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By Patrick Wilson, retiring OBI Seafoods Petersburg plant manager and Nik Wendel, current OBI Seafoods Petersburg plant manager Petersburg Fisheries has been the cornerstone of the community since 1965 when the town pooled their resources and bought the processing plant that was about to go under. It was the partnership of members of the community and commercial fishermen that has helped keep our facility running over the past 55 years. Now under OBI Seafoods, we continue to keep this spirit as... Full story
January The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration proposed establishing critical habitat areas for humpback whales in three distinct population segments located off Mexico, Central American and the Western Pacific. The Petersburg Borough sent a letter of disapproval to the National Marine Fisheries Service regarding the proposed critical habitat for humpback whales after residents spoke out against the proposal. The Petersburg Borough authorized the hire of Josh Rathmann to fill the...
We have no desire to critique the public radio station's work but last week we had several people ask what we thought of station intern Corinne Smith's story that aired on KFSK. The story highlighted seafood workers' summer employment experiences in Petersburg under the state's Covid-19 mandates. The piece fell far below the level of excellence usually attained by the station's news department. More work was needed to add balance to a story that could have highlighted the achievements of both... Full story
Ocean Beauty Seafoods LLC and Icicle Seafoods, Inc. will be merging their wild salmon and Gulf of Alaska groundfish operations effective June 1, the two companies announced in a joint-statement on Friday, May 29. Both companies will each own a 50 percent stake in the new company, which will be called OBI Seafoods LLC. The company looks to modernize processing facilities and combine marketing product expertise. The merger has been in the works since the fall of 2018, said Mark Palmer, president a...
Ronald Berl Lindsey, 75 died on March 2, 2020 in Anchorage, Alaska. He was born on March 9, 1946 to Alpha Dee Garrett in Weatherford, Texas. His mother later moved to Oklahoma where she married Norman Lindsey and raised Ron and his three younger brothers Norman Ray, Joe and Danny. Ron joined the U.S. Marine Corps in 1964 and served until 1968. He did two tours in Vietnam. He was very proud that he was one of the "few." Ron moved to Alaska in the early 70s and worked at Icicle Seafoods first as... Full story
May 28, 1920 Work on the Petersburg Scow Bay road has been started by the Alaska Road Commission and it is the intention of that body to push the work to a rapid completion this summer. Mr. Cheatham stated before leaving town that $30,000 will be spent on the road this summer and that between 30 and 35 men will be employed from the time the camp starts until the work is finished. The work this year will consist of practically 2 miles of dirt work, including clearing, grading, surfacing and ditching. The logging donkey will be used in grading...
Ocean Beauty Seafoods LLC and Icicle Seafoods, Inc. will be merging their wild salmon and Gulf of Alaska groundfish operations effective June 1, the two companies announced in a joint-statement on Friday, May 29. Both companies will each own a 50 percent stake in the new company, which will be called OBI Seafoods LLC. The company looks to modernize processing facilities and combine marketing product expertise. The merger has been in the works since the fall of 2018, said Mark Palmer, president a... Full story
Representatives from Icicle Seafoods and Tridents Seafoods laid out their plans for bringing in outside workers to Petersburg amid the COVID-19 pandemic at the COVID-19 community update last Friday. Julianne Curry of Icicle Seafoods said the company's plans for protecting its workforce and the community from an outbreak will adapt as new mandates are released from the state and as needed on a local level. "The situation is very fluid, so we'll incorporate new information into our plans and...
Sales of Alaska’s most popular seafoods are being hit hard by markets upended by the coronavirus, but perhaps none is getting battered worse than halibut. Along with the big losses in the lucrative restaurant trade, Pacific halibut also is facing headwinds from increasing foreign imports. Starting three years ago, sales of fresh Pacific halibut to established markets on the east coast were toppled by a flood of less expensive fish flowing in primarily from eastern Canada. Trade data show that for 2019 through February 2020, total Canadian h...
Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht told the borough assembly on Monday that the borough has been working with Icicle Seafoods and Trident Seafoods on their plans for bringing cannery workers into town during the upcoming fishing season. Giesbrecht said the two canneries' plans are being reviewed by medical professionals at Petersburg Medical Center. Both canneries are making modifications to their plans and submitting them to the state for approval, said Giesbrecht. The borough is having a...
Local canneries are in the beginning stages of developing a plan to prevent the possible spread of COVID-19 brought into town by cannery workers that will be hired for the upcoming fishing season. “We have a tremendous responsibility to the communities that we bring workers into,” said a representative from Icicle Seafoods who asked not to be named. The representative said Icicle Seafoods has been screening workers in the past, but the company has stepped up their procedures in light of the COV...
The Local Emergency Planning Committee held their second meeting in two weeks telephonically, as the borough and local businesses take further precautions to prevent a COVID-19 outbreak in Petersburg. To start off the teleconference, Petersburg Public Health Nurse Erin Michael and Petersburg Medical Center's Laurie Miller gave a brief overview of the new developments being taken by local health professions in reaction to the virus. Michael said the public health office and PMC are making...
Canned salmon from Icicle Seafoods was included in the 25 totes of fresh produce and groceries donated to the villages of Kake and Angoon this week. The Southeast villages have been impacted by the recent lack of ferry service prompting Rotary Club president elect Bennett McGrath and Pastor Nathan Lopez to gather donations of cash and food for the two communities. (Left to right) Toni Rogers, Marva Reid and Delinda Herbrandson hand label half pound cans of sockeye salmon in the Petersburg...
Betty was born in Evanston, Illinois to Swedish immigrants, Carl and Elizabeth Roger, fondly remembered by all as Big and Little Benna. Petersburg did not have a doctor at that time so Elizabeth traveled back to be with her family in Evanston to give birth to their first born. Betty was raised "out the point" in the log house her father built. It still stands today overlooking the Wrangell Narrows and Frederick Sound. Growing up during the depression was very difficult, but the family made the... Full story
Icicle Seafoods executives and workers rallied around the family and friends of Ken Hicks who passed away last week. Ken was the cannery foreman and was employed by the company for 33 years. Workers and friends worked hand in hand with his daughter Erin to sort and pack up his belongings. Their all-in efforts reflect the love and appreciation everyone had for Ken's long-time contributions to the company. May such acts of kindness continue beyond this Christmas season and throughout the New...
Kenneth LeRoy Hicks, 66 died December 9, 2019 at home in Petersburg, Alaska of natural causes. Ken was born February 20, 1953 in Port Townsend, Washington to Don and Pat Hicks. He attended Oak Harbor High School in Washington. He worked in Petersburg for Icicle Seafoods for 33 years as cannery foreman. He was a member of the Moose and Elks lodges. He is survived by: Parents Don and Pat Hicks of Yuma, Arizona; Daughter Erin Hicks of Renton, Washington; Son and Daughter-in-law and grandchildren... Full story
This year's salmon harvest came in below expectations in Southeast Alaska with a particularly bad chum salmon run, but the Dungeness crab fishery kept cannery crews and fishermen busy. "It was a below average harvest for all species of salmon," said Troy Thynes, regional management coordinator for commercial fisheries with Alaska Fish and Game. The coho salmon harvest came in at 1,673,000 in Southeast Alaska, while districts six and eight, the two districts around Mitkof Island and north of...
The Petersburg municipal election is next week, and only one proposition, which would authorize long-term indebtedness for utility capital projects, will be on the ballot. The loans will be through the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation and will be paid back over a 20-year period at 1.5 percent interest. The responsibility of the repayment of the loans would fall on water and wastewater rate payers. The wastewater department has five projects planned for a total of $2.6 million,...
Cannery Park has been taking shape in the past few weeks, but Icicle Seafoods Plant Manager Patrick Wilson said more improvements are still on the way for the one-time storage lot. Wilson has been spearheading the project, which began about five years ago in the downtown area. The lot that Cannery Park sits on is owned by Icicle Seafoods. The Fryer building was eventually torn down after it began to fall apart, and Icicle Seafoods used it as a storage lot. Wilson said he wanted to display the...
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...
Voters will decide if they want the borough to take out loans to fund eight utility projects totaling no more than $8 million after the assembly passed ordinance #2019-05 in its third reading last week. The loans will be through the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation and will be paid back over a 20-year period at 1.5 percent interest. The responsibility of the repayment of the loans would fall on water and wastewater rate payers. The wastewater department has five projects planned...
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 (...
The borough assembly approved an ordinance last week in its first reading that would give voters the opportunity to decide whether or not to allow the water and wastewater departments to take out loans not to exceed a total of $8 million for capital improvement projects. The responsibility of the repayment of the loans would fall on water and wastewater rate payers. The loans will be through the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation and will be paid back over a 20-year period at 1.5...
Borough manager Stephen Giesbrecht submitted a list of potential budget discussion items to the borough assembly on Monday that outlines possible cuts in funding to services as the assembly begins talks on the 2020 fiscal year budget. “The direction that I’ve heard from the assembly prior to today via informal conversations and various meetings is not that we don’t want to consider cuts if the budget’s balanced. What I was hearing from the assembly is we need to reduce the size of the borough government,” said Giesbrecht. One suggestio...
James Christopher Jensen was born in Petersburg, Alaska on March 18, 1954. His parents, Gordon and Helmi Jensen, and his sister Sue welcomed him to his childhood home on Wrangell Avenue, a paradise of kids and dogs and a street where everyone knew what to do with a gaff hook, a krumkaka iron or a basketball. It the 1950s it was the age of radio, the steamship and a community much smaller but as full of life as it is today. Chris grew up on the family seiner, the Symphony, their longliner... Full story
