Gulf of Alaska king salmon are not endangered species, federal government concludes

A king salmon. (Ryan Hagerty/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)

By James Brooks

Alaska Beacon

The federal government has rejected a request to list three populations of Gulf of Alaska king salmon as endangered, according to a public notice scheduled for publication on Thursday.

The listing was requested in 2024 by a Washington state conservation group amid long-term declines in king salmon numbers in Alaska. 

If the listing had been approved, it could have resulted in new limits on development in Alaska as well as major restrictions on commercial, sport and personal-use fishing in the state.

State officials opposed the listing, and in a written statement Wednesday morning, Alaska Department of Fish and Game Commissioner Doug Vincent-Lang said the decision means Alaska is managing its fish stocks well.

“This decision by NMFS Assistant Administrator Eugenio Piñeiro Soler indicates strong support for Alaska’s management of natural resources,” he said. “Alaska became a state, in large part, to hold authority over our own natural resources such as fisheries. Since then, the sound science and fisheries management by our department has been recognized globally.”

The Wild Fish Conservancy, a conservation group based in Washington state, had requested the listing in January 2024, citing climate change and competition from hatchery-raised fish. 

A preliminary finding by the National Marine Fisheries Service in May 2024 concluded that the petition “presents substantial scientific or commercial information indicating that the petitioned action may be warranted.”

At the time, the agency sought additional information, but it made no final decision before the Biden administration ended and the Trump administration began.

In May 2025, the conservancy filed suit against the federal government, stating that officials had illegally delayed their decision on the listing.

Both sides settled the suit in March this year, agreeing that the federal government would decide the issue by May 13. 

Emma Helverson, Executive Director of Wild Fish Conservancy, said by email, “The scale and geographic extent of the crisis facing Chinook across the Gulf of Alaska make this conclusion deserving of careful scrutiny. We are reviewing both the agency’s scientific conclusions and the legal framework underlying this decision before determining next steps.”

• James Brooks Cascade is a longtime Alaska reporter who lives in Juneau. He previously worked at the Anchorage Daily News, Juneau Empire, Kodiak Mirror and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. Alaska Beacon is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.