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They are certainly cute but the voracious appetites of sea otters continue to cause horrendous damage to some of Southeast Alaska’s most lucrative fisheries. How best to curtail those impacts will be the focus of a day long stakeholders meeting set for November 6 in Juneau. “All of the people who have anything to do with the otters hopefully will all be in the same room at the same time,” said Phil Doherty, co-director of the Southeast Alaska Regional Dive Fisheries Association (SARDFA) based in Ketchikan. A 2011 report by the McDowell Group...
This year's moose season finished with a final count of 127 animals, which is a new Unit Three record, according to Petersburg Fish & Game. Last week when the season ended on Oct. 15, final preliminary numbers showed 125 moose harvested this year, but hunters had an additional five days from the end of the season to report their kills to fish and game. Since the end of the season, two more moose were reported. The additional moose were shot in the Stikine River area and another mainland...
As more Alaskans eye the lucrative opportunities in growing kelp, many others are heading to beaches at Lower Cook Inlet to commercially harvest the detached bunches that wash ashore. That practice is now getting a closer look by state managers and scientists and could result in new regulations by year’s end. Detached kelp harvests have occurred at Lower Cook Inlet under special permits since the 1970s but matters of who needs permits, for how much and for what purposes are not clearly defined. Currently, a special permit is needed for c...
Hundreds of fishery stakeholders and scientists will gather in Anchorage next week as the state Board of Fisheries (BOF) begins its annual meeting cycle with a two-day work session. The seven-member BOF sets the rules for the state’s subsistence, commercial, sport and personal use fisheries. It meets four to six times each year in various communities on a three-year rotation; this year the focus is on Kodiak and Cook Inlet. The fish board and the public also will learn the latest on how a changing climate and off kilter ocean chemistry are a...
This year's moose harvest looks to be above the five- year average with the moose count at 64 just 17 days into the season. Between 2014 and 2018, the average moose count for this time of the season was 58. There was a dip in the moose harvest this time last year, with only 42 being taken. Fish and Game Area Biologist Frank Robbins said the warm weather last fall may have been a factor in the low number of moose being taken. In 2017 and 2016, the moose harvest was 64 about 17 days into the seaso...
The nation’s farmers of the sea are hoping for a helping hand from Uncle Sam to train future generations of fishermen. It would mirror programs in place for nearly 160 years for U.S. farmers and ranchers. Federal backing of training programs for entry level farmers and ranchers can be traced back to the 1862 Morrill Land-Grants Act. Beginning in 2009, Congress authorized $75 million for the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program (BFRDP) to “develop and offer education, training, outreach and mentoring programs to enhance the sus...
September 18 — Extra patrols were requested twice on Cornelius Rd. Authorities responded to individuals smoking marijuana in public on Harbor Way. Extra patrols were requested on 4.5 St. and S. 4th St. September 19 — A disturbance was reported at a location on N. 4th St. September 20 — Extra patrols were requested on Harbor Way. Fredrick Haltiner was arrested on charges of felony failure to stop at the direction of a peace officer and driving under the influence. Authorities responded to a disturbance at a residence on N. 3rd St. The indiv...
Federal stewards of Alaska’s fisheries will meet in Homer for the first time since 1983 as they continue their pursuit of involving more people in policy making. From September 30 to October 10, the Spit will be aswarm with entourages of the 15 member North Pacific Fishery Management Council which oversees more than 25 stocks in waters from three to 200 miles offshore, the source of most of Alaska’s fish volumes. The NPFMC is one of eight regional councils established by the Magnuson-(Ted) Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act in 197...
George S. Doyle General Information Age: 66 Experience: Three years Medical Center Board Member Why do you want to serve on the PMC Board of Directors? Supporting a fiscally and professionally strong Medical Center for our community. As a current board member, I've become more aware of how dedicated the staff of the Medical Center is in providing quality care and services. What are your ideas to make the hospital run more cost efficiently? On a day to day basis the Medical Center staff does an...
"Unpredictable" is the way salmon managers describe Alaska's 2019 salmon season, with "very, very interesting" as an aside. The salmon fishery is near its end, and a statewide catch of nearly 200 million salmon is only six percent off what Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game number crunchers predicted, and it is on track to be the 8th largest since 1975. The brightest spot of the season was the strong returns of sockeye salmon which produced a catch of over 55 million fish, the largest since 1995 and...
WRANGELL - State Wildlife Troopers Kyle Freeberg, of Wrangell, and Cody Litster, of Petersburg, set up shop in Wrangell's downtown pavilion last Sunday afternoon with several hunting regulation handbooks and racks of moose antlers. As many eager hunters across Southeast Alaska are aware, moose season opens on Sept. 15. This is a registration moose hunt, Freeberg said, so anybody wanting to hunt moose will have to be registered with the Department of Fish and Game. The bag limit is one bull...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — An Alaska hunter is recovering from a mauling by a grizzly. Alaska State Troopers spokesman Tim DeSpain says the injured hunter was with a partner Friday in the Eureka area when they surprised a sow with two cubs. Eureka is about 110 miles (177 kilometers) northeast of Anchorage. The sow attacked and seriously injured one hunter. The second hunter shot and killed the bear. The hunters made it on their own to a cabin. A Lifemed Alaska helicopter flew to the cabin and transported the injured man to an Anchorage h...
Federal agencies are meeting now through next March to define U.S. dietary guidelines for 2020-2025, and a high powered group of doctors and nutritionists are making sure the health benefits of seafood are front and center. For the first time in the 40 year history of the program, the dietary guidelines committee has posted the questions they are going to consider. They include the role of seafood in the neurocognitive development in pregnant moms for their babies, and in the diet of kids from b...
SITKA, Alaska (AP) — Alaska wildlife troopers have confiscated catch from a fishing industry lobbyist suspected of fishing in closed waters, officials said. Bob Thorstenson Jr., 55, was commercial fishing Sunday when wildlife troopers cited him for fishing within 200 yards (183 meters) of a protected salmon stream near Sitka, CoastAlaska reported Thursday. The stream acts as a buffer to protect native pink salmon that have become vulnerable near freshwater streams because of drought conditions, said Eric Coonradt, a state Department of Fish a...
Now the shuffling begins at Alaska fisheries offices around the state as the impacts from back and forth veto volleys become more clear. For the commercial fisheries division of the Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game, an $85 million budget, about half of which is from state general funds, reflects a $997,000 dollar cut for FY 2020. Where and how the cuts will play out across Alaska’s far flung coastal regions is now being decided by fishery managers. “Now that the salmon season is about over we’re taking a good close look at this and what we’re...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Add salmon to the list of species affected by Alaska’s blistering summer temperatures, including the hottest July on record. Dead salmon have shown up in river systems throughout Alaska, and the mortalities are probably connected to warm water or low river water levels, said Sam Rabung, director of commercial fisheries for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. The department has not quantified past heat-related fish deaths because they tended to be sporadic and inconsistent, Rabung said. But department scientists thi...
Underwater and out of sight are the makings of a major Alaska industry with two anchor crops that clean the planet while pumping out lots of cash: shellfish and seaweed. Alaskans have now applied for over 2,000 acres of new or expanding undersea farms, double the footprint from two years ago, ranging in size from .02 acres at Halibut Cove to nearly 300 acres at Craig. Nearly 60 percent of the newest applicants plan to grow kelp with the remainder growing a mix of kelp and/or Pacific oysters, said Cynthia Pring-Ham, aquatic farming coordinator a...
In the past year, at least four citizens from Petersburg and Wrangell have sought and gained their U.S. citizenship to be with their families and for peace of mind. Elisa Teodori originates from Italy, but moved to Petersburg after she met her husband, Tor Benson, while working in Ecuador. Laura Davies first came to the US from Canada to work as a recreation therapist in Georgia, but eventually moved to Wrangell to take a job working with Alaska Crossings and met her husband. Gilda Barkfelt...
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced, that the nonresident king salmon closure will be rescinded on August 16. Nonresident anglers may again retain king salmon in Southeast Alaska and Yakutat marine waters. These regulations will be effective 12:01 a.m. Friday, August 16, 2019 through 11:59 p.m. Tuesday, December 31, 2019. King salmon regulations for Alaska residents remain unchanged. The regulations are: Nonresident • The nonresident bag and possession limit is one king salmon, 2...
PETERSBURG - The Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced that the summer season for the commercial Dungeness crab fishery in Registration Area A (Southeast) will close by regulation at 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, August 15, 2019, consistent with 5 AAC 32.110. Reporting of lost pots, or pots left in a closed area in fishing condition, should be directed to Alaska Wildlife Troopers (AWT) offices in Juneau or Ketchikan....
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Biological oceanographer Sonia Batten experienced her lightbulb moment on the perils of too many salmon three years ago as she prepared a talk on the most important North Pacific seafood you'll never see on a plate - zooplankton. Zooplanktons nourish everything from juvenile salmon to seabirds to giant whales. But as Batten examined 15 years of data collected by instruments on container ships near the Aleutian Islands, she noticed a trend: zooplankton was abundant in...
This week, nine Mitkof Middle School students are participating in a summer science camp through the Petersburg Marine Mammal Center that introduces them to science related jobs in the community, while getting them to experience the outdoors. Monday began with an introduction to the camp and safety procedures. Bjorn Stolpe with Petersburg Search and Rescue spoke to the students on how to prevent getting lost in the forest and what to do if they should get lost. A wildlife biologist with the...
It’s been one year, so how’s that trade war with China working out for the nation’s seafood industry? As with farmers, there’s not much winning and ongoing tweeted skirmishes have global fish markets skittish. The quick take is the 25 percent retaliatory tariff imposed by China on US imports last July caused a 36 percent drop in US seafood sales, valued at $340 million, according to an in-depth analysis of Chinese customs data by Undercurrent News. “Chinese imports of US seafood fell from $1.3 billion in the 12 months prior to tariffs (...
August 1, 1919 Petersburg is receiving a coating of red paint. That is, that part of the town owned by the Petersburg Packing Corporation is being painted. A new mechanical process, which does away with the old hand and brush method is being used. A gas engine and compressor are mounted on an old auto frame. The paint is sprayed through a double nozzle effect, the air and paint being delivered under a 70 pound pressure. It will accomplish the work of ten men, and 2 coats applied are equal to three coats under the old method. July 28, 1944 Work...
WRANGELL - A bear safety workshop was held at the gun range on Spur Road last Wednesday, July 24, as one of the first events scheduled for Wrangell's annual Bearfest. Wrangell resident Robert Johnson led the workshop. He has had a lot of experiences with bears over the years, he said, and told everyone early in the workshop that having respect for bears was an important part of staying safe around them. "You just have to be in awe of these animals and show them the utmost respect," he said. "As...
