Wednesday, February 18, 2026

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Federal fisheries regulators approved some limits on Western Alaska chum bycatch in the Bering Sea last week.

The highly debated – and long awaited – decision aims to protect declining salmon stocks, a crucial food resource for Alaska tribes.

The Alaska Desk’s Alena Naiden from our flagship station KNBA has this story.

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council voted to set a Western Alaska chum bycatch limit in the Bering Sea pollock fishery.

The council said the move will balance protections for Western Alaska salmon returns, while also allowing pollock fisheries to continue their harvest.

Council member Nicole Kimball voted for the motion. She says it addresses those needs and reflects best available Western and Indigenous science.

“I think it’s going to change behavior. I think it’s going to reduce Western Alaska chum bycatch … I’m sure, as per usual, nobody is very happy, but all of the discussions have really helped … inform the outcome.”

The trawl fishery in the Bering Sea near the Aleutian Islands is focused on pollock, but boats also scoop up other types of fish.

That includes chum salmon, some of which migrates to Western and Interior Alaska rivers and is a crucial subsistence resource there. But chum runs have been declining, leading to repeated fishing closures in some communities.

Alaska Native Council member John Moller, originally from Unalaska, is a commercial fisherman. He says he is fortunate to put fish up each year and feels for those who cannot.

“I know how important that is to me, how important that is to my family, and passing that on to my children – I get that. And my heart is ripped out, speaking with all of you that are living on the rivers right now that don’t have that same ability that I have living in Southeast.”

The council voted to support a motion that sets a limit to Western Alaska chum bycatch. Exceeding that limit would trigger a partial closure.

Rachel Baker is the Deputy Commissioner at Alaska Department of Fish and Game. She presented the motion.

Several members who voted against the motion said it is not likely to provide a meaningful improvement for salmon returns, but Baker argued.

“We’re at this table used to thinking about large volumes of fish, in tons … we heard in testimony that four fish were able to provide the needs for a potlatch.”

The plan goes to the National Marine Fisheries Service next before it can be implemented.

This weekend saw the recent premiere of Season 4 of AMC’s award-winning detective drama, “Dark Winds” which takes place in 1970s Navajo Country.

As Brian Bull reports, tension and resentment threaten the romantic relationship between two main characters.

After Bernadette Manuelito quits the U.S. Border Patrol and returns to the Navajo Tribal Police Department, it looks like a carefree and intimate rekindling of her romance with fellow officer, Jim Chee.

But Lt. Joe Leaphorn shares a life decision with Manuelito that will shake up the force, a secret which Chee inevitably learns.

Feeling affronted and mistrusted, a schism occurs between the couple.

Actors Kiowa Gordon and Jessica Matten talk about bringing this conflict to their characters.

“Leaphorn’s coming from a place of understanding the matriarchy system, and in order to protect this relationship dynamic, she doesn’t feel like she’s lying to Chee, she feels like she’s actually protecting him from what he doesn’t need to know.  Y’know she’s dealing with a lot of the PTSD of her just killing a man in season 3, and sometimes you just don’t want to tell the truth right away because you might actually spiritually just drown, because it’s too much.”

“And he is dealing with his own demons that he’s been pushing away but now they’ve come to collect. And having to deal with that and trying to maintain your professionalism when you’re working with the love of your life at the same time, and so there’s a lot of dynamics being played out.”

Meanwhile, an investigation takes the pair and Leaphorn to Los Angeles.

Gordon and Matten say much of the filming still happened in New Mexico, parts of which resembled L.A. more than 50 years ago.

New episodes of “Dark Winds” air Sunday nights on AMC and a fifth season has already been greenlit.

 

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Wednesday, February 18, 2026 – Native in the Spotlight: Keeya Wiki