Alaska

Alaska's dynamic, often ice-covered seas are home to a remarkable diversity of life—crustaceans, fish, seals, sea lions, porpoises, whales, and more. Few places in the world offer such beauty and bounty. This region of nearly 1.5 million square miles includes waters in the Gulf of Alaska, Bering Sea, Aleutian Islands, Chukchi Sea, and Beaufort Sea.

Alaska produces more than half the fish caught in waters off the coast of the United States, with an average wholesale value of nearly $4.5 billion a year. Alaska's fisheries are among the best-managed, most sustainable in the world. Alaska resources provide jobs and a stable food supply for the nation, while supporting a traditional way of life for Alaska Native and local fishing communities.

Together, NOAA Fisheries Alaska Regional Office and Alaska Fisheries Science Center help ensure the sustainability of these marine resources for generations.

Media Release

NOAA Fisheries Denies Request for Emergency Action to Close the Red King Crab Savings Area and Subarea

Alaska

Feature Story

Meet Amilee Wilson: Alaska Region’s New Tribal Relations Coordinator

Alaska

Harbor with trawl vessels and snowcapped mountains

Trawl EM vessels at their home port in Sand Point, AK.

Feature Story

Empowering a Fleet Through Electronic Technologies

Alaska

Stranding Network members perform an animal autopsy on a stranded gray whale that lies within a sectioned off area of the beach.

A team of scientists from The Marine Mammal Center and the California Academy of Sciences perform a necropsy on a stranded gray whale at San Francisco’s Ocean Beach. Photo: Katie D’Innocenzo/The Marine Mammal Center.

Feature Story

2019 Report of Marine Mammal Strandings in the United States

Alaska

New England/Mid-Atlantic

Pacific Islands

Southeast

West Coast

National

Infographic showing examples of marine and coastal ecosystem services

Ecosystem services are the many benefits that ecosystems provide to humans.

Feature Story

Accurately Accounting for the Economic Value of Marine Ecosystems

Alaska

Fisheries

Federal Register Notices of Proposed and/or Continuing Information Collections as Required by the Paperwork Reduction Act

Alaska

Fisheries

Amendment 122 to the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area; Pacific Cod Trawl Cooperative Program

Alaska

Fisheries

Halibut and Sablefish Individual Fishing Quota Cost Recovery Program Standard Prices and Fee Percentages

Alaska

Fisheries

2023-2024 Alaska Groundfish Harvest Specifications

Alaska

Fisheries

Amendment 123 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Groundfish of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands

Alaska

IB 23-09: NMFS Opens Directed Fishing for Pacific Cod by Catcher Vessels Using Trawl Gear in the Western Regulatory Area of the Gulf of Alaska

Alaska

IB 23-08: NMFS Reallocates Pacific Cod from Vessels Using Jig Gear to Catcher Vessels Less Than 60 Feet Length Overall Using Hook-And-Line or Pot Gear in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands

Alaska

IB 23-07: NMFS Prohibits Directed Fishing for Pacific Cod by Catcher Vessels using Trawl Gear in the Western Regulatory Area of the Gulf of Alaska

Alaska

IB 23-06: NMFS Prohibits Directed Fishing for Pacific Cod by Catcher Vessels using Trawl Gear in the Central Regulatory Area of the Gulf of Alaska

Alaska

IB 23-05: NMFS Prohibits Directed Fishing for Groundfish by Vessels Using Nonpelagic Trawl Gear in the Red King Crab Savings Subarea of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands

Alaska

Bycatch Reduction Engineering Program Funding

National

FY 2021–2023: Broad Agency Announcement

Featured Highlights

Determining the Distributions of Deep-sea Corals and Sponges Throughout Alaska

Alaska

Information on Snow Crab and Salmon in Alaska

Alaska

Ecosystem services are the many benefits that ecosystems provide to humans.

Accurately Accounting for the Economic Value of Marine Ecosystems

Alaska

Mabel Baldwin-Schaeffer stands under an arch made of two whale ribs. She has her arms raised, with her back to the camera and facing the Arctic Ocean on a beach in Utqiagvik, Alaska. The skeleton of a small overturned boat is propped up on the beach beside the arch. Sea ice gathers along the shore and in the distant offshore with a stretch of open water in between. Blue sky and gray clouds are visible above the horizon.

Mabel Baldwin-Schaeffer under the Utqiagvik whale bone arch overlooking the Arctic Ocean. Credit: Patrick Savok.

A Voyage Through the Arctic Post #1

Alaska

Alaska Fisheries Science Center

Our high quality research supports sustainable management and conservation of Alaska marine species with economic and cultural benefits for the nation. Alaska waters support some of the most important commercial fisheries in the world. Large and diverse populations of whales, seals, sea lions, and porpoises and Alaska native hunting and fishing communities also share these waters.

We study the health and size of marine animal populations. We also study the key areas where these animals feed, breed, and grow. To study ocean habitats, we monitor environmental conditions important to sustain marine life. For instance, we regularly monitor sea surface temperatures in the Bering Sea, Aleutian Islands and Gulf of Alaska. We analyze biological, oceanographic and ecological data collected during research surveys and by trained fisheries observers in our laboratories. From this, we learn more about marine animal diets, age, growth and reproduction, food web dynamics and the role of humans in marine ecosystems. We use this and other information to monitor changes to marine animal populations and Alaska ecosystems over time.

Fish and Crab Science

Fisheries Monitoring (Observer Program)

Marine Mammal Science

Ecosystem Science

Sustainable Fisheries

The Alaska Regional Office works with the Alaska Fisheries Science Center and the North Pacific Fishery Management Council to manage Alaska’s sustainable fisheries. Using the best available science, we work through the Council process authorized under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act to develop measures for best management of Alaska’s fisheries, considering a range of factors such as the health of the fish stocks and economic impact of fishery practices. Once fishing levels and regulations are adopted and approved, the Alaska Regional Office works to implement the Council decisions. The goal is to allow fishermen to harvest the optimum amount of fish while leaving enough in the ocean to reproduce and provide future fishing opportunities in perpetuity.

Commercial Fishing

Recreational (Sport) Fishing

Subsistence Fishing

Resources and Programs

Protected Marine Life

The Protected Resources Division works to conserve and recover marine mammals in close coordination with the State of Alaska and other partners. To manage protected marine species, as required under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, Endangered Species Act, and Fur Seal Act, the Alaska Region advances recovery of threatened and endangered species and the conservation of marine mammals, including whales, seals, and sea lions. We work to minimize interactions between marine mammals and commercial fisheries; promote responsible marine mammal viewing practices; coordinate response to stranded or entangled marine mammals; consult with federal agencies to minimize project effects on threatened and endangered species; and cooperatively manage subsistence use of marine mammals through co-management agreements with Alaska Native organizations.

Endangered Species Conservation

Protecting Marine Life

Pinnipeds

Whales, Dolphins, Porpoises

Habitat Conservation

NOAA Fisheries conducts and reviews environmental analyses for a large variety of activities ranging from commercial fishing, to coastal development, to large transportation and energy projects. Working with industries, stakeholder groups, government agencies, and private citizens, we ensure that these activities have minimal impact on essential fish habitat and marine life in Alaska. Our habitat conservation activities include protecting essential fish habitat, mitigating damage to and enhancing habitat affected by hydropower project construction and operations, removing invasive species, and restoring habitat that has been affected by development, oil spills, and other human activities. We focus on habitats used by federally-managed fish species located offshore, nearshore, in estuaries, and in freshwater areas important to migratory salmon.

Essential Fish Habitat

Resource Tools

Habitat Programs

Habitat Restoration

Featured Species

Alaska's coastal communities depend on healthy marine resources to support commercial and recreational fisheries, tourism, and the Alaskan way of life. Our mission at NOAA Fisheries Alaska Regional Office is the science-based stewardship of Alaska’s marine resources and their habitats in the Gulf of Alaska, eastern Bering Sea, and Arctic oceans. We are responsible for supporting sustainable fisheries, recovering and conserving protected species, such as whales and seals, and promoting healthy ecosystems and resilient Alaska coastal communities.