North Gulf Coast (Seward) Management Area
Fishing Information

Marine recreational fisheries are popular in Southcentral Alaska, supporting approximately 486,000 angler-days of effort for all finfish species (2000 estimate). An angler day equals one angler fishing for any part of a day. Effort has more than doubled in the last 20 years. A large portion of this recreational fishing effort is directed at Pacific halibut. Halibut landed in ValdezIn addition, nearly a dozen rockfish species as well as lingcod support recreational fisheries throughout the region. There is a low-level developing fishery for salmon sharks. In addition, numerous other groundfish species are occasionally targeted or taken incidentally, including starry flounder, arrowtooth flounder, Pacific cod, walleye pollock, sablefish, greenlings, skates and spiny dogfish.

The halibut and groundfish fisheries are supported entirely by wild stocks. Although accessible by road, many of these fisheries are considered remote because participation, for the most part, requires a boat. Cost of participation is relatively high compared to many other recreational fishing opportunities. A wide diversity of marine fishing opportunities exists throughout the region, and anglers without access to vessels can use the well-developed charter fleet.

Check out our Sport Fishing Publications webpage for various publications.

The following links lead to regulation summaries of Alaska sport and personal use fishing regulations published by the Division of Sport Fish as a service to anglers. They are not intended to be a complete digest of all fishing regulations.

Regulations may be changed by the Alaska Board of Fisheries during its regular meetings, by emergency regulation, or by emergency order at any time. Any changes to the regulations are made available through the emergency order link below.

North Gulf Coast (Seward) Emergency Orders
North Gulf Coast (Seward) Regulations