Bycatch — marine life caught unintentionally while fishers target something else — makes up 2% of the pollock fishery’s total catch. At the scale of a fishery that harvests billions of pounds of pollock annually, that can mean hundreds of thousands of salmon. Over the last 10 years, Bering Sea pollock trawlers caught an average of about 18,000 Chinook and 288,000 other salmon a year, nearly all of them chum.

Alaska’s little-explored ocean floor continues to yield scientific discoveries, including a sponge species in a new-to-science genus Deep-sea sponges and other invertebrates collected during a bottom trawl survey in Alaska are seen in a basket. (Photo provided by NOAA Fisheries) By Yereth Rosen Alaska Beacon The vast and largely unexplored seafloor off Alaska’s coastline produces occasional startling discoveries. The latest concerns the sponges that line the bottom of the oce

President Donald Trump is planning to fly to Alaska next week for a rally intended to boost the re-election campaigns of U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan and Rep. Nick Begich III.

Alaska gubernatorial candidate Treg Taylor has agreed to pay a fine and update his campaign disclosure reports as part of a settlement with state regulators to resolve a campaign finance disclosure complaint.

Former Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson speaks at a gubernatorial candidate forum on Sept. 16, 2026, while former Attorney General Treg Taylor, Anchorage business owner and talk-show host Bernadette Wilson and former state Rep. Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins listen. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

A Republican loss could tip the power balance to Democrats and send the state and nation into a ‘far-left direction,’ Vance told hundreds gathered for the campaign rally.

The U.S. Department of Energy said on Monday that it has approved $150 million to partially fund a second electrical intertie between Southcentral Alaska and the Interior.

Alaskans who have applied for disaster assistance funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and received a denial may still appeal, according to an agency update.

A national Republican organization has put $1.6 million into the Alaska governor’s race — going toe-to-toe with Democratic money that’s also flooded into the state in recent days.

As Alaska heads into the general election, the Alaska Beacon, Alaska Public Media, KTOO and the Anchorage Daily News have an updated voter guide. Just like we did for the primary election, we worked together to build a guide to help Alaskans make informed choices when they vote, and you can find it in the same place as our guide for the primary election.

Bids from interested companies were due Thursday; a contract could come as soon as next month, documents indicate.

The USS Ted Stevens, a state-of-the-art destroyer, is set to be commissioned in Whittier in a ceremony that will honor the late senator and his legacy.