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United States Coast Guard Fishing Vessel Safety Examiner, Scott Wilwert, addressed several Petersburg vessel owners and fishermen to explain the criteria for the mandatory dockside examinations Nov. 28. The Coast Guard is requiring all commercial fishing vessels that operate or fish more than three miles from the territorial sea baseline to complete a mandatory dockside exam as of Oct. 16. This requirement was mandated by the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2010. This includes any full-time...
Halibut catches could be cut by 33 percent next year if proposed numbers get the nod by the International Pacific Halibut Commission next month. That would mean a coast wide harvest of just 22.7 million pounds for fisheries in California, Washington, Oregon, British Columbia and Alaska. Alaska’s share of the halibut catch would be 17.4 million pounds, down from about 25 million this year. Unlike past years, staff scientists are not making catch limit recommendations by separate areas. Instead, they are providing “assessment and advice framework...
The Federal Subsistence Board has closed Federal public lands within Unit 3 on Kuiu Island to the trapping of marten for the December 1, 2012 to February 15, 2013 season. This action is in response to conservation concerns raised by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Recent studies indicate the marten population on Kuiu Island is among the lowest in Southeast Alaska and suggests that the population has continued to decline over the last several years. A high natural mortality rate and continued low recruitment has resulted in a...
The “graying of the fleet” continues in Alaska as fewer young folks obtain permits for various fisheries. Data from 2011 show that 45 percent of all Alaska permit holders were between the ages 45 and 60, with an average age of 47. That was roughly twice as many permit holders as there were between the ages of 30 and 44. Crew members were much younger, averaging around 21 years old. There also was a higher incidence of crew members in their mid-30s, dropping off in the older age range. This may be due in part to aging crew eventually purchasing...
The “graying of the fleet” continues in Alaska as fewer young folks obtain permits for various fisheries. Data from 2011 show that 45 percent of all Alaska permit holders were between the ages 45 and 60, with an average age of 47. That was roughly twice as many permit holders as there were between the ages of 30 and 44. Crew members were much younger, averaging around 21 years old. There also was a higher incidence of crew members in their mid-30s, dropping off in the older age range. This may be due in part to aging crew eventually purchasing...
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game will accept only online Big Game Drawing Hunts applications and will no longer accept paper applications Nov. 1-Dec. 17. Visit hunt.alaska.gov (the hunting section of the ADF&G website) and click on the “Buy licenses and tags” button and follow the purchase instructions. Information regarding drawing hunt permits is available through the highlights section of the hunting page, including frequently asked questions, drawing supplements and undersubscribed draw hunts. A telephone help line is available for hu...
A Breakaway Adventures jet boat from Wrangell plows its way through Sumner Straits chop on a recent windy Sunday afternoon....
Alaska’s salmon harvest and value for 2012 came in well below last year, dropping 21 percent and 30 percent, respectively. According to preliminary state tallies, the value of the salmon catch totaled nearly $506 million at the docks this summer on a statewide catch of 124 million fish. That compares to a 2011 take of 177 million salmon valued at just over $641 million. A breakdown shows that the 2012 Chinook harvest of 333,000 was worth $17.6 million; sockeyes came in at 35.2 million valued at nearly $246 million; the coho catch of 3 m...
JUNEAU (AP) — Fire investigators were sifting through debris Tuesday in a search for clues into what caused a large fire that destroyed an apartment building in downtown Juneau. Capital City Fire/Rescue Chief Richard Etheridge said no one was reported missing from the Gastineau Apartments building, a four-story building with about 30 units. The dramatic fire began Monday night, sending flames through the roof and into the nighttime sky. Apartment resident Sarah Day told the Juneau Empire that residents were told to leave at about 6 p.m. E...
The results of a six year study on Western salmon will be unveiled this month and the conclusions are not what people of the region had hoped for. Some background: the Western Alaska Salmon Stock Identification Project (WASSIP) was created in 2006 by a group of eleven signers to a memorandum of understanding including Aleut Corporation, Aleutians East Borough, Association of Village Council Presidents, Bering Sea Fishermen’s Association, Bristol Bay Native Association, Concerned Area M Fishermen, Kawerak, Lake and Peninsula Borough, Tanana C...
Sea otters and the Arctic are two focal points for Alaska’s top fishing group at both state and federal policy levels. United Fishermen of Alaska is the nation’s largest industry trade group representing nearly 40 organizations. At it’s recent annual meeting UFA outlined several of its policy watches prior to the legislative session; the group also gave out awards and made a job offer. UFA is working closely with state and federal overseers to craft a management plan for exploding populations of sea otters in Southeast Alaska. The mamma...
Alaska salmon sales had lots of ups and downs this summer, but held their own overall in a tough market awash with farmed fish. The wild salmon catch goes to market in many forms such as canned, fresh or frozen, fillets and roe. The state Revenue Department/Tax Division provides quartile reports on first wholesale prices for all of Alaska’s salmon forms by species and region. Its report covering May – August shows lots of wild salmon fillets were tossed on the grill this summer, and people were willing to pay more for them. Alaska pro...
State fishery managers are asking for input from Alaskans to help solve the case of disappearing king salmon. A letter went out last week from Alaska Department of Fish and Game Commissioner Cora Campbell inviting stakeholders to a two day symposium in Anchorage later this month titled ‘Understanding Abundance and Productivity Trends of Chinook salmon in Alaska.’ The stated goal is ‘to increase understanding and develop the most complete research plan possible.’ A draft analysis by a newly appointed fisheries research team represents initial...
Southeast Alaska received a new Coast Guard cutter last week. Coast Guard Sector Juneau personnel welcomed the crew of the USCG Cutter Chandeleur during a ceremony at the Buoy Deck in Juneau on Friday, Oct. 12. The 110-foot Island Class patrol boat, which can accommodate a crew of 18 personnel, was moved from Miami, Fla., to Alaska to help support the regional response capabilities of the service in Southeast Alaska. “We welcome the crew of the Chandeleur to Alaska,” said Capt. Scott Bor...
October is National Seafood Month – and it also marks the start of one of the busiest months for Alaska’s fishing industry. The state’s biggest crab fisheries get underway in the Bering Sea on October 15 – the Bristol Bay red king crab catch will hold steady at 7.8 million pounds, while the snow crab harvest has taken a dip to 66.3 million pounds, down from about 80 million pounds last season. The St. Matthew Island blue king crab fishery is also down a bit to 1.6 million pounds. Hundreds of divers in Southeast Alaska are plying the depths...
At least 1.5 million tons of debris from Japan’s 2011 tsunami is still afloat, and at least half of it is expected to hit Alaska’s coastline. The region from Yakutat to Gore Point off the Kenai Peninsula will likely see the heaviest debris piles, but Southeast Alaska and other areas will see chunks of junk as well. Those are conclusions of a fascinating new report by Washington Sea Grant titled Debris Accumulation Scenarios in Washington State from the March 2011 Tohoku Tsunami. The Sea Grant report, authored by Ian Miller and Jim Brennan, says...
Dutch Harbor-Unalaska held onto the title of the nation’s top fishing port for the 15th year in a row, with over 700 million pounds of fish and crab crossing the docks there last year, a 36% increase from 2010. New Bedford, Massachusetts remained as the priciest port with landings, mostly scallops, worth nearly $370 million at the docks. Dutch Harbor ranked second again for seafood value at $207 million, an increase of $44 million The numbers come from the annual Fisheries of the United States Report just released by NOAA Fisheries. Overall, t...
JUNEAU (AP) — The heated battle over the proposed Pebble Mine in southwest Alaska is shifting to science, with panels weighing in on different reports that have only added more fuel to the fight. The Pebble Limited Partnership, the company proposing the massive gold and copper mine near the headwaters of the largest sockeye salmon fishery in the world, plans to have an independent panel of experts review its scientific data. The effort is intended, in part, to point out any shortcomings, but it's also aimed at helping people understand what t...
JUNEAU (AP) — The Coast Guard will host a southeast Alaska petroleum spill exercise Wednesday at the Ted Ferry Civic Center in Ketchikan. The exercise will be a tabletop oil spill response based on a scenario of a vessel collision near Sitka. The Coast Guard says the exercise is designed to test the Southeast Subarea Contingency Plan. The document was written for the planning of responses to large oil or hazardous substance releases. The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, Alaska Marine Highway System, Kirby Offshore Marine, S...
Dave Ohmer presented his annual end of the season fishing report to the Petersburg Rotary Club last week and his comments mirrored statewide reports and comments made by Gunnar Knapp, longtime fishing economist at the University of Alaska. Ohmer, like Knapp cited that huge volumes of cheaper farmed salmon has driven prices for salmon, halibut and black cod lower. Chile, the world’s number two producer of salmon had to get back into the market after killing off their farmed fish stocks due to d... Full story
The Southeast Alaska 2012 season’s pink salmon catch was less than half of last year’s but a little higher than expected. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game predicted an all year harvest of 17 million and came in at around 20 million, 19 million of which were caught by the seine fleet. According to Fish and Game Commercial Fisheries Coordinator Biologist Bill Davidson, the runs have been coming in weak in the even years and strong in the odd since 2006 and this year is no exception to the historical rule. “We are a little above forec...
Alaska fishermen are feeling the squeeze of lower prices at the same time that their operating costs continue to spiral upwards. For halibut, in a reversal of trend and fortune, prices have dropped by 70 cents a pound in recent weeks. Dock prices usually peak from September until the halibut fishery closes in November, but that is not the case this year -- overstocked freezers and resistance from buyers have put a downward press on fish prices. “Buyers simply aren’t buying,” said several Alaska fish processors. Prior to the start of the seaso...
As Alaska’s salmon season winds down, selling the bulk of the harvest gears up for seafood companies that purchased the pack. “This is the season for negotiations, you might say,” said salmon guru Gunnar Knapp, longtime fisheries economist at the University of Alaska/Anchorage. “You never know the price until the product is actually sold.” The salmon season runs on different tracks starting with sockeye, and fish sales have varying schedules and market patterns throughout the year. Plus, salmon markets depend on the species and how they are...
SITKA, (AP) — A southeast Alaska fisherman who spent a night adrift in a 4-by-4 foot plastic fish bin after his boat sank says he survived by giving himself pep talks and singing ``Rudolf, the Red-Nosed Reindeer'' and ``Row, Row, Row Your Boat.'' His fellow crew member managed to struggle into a survival suit and washed ashore safely on a beach. The Daily Sitka Sentinel (http://is.gd/bgoPcT) reports that a Coast Guard helicopter hoisted 19-year-old Ryan Harris of Sitka from his plastic ``lifeboat'' on Saturday afternoon, more than 24 hours a...
(Sitka) — The brown bear hunting season in Game Management Unit 4 (GMU 4) opens September 15, 2012. The season is scheduled to run through December 31, 2012. Hunters must obtain a locking big game tag, valid hunting license, and current registration permit (RB077) before hunting. The registration permit is valid for taking one (1) brown bear in GMU 4 which includes Admiralty, Baranof, and Chichagof Islands. In order to minimize the potential for closures by emergency order or a significant reduction in the 2013 spring hunts, the fall hunt w...
