30 Day Public Comment Period - Notice of Intent for Tongass Forest Plan revision

On Wednesday, February 18, the Forest Service issued its Notice of Intent to revise the existing Tongass National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan (Forest Plan) and prepare an environmental impact statement analyzing new plan content. The Forest Service plans to produce a Draft Forest Plan and Environmental Impact Statement this fall and finalize the plan in 2027. The Notice of Intent triggers opportunities for public comment related to the need to change the current plan, recommendations for plan content, significant issues and the development of alternative approaches to forest management.

Learn More Here.

Stay Tuned: 

ALFA will prepare a comment guide several weeks before the deadline for submitting comments, which is March 20, 2026. Online comment submissions will be available at: http://cara.fs2c.usda.gov/Public/CommentInput?Project=64039 

The agency will also hold public meetings, with times and locations available at: https://www.fs.usda.gov/r10/tongass/planning/forest-plan/plan-revision-public-engagements

'A load of pollocks': NGOs question pollock industry reports

Oceanographic
Eva Cahill
January 26, 2026

Ocean and local community NGOs say the Alaskan Pollock Industry report is built on ‘faulty assumptions’ and ends with ‘incomplete conclusions’, citing new analysis that challenges its findings.

Read the full article here.

Trawlers Get Away with Playing by Their Own Rules

Anchorage Daily News
Mike Williams Sr. and Walt Pasternak
January 29, 2026

Picture this: A person subsistence fishing on the Kuskokwim chooses to fish for salmon to sustain their family when the river is closed. They risk having their net, buoy and harvest confiscated by federal or state wildlife officials. If that happens, they then have to travel away from home to Bethel, which could be hours away by boat or hundreds of dollars away by plane, to retrieve their gear. They probably will have to pay a fine or maybe serve some jail time. Their catch will be gone.

Read the full article here.

Patti Phillips Sitka Conservation Society Subsistence Article

Patti Phillips knows subsistence.

She grew up in Sitka, learning how to harvest deer from her father. When she moved to Pelican, she raised her family on that same subsistence way of life.

“My husband and I got married in 1982 and had a family. We spent the winters trapping and getting deer. It was important that we got the deer meat. It wasn’t just about building traditions with our kids, it was a means of survival.”

For more than 30 years, Patti has served on the Southeast Regional Advisory Council, bringing both a deep understanding of subsistence policy under ANILCA and a lifetime of lived experience on the land and water.

Read the full post here.

Call to Ban Bottom Trawling in New Zealand

January 12, 2026
Seafood News

New Zealand spearfishing champion Darren Shields is urging Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones to ban bottom-trawl fishing, believing it is setting the country up for more collapsed fisheries like two already ruined in Northland.

Read the full article here.

Sea Trial Near for Sitka Electric Fishing Boat

Daily Sitka Sentinel
January 12, 2026
Anna Laffrey

Tradesmen are working around the clock at Sitka’s community boatyard to install a hybrid electric propulsion system on the F/V Mirage, and breathe life into research toward clean energy solutions and cost savings for Alaska's small boat fisheries.

Read the full article here.

Target on Tongass The wildest national forest may soon lose its protections

The Seattle Times
January 3, 2026
Lynda V. Mapes

The otherworldly beauty of the Tongass National Forest is at the heart of the livelihood of many local Southeast Alaska businesses that host a booming tourism industry. “They don’t come here to see clearcuts,” says Dan Blanchard, whose small-boat cruise operation draws 7,000 to 10,000 visitors every summer to see the big trees, bears and wild salmon that have thrived under the protection of the federal Roadless Rule.

Read the full article here.

AK trawl is “a model of sustainable fishing” says global watchdog. No Alaskans weighed in.

Alaskafish.news
January 2, 2026
Laine Welch

Bering Sea and Gulf of AK trawl fisheries were re-certified as well-managed and sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council. Alaskans were left out of the process.

Read the full article here.

Alaska’s First Commercial Fishing Boat Hybrid Prepares to Hit the Water

Must Read Alaska
December 17, 2025
Natalie Spaulding

The Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association (ALFA) has been working to hybridize Alaska’s fishing fleets since receiving a grant from the Department of Energy’s Vehicle Technology Office (VTO) in 2021. From 2021-2023, ALFA partnered with the National Research Energy Laboratory to “identify that the viable next step is a hybrid diesel/electric boat.”

Read the full article here.

‘We’re really breaking new ground’: hybrid fishing boat prepares for maiden voyage in Sitka

KCAW Raven Radio
December 15, 2025
Hope McKenney

It’s a cold, snowy day down by Sitka’s marine haulout. Inside the giant unheated commercial workspace, I can still see my breath as men weld and work on boat parts around me. 

Off to one side is a giant engine — or should I say two, one white and one dark grey — stuck together in an intricate pattern of metal and tubing. This engine is hybrid electric and is about to be put in the 50-foot fishing vessel Mirage.

The Mirage could be Alaska’s first official hybrid electric fishing boat, and it’s one step closer to hitting the water. The boat is part of a pilot program based in Sitka to address high fuel costs for the fishing fleet and maybe make fishing just a little bit greener.

Read the full article here.