds. Of that, 27.2 million pounds is allocated to the western Bering Sea. The snow crab limit fell by nearly half to 5.1 million pounds, as the stock is still rebuilding after the population crash that closed the fishery for the first time in 2022. Experts estimate that the combined season could be worth over $250 million.

The recovery follows a hard few years for the people who work these waters. The fleet has shrunk from approximately 60 vessels to 40 since the closures. Most of the boats that left were independent and family-owned. For second and third generation fishing families, the closures have been especially painful. Many rely on one fishery for their livelihood, so a closed season can mean a lost year of income. Industry leaders expect this year’s higher quotas to help some of them return, bringing the fleet back up to about 45 vessels.

Published on: September 15, 2026

F/V EMILY ROSE Takes on Water Near Long Island, Alaska

by Nigel Stacey

Four crew members aboard the F/V EMILY ROSE had a close call Thursday evening, September 10, 2026, after their vessel struck a rock near Long Island, Alaska, and began rapidly taking on water. U.S. Coast Guard Sector Western Alaska and U.S. Arctic watchstanders received a VHF distress call around 9:15 p.m. and immediately issued an urgent marine information broadcast while directing an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew from Air Station Kodiak to the scene.

Two good Samaritan vessels, the F/V LADY SEA and the F/V JACKLYN W, answered the broadcast and made their way to the F/V EMILY ROSE. Together with the U.S. Coast Guard aircrew, they delivered dewatering pumps to help slow the flooding. The F/V LADY SEA’s crew then tied to the F/V EMILY ROSE and pinned it against the shore to prevent the vessel from sinking while waiting for the tide to go out. Once the tide fell, grounding the vessel, the F/V EMILY ROSE crew patched the source of the flooding and tested the repair when the tide came back in. The F/V LADY SEA towed the F/V EMILY ROSE about 11 miles to Fuller Boat Yard in Kodiak for a full assessment, with U.S. Coast Guard Cutter FREDERICK MANN (WPC 1160) standing by to escort and monitor the situation. This incident demonstrates how much commercial fishing safety in Alaska still depends on other boats in the water.

Fast radio communication, a quick U.S. Coast Guard response, and two fishing crews willing to rise to the occasion reveal something important about the fishing fleet in these waters. Good Samaritan responses are part of the culture of Alaska’s commercial fishing industry, where boats routinely divert course, share equipment, or tie to a vessel without a second thought.

Published on: September 9, 2026

Two Boaters Lost Near St. Lawrence Island

by Nigel Stacey

It is with great sadness that we report the loss of two boaters from Savoonga, Alaska, a village of about 800 people on St. Lawrence Island in the Bering Sea. Three people, including a 15-year-old, left Savoonga on an 18-foot skiff on Friday, September 4, 2026, and were expected home by 3 a.m. on Sunday, September 6, 2026. When the boat did not return, Alaska State Troopers notified the U.S. Coast Guard, but poor weather kept search aircraft grounded until Monday morning, September 7, 2026.

That afternoon, a U.S. Coast Guard HC-130 Hercules crew located the capsized skiff about four miles east of the island and found the 15-year-old clinging to the hull, showing signs of hypothermia. The aircrew dropped a life raft and survival equipment, then guided the nearby good Samaritan F/V NORTHWEST EXPLORER, to the scene with a line of flares. The other two boaters were recovered from the water. They were unresponsive and brought aboard along with the teenager for transport to Nome.

“Our hearts go out to the families, friends, and communities affected by the tragic loss of these two mariners,” said Rear Adm. Bob Little, the commander of the Arctic District. “We are grateful for the incredible efforts of the motor vessel Northwest Explorer, Federal, State, Village first responders and mission partners who assisted in the effort that resulted in a life saved.”

Published on: September 1, 2026

Record Breaking Pink Salmon Season in Sitka Brings a Crowded Fishing Ground

by Nigel Stacey

It has been a season of extremes for Sitka purse seiners. In late July, Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G ) managers worried that it would be a poor fishing season, and then the run turned around almost overnight. On August 6, 2026, seiners in District 13 brought in 1.23 million pink salmon in a single day, breaking the previous record of roughly 950,000 fish set back in 2017. Four days later, on August 10, 2026, they broke that new record too, harvesting 1.28 million fish in a day. By August 17, 2026, the season had climbed to the seventh largest in state history, with more openings still to come.

ADF&G Sitka area management biologist Aaron Dupuis pointed to two things behind the turnaround, a genuinely strong pink salmon run, which he noted is unusual for an even year, and a real jump in fishing efforts. As pink salmon arrived late to the Ketchikan, Juneau, and Petersburg fisheries, purse seine boats shifted toward Sitka, adding an estimated 20 to 30 more vessels than average to those grounds. Better prices, with purse seined pink salmon running about 60 cents per pound, roughly double recent years, makes it easy to see why fishermen are eager to work these grounds.

A record season is welcome news for the fleet, but a sudden surge in both fish and boats can bring its own risks. More vessels working the same grounds means more congestion, more gear in the water, and more chances for close quarters incidents. A compressed, high intensity harvest window can also push crews toward long hours and little rest as they try to make the most of strong openings while they last, and that combination has long been linked to fatigue related injuries in commercial fishing.

Published on: August 3, 2026

Coast Guard Rescues Three Fishermen After Vessel Collision, Sinking Off Grays Harbor

by Nigel Stacey

A collision between two commercial fishing vessels off the Washington coast recently left one boat at the bottom of the ocean and three crew members narrowly escaping the frigid Pacific waters.

On the morning of July 21, 2026, the U.S. Coast Guard responded to a distress call roughly 22 miles off Grays Harbor. Authorities reported that the 62-foot F/V TABITHA collided with the 35-foot wooden-hulled F/V NORA J. While the F/V TABITHA escaped with minor damage, the F/V NORA J sustained severe hull breaches and immediately began taking on water.

A U.S. Coast Guard motor lifeboat crew out of Station Grays Harbor arrived shortly after the incident, and evacuated the three fishermen aboard the F/V NORA J. The F/V TABITHA stood by to assist, but despite coordinated dewatering efforts, the F/V NORA J could not be saved and sank in about 300 feet of water.

Published on: July 21, 2026

The Astoria Regatta Festival: Love Letter to the Sea

by Nigel Stacey

Every August, the town of Astoria, Oregon, celebrates the Columbia River, the sea, and the people who have spent generations working it. The Astoria Regatta Festival has been a hometown tradition since 1894, which makes it one of the oldest festivals in the Pacific Northwest, and the oldest celebration in Oregon’s oldest city. This longevity does not happen by accident. It happens because a community keeps deciding, year after year, that their maritime story is important and worth sharing and remembering.

The Astoria Regatta celebrates the area’s maritime tradition. Commercial and recreational boaters alike demonstrate the pride they have in this tradition through land and sea parades, search and rescue demonstrations, boat races, and a Seafarers’ Memorial. Through these events and the Regatta, the community pays homage to the hardworking men and women who built this industry, many of them multi-generational family mariners, and the excitement to continue the tradition for generations to come.

To understand why this festival matters, one must understand the river. Astoria sits where the Columbia meets the Pacific, a stretch of water that has carried Native American canoes, tall-masted clipper ships, U.S. Navy vessels, U.S. Coast Guard cutters, and generations of fishing boats. It is not an easy river to navigate. The bar at the mouth of the river is one of the most dangerous stretches in the world, earning it the nickname “Graveyard of the Pacific.” Every person who has piloted a boat across this bar, whether for a living or for pleasure, knows it demands respect and patience. The Regatta was born out of that knowledge and practice.

Published on: July 14, 2026

Bristol Bay’s 2026 Sockeye Run Nears 29 Million

by Nigel Stacey

Bristol Bay’s sockeye run is closing in on 29 million fish, and the fleet is moving toward the Naknek-Kvichak District for the next part of the season.

According to a Bristol Bay fisheries report, the bay-wide run is sitting at 28.78 million sockeye through July 7th, 2026. Fishermen caught 1.15 million fish on Monday alone, bringing the cumulative catch to 17.95 million sockeye.

Here are the numbers by district:

Published on: June 30, 2026

How Screen Time Is Becoming a New Maritime Fatigue Risk

by Nigel Stacey

We have reported before about how long shifts, overnight watches, and inadequate crew rotation can push maritime workers toward dangerous levels of exhaustion. But a newer and less obvious source of fatigue is showing up in research, and it has nothing to do with how hard someone is working. It has to do with what they are doing during the hours they should be resting.

Internet connectivity at sea has improved dramatically as low-earth-orbit satellite systems, led by Starlink Maritime, replace older geostationary satellites parked 22,000 miles up. Those older systems were slow, laggy, and often expensive as they were billed by the megabyte, so crew members had to use them sparingly. Low-earth-orbit satellites orbit just a few hundred miles up, cutting lag and adding bandwidth at a flat monthly rate. This recent technology has turned a once rationed connection into something on par with home broadband, even on smaller fishing vessels that could never have previously justified the costs.

Workers who once went weeks without contacting home can now call, text, and video chat from the middle of the ocean. Another real advantage to this new satellite technology is the ability to dependably reach help in an emergency. The trouble is that this same connectivity is creating a new and measurable safety problem: digital fatigue.

Published on: June 23, 2026

U.S. Coast Guard Helicopter Crashes Near Sitka, Alaska

by Nigel Stacey

A U.S. Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew from Air Station Sitka crashed during a training flight near Harbor Mountain in Sitka, Alaska, on Monday, June 22^nd, 2026. All four crew members aboard survived.

Watchstanders at the Arctic District command center received the initial report of the crash through the activation of the aircrew’s personal locator beacon at approximately 10:07 a.m. Sitka Fire and Rescue arrived on scene at approximately 11:00 a.m. and transported all four crew members to Mt. Edgecumbe Medical Center.

“We are incredibly relieved our crew members survived with only minor injuries,” said Rear Adm. Bob Little, commander of the Coast Guard’s Arctic District. “We are grateful for the swift response by the Sitka Fire and Rescue who assisted us during this critical time.”