It's been a rough few years for Alaska's fishing industry. Oversupply, competition from farmed and Russian salmon, inflation and rising interest rates — all of these things have combined to put a real hurt on fishermen and processing companies.

As the summer salmon season kicks off, there are some glimmers of hope that things are turning around. But there are also still some big questions and challenges looming over the industry. We break them down here, courtesy of an all-star group of guests:

• Norm Pillen, president of a processing company in Sitka that's cooperatively owned by fishermen, the Seafood Producers Cooperative. (You can buy fish directly from there, here.)

• Erick Sabo, a Bristol Bay skipper and board president of a regional fisheries marketing group called the Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association.

• Rachel Sapin, a longtime reporter for industry publication Intrafish who covers Alaska processing businesses and other stories.

Feedback? Email host Nat Herz at nat[at]northernjournal.com. We're also recruiting advertisers for this podcast; if you're interested, drop Nat a line.