Brian Hagenbuch

Contributing Editor reporting from Seattle, USA

Brian Hagenbuch spent a decade in South America, where he was a journalist for Reuters and Time Out in Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro. He now lives in Seattle and works as a freelance writer and translator, as well as a commercial fisherman in Bristol Bay. 


Author Archive

Published on
January 12, 2022

Alaska’s summer salmon season in 2021 showed significant recovery over a lackluster 2020.

The 2020 season saw just 116.8 million fish caught – far below the pre-season projection of 133 million fish. The total made it the fifth-worst even-year harvest since 1975 – and with Bristol Bay removed from the equation, it was the worst sockeye salmon season since 1976.

Initial estimates for the 2021 season, however, are much more

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Published on
December 13, 2021

Values continue to rise for the sockeye salmon fishery in Bristol Bay, Alaska as a record string of runs coincides with a strong sockeye salmon market.

According to final figures released by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADFG) this fall, last season’s run – the largest ever in Bristol Bay – topped 71 million fish, with a catch of over 42 million sockeye. 

“If you lined those fish up nose to tail,

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Published on
September 17, 2021

Genuine Alaska Pollock Producers (GAPP) has announced 16 partners that will benefit from USD 1.6 million (EUR 1.36 million) in funding to market existing items and develop new products from Alaska pollock.

The funds were awarded through GAPP’s partnership program to seafood companies including Gorton’s Seafood, High Liner Foods, Alaska Naturals, and Pure Catch Nutritional Supplements.

Seven of the 20 projects will focus on

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Published on
September 9, 2021

Around 500 scientists from 44 countries have signed a letter urging a moratorium on ocean mining, an activity that researchers say could be adversely affect fisheries, in particular deep-sea catches like tuna.

Scientists made the plea recently after an ocean-mining company and its host country, the Pacific island nation of Nauru, touched off a two-year rule with the International Seabed Authority (ISA), headquartered in Kingston, Jamaica. The

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Published on
September 9, 2021

Low stocks have prompted the U.S. state of Alaska to cancel the red king crab fishery in Alaska’s Bering Sea for winter 2021-2022 season.

After a review of the final bottom-trawl survey by the National Marine Fisheries Service, Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADFG) ADFG made the announcement Friday, 3 September, saying the stock was “below the regulatory threshold for opening a fishery.” ADFG said more details

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Published on
September 6, 2021

The Alaska summer salmon catch has surpassed 205 million fish, surpassing the preseason prediction of 190 million fish by eight percent ... 

Photo courtesy of Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development

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Published on
September 3, 2021

Peter Pan Seafoods is riding an increase in online seafood commerce to ramp up the company’s online, never-frozen sales. Rodger May and McKinley Capital management purchased the Bellevue, Washington, U.S.A. company from Maruha Nichiro in November 2020 …

Photo courtesy of Peter Pan

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Published on
September 2, 2021

Peter Pan Seafood announced Wednesday, 1 September, it will require all shoreside employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as case numbers are on the rise in the U.S. states of Alaska and Washington.

The company’s new policy will go into effect by tiers. The first tier will pick up the remaining 5 percent of unvaccinated workers at processing plants and support facilities around Bristol Bay, Alaska, and at its Valdez processing

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Published on
August 20, 2021

After a slow start, pink salmon catches are gathering steam as Alaska’s summer salmon season moves into its final weeks of fishing …

Photo courtesy of Maxim

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Published on
August 16, 2021

Major players in the U.S. West Coast fishing industry sent a letter to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) on Thursday, 12 August, requesting a thorough review of how a proposed sea otter reintroduction might affect the region’s fisheries and coastal economies.

A bill signed last year by former U.S. President Donald Trump gave USFWS until the end of 2021 to assess the impact a West Coast sea otter reintroduction might have on the

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