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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.

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.

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.

The state government should do everything it can to defend our fisheries

Juneau Independent
December 14, 2025
Linda Behnken

On Dec. 5, Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation director Randy Bates wrote an opinion piece arguing against Salmon Beyond Borders and the Alaska Longline Fishermen's Association's (ALFA's) assertion that, 10 years after the Walker administration signed a Memorandum of Understanding with British Columbia, the Dunleavy administration is "leaving Alaskans in the dark." Reading Mr. Bates' opinion piece you would not realize that commercial fishermen have also expressed strong concerns about the state's lack of action to protect the Taku, Stikine, Unuk, and Salmon Rivers from the B.C. polluting mining boom upstream.

Read the full article here.

Comment: Let's work together to help wild salmon thrive

Times Colonist
December 8, 2025
Jeff Favour

(A commentary by a Sitka, Alaska resident who has been commercial fishing since 1989. He serves on the board of the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association and has served on several other fisheries and community-related boards and commissions.)

It was disappointing to see David Mills, a fisheries advisor with the Watershed Watch Salmon Society, use divisiveness in the name of salmon conservation in his Nov. 15 commentary, “Let’s unite to fight Alaska’s salmon overharvest.”

Our world needs more collaboration and unity right now, especially when it comes to the shared management of wild Pacific salmon.

Read the article here.

The Wild Fish Conservancy’s never-ending lawsuits

National Fisherman
December 3, 2025
Paul Molyneaux

The environmental group that sued the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) in 2020 in an effort to shut down the Southeast Alaska troll fishery for salmon took home a $1.6 million reimbursement for its costs, despite finally losing its case.

According to the Wild Fish Conservancy (WFC) website, its sole mission is “the protection and recovery of the Northwest’s wild fish.” Sounds like a great idea, and it would seem that the WFC’s mission and that of commercial fishermen ought to align.

Read the article here.

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