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Up until last year, Southeast Alaska’s Mitkof Island was home to a creek with some unique salmon: They only turned left. Officially, anyway. There is a fork in Ohmer Creek, on Mitkof Island. On the west side, the state’s Anadromous Waters Catalog, or AWC, reported the presence of all five species of wild Alaska salmon, as well as Dolly Varden and cutthroat trout. On the east side of the fork, according to the AWC, there were only steelhead. One afternoon last summer, U.S. Forest Service fish biologist Eric Castro, of the Petersburg Ranger Dis...
In the Bristol Bay region, sockeye salmon runs have been booming while Chinook runs have dwindled. Now scientists are seeking to enlist fishing crews in the effort to find out why, as well as what can be done about the Chinook troubles. A community-focused program called Skipper Science is asking for Bristol Bay fishermen working on the salmon-rich Nushagak River to record the prevalence, locations and conditions of Chinook salmon they encounter – and the places where they are not found. The Nushagak project is a partnership between Skipper S... Full story
The summer commercial troll season for coho and chum salmon will open by regulation on July 1, but no Chinook retention will be allowed, the Department of Fish and Game announced Tuesday. The decision to prohibit retention of troll-caught king salmon is related to an ongoing lawsuit by the nonprofit Wild Fish Conservancy against the National Marine Fisheries Service. But Alaska trollers are holding out hope that the king salmon troll season will open as usual if a stay of a U.S. District Court order is granted by the Ninth Circuit Court of...
The 21 members of the Petersburg High School Class of 2023 are gearing up for graduation and spending their final week as students reflecting on what has been a memorable four years. From persevering through the COVID-19 pandemic, to digging themselves through record winter storms, to changes in administration with the departure of former longtime principal Rick Dormer and arrival of Ambler Moss, these students have seen it all. Through their academic work, the Class of 2023 has earned over...
Over 50 people and 25 more over the phone attended a hearing last week in Petersburg hosted by the National Marine Fisheries Service on a proposal to list the sunflower sea star as threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The hearing allowed NMFS to share details on the proposed ruling as well as gather input from the public ahead of their final determination. Over 20 public comments were heard at the meeting, with much of the community's concern resting on how listing the species as...
Dear Friends and Neighbors: Happy Teacher Appreciation Week! Thriving public schools are the foundation of our economy and the heart of our communities. The statute establishing Alaska's schools reads "All students will succeed in their education and work, shape worthwhile and satisfying lives for themselves, exemplify the best values of society, and be effective in improving the character and quality of the world about them." Please take a moment to thank the educators you know, and the...
Tom Fisher, a commercial troll fisherman and the president of the board of the Southern Southeast Regional Aquaculture Association, has been catching salmon out of Ketchikan and surrounding communities since 1973. When he heard that a federal judge in Washington made a ruling last Tuesday that could shut down the small boat troll fishery in Southeast Alaska, Fisher was "flat dumbfounded." "Currently I'm at my boat in Wrangell," Fisher told the Daily News during a phone interview last Thursday. "I was slated to get hauled out of the water...
Metlakatla Indian Community Mayor Albert Smith wants everyone to spread the word-the invasive European green crab has arrived on the shores of Annette Island and their arrival spells trouble. Southeast Alaska's abundant estuaries and tidal salt marshes are ideal for the predatory and destructive little crabs to become established, as they have along much of the Pacific Northwest's coast. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the number of green crabs caught in the Pug...
This year's sac roe herring fishery in Sitka Sound held unusual challenges for the fishing fleet, with vast schools of fish on their annual run settling in places tough for purse seiners to operate in during that critical period just before spawning, longtime seine skipper Jamie Ross told the Sentinel. Ross, whose home port is Homer, has fished for more than three decades in Sitka's seasonal herring fishery. This year's fishery was possibly his last. "This was a very complex year; the fish were...
April 27, 1923 – That a large party of capitalists and others interested in the development of the water power at Thomas Bay and the erection of the ten million dollar paper mill there will visit the power site this summer is indicated by the following article printed in the Seattle Times of recent date. “Indicative of the spreading fame of vacation attractions offered by Alaska, is a letter received by the Chamber of Commerce from F.C. Dougherty, a San Francisco business man asking the chamber’s assistance in finding a sumptuously appointed st...
Early Monday morning, passengers in Seattle sat awaiting their flight to Ketchikan where their plane, a Boeing 737 with an enormous salmon painted on the side, would make its final run as Alaska's most well-known flight. The iconic Salmon Thirty Salmon was ready to board passengers for the final flight of its 18-year tenure serving as Alaska's famous flying fish. Kaitlyn Lynch, a software engineer for Alaska Airlines showed up at the gate wearing a sweatshirt featuring a large salmon on it. The... Full story
WRANGELL SENTINEL —For the seventh year in a row, federal managers have closed the Stikine River chinook subsistence fishery to help preserve weak runs of the returning salmon. The U.S. Forest Service, under authority delegated by the Federal Subsistence Board, last week announced the closure to run May 15 through June 20. “The preseason forecast for the Stikine River is 11,700 large chinook salmon (greater than 28 inches in length), which is below the escapement goal range of 14,000 to 28,000 large chinook,” the Forest Service statement said....
Bans on commercial fishing in U.S. and international Arctic waters have been lauded as admirable preemptive actions that protect vulnerable resources before they are damaged by exploitation. But now the Alaska Department of Fish and Game is preparing for a time when the 14-year-old moratorium on commercial fishing in federal Arctic waters is lifted. The department is seeking $1 million in state general funds and another $2 million in federal funds to work on research to better understand those Arctic waters in the event that commercial... Full story
˛ Alaska Department of Fish and Game has reduced this year’s non-hatchery Chinook catch limit for Southeast commercial trollers by 44,000 fish — about 23% lower than last year’s harvest quota. The catch limit for sportfishing, commercial seine and gillnet fleets also were set about 23% lower than last year. The largest salmon are the main moneymaker for many trollers. This year’s harvest limit, while down substantially from 2022, is about the same as was set for 2021 and 2020. It’s almost 50% higher than 2019, when several runs were not expect...
If one member of a family is ill, the family is ill The the Editor: I submit the following letter, meant to be a holiday letter to friends and family. The following is an offering meant to enlighten our community regarding the trainwreck that is this dastardly disease of dementia that can hit an average family like ours. Her mind was clear and strong once, though some may have been uncertain when I was chosen, but she knew her way to love, and maybe I was in or maybe on her way. Sitting next to her in a 1962 college speech class was the...
With large schools of herring located by sonar and desired quantities of mature roe detected in two test sets, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game opened the 2023 Sitka Sound sac roe fishery at 1:15 p.m. Tuesday in designated areas south of town in Leesoffskaia and Aleutkina bays and Deep Inlet. Fishing was closed by field order at 2:32 p.m. No figures were immediately available on the total catch in the hour and 17-minute opening. All told, 30 vessels are registered to fish this year. The...
With the announcement earlier this week that the Sitka Sound sac roe herring fishery would go on two-hour notice at 8 a.m. Thursday, Fish and Game held a virtual meeting Tuesday for permit holders, processors, subsistence harvesters and others involved in the annual herring harvest. Effective Thursday morning, Fish and Game can open a location for purse seining on as little as two hours of advance notice. More than four dozen individuals attended Tuesday’s virtual meeting. Fish and Game area management biologist Aaron Dupuis led the Zoom v...
An interactive workshop focused on equipping community members with the skills to get involved in the Federal Subsistence Board process will be held this Saturday, March 25 at John Hanson Hall. The community workshop will be put on by Ashley Bolwerk, a subsistence fish biologist with the U.S. Forest Service, and Heather Bauscher with the Sitka Conservation Society. Bolwerk and Bauscher developed the workshop in order to help residents better understand the Federal Subsistence Board process and...
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game has begun its herring surveys in the Sitka Sound this week ahead of the sac roe herring fishery opening. According to reports from Sitka Area Management Biologist Aaron Dupuis, no herring schools or spawn have been spotted from the air since surveys began on March 13. However, herring predators including humpback whales and sea lions have been repeatedly spotted in the area. Sea lions have been seen daily along the Kruzof Island shoreline between Inner...
February 23, 1923 – Once heroine of the Polar seas whose daring exploits thrilled an applauding world, the Seattle pilot boat, King and Winge, brave rescuer of the ill-fated Steffansson Artic exploration expedition of 1914, has been sold again and has, it is reported, fallen into the hands of rum runners. Her new owners, former Lieutenant Roy Olmstead and former Sargent Thomas J. Clark, reputed whiskey smugglers extraordinaire, like their sturdy ship were one time famed for valor. Both were then officers in the Seattle police department. The K...
Dear Friends and Neighbors: On February 8, 2023, the Committee on Committees met and I was placed on the House Special Committee on Fisheries, which includes the Fish and Game Budget Subcommittee. I take my role on these committees very seriously. If you have input on the Fish and Game budget and/or topics considered by the special committee, I welcome your input. It has been heartening to see Southeast Alaskans, who know and rely on commercial, sport and subsistence fishing, work together for the trollers as they face down a major threat to...
Paul Arnold Anderson, 77, passed away with family by his side at home in Petersburg, Alaska on January 16, 2023 after a short battle with throat cancer. He was born in Seattle, Washington on August 2, 1945, to Gustav Nathaniel Anderson Jr. and Patricia Ann Anderson. Paul lived in Ballard, Washington with his parents and 4 siblings, Knute, Patty, Erik, and Mark. He attended Whittier Elementary school from 1951 until 1953 when the family moved to Petersburg, Alaska where he finished up his schooli...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly unanimously approved a resolution supporting the Southeast commercial Chinook troll fishery during Monday's meeting. The resolution of support comes in the wake of a judge's recommendation to suspend the fishery as part of an ongoing lawsuit filed by Wild Fish Conservancy (WFC), a Washington-based nonprofit conservation organization. Western District of Washington Magistrate Judge Michelle Peterson's report and recommendation concluded that the National Marine...
February 9, 1923 – The opening of the Million Dollar Club in Wrangell next Saturday night will without doubt be one of the greatest pleasure events in the history of southeastern Alaska. The thrilling life of the bygone days of the Kondike will be lived over again as the dramatic scenes are reenacted. The famous native orchestra from Metlakatla will furnish the music for the occasion. Special boats will arrive from Juneau , Petersburg, and Ketchikan bringing delegations of visiting Elks with their ladies and friends. The local Elks have a...
Wolves are social, territorial animals that educate their young, care for their injured and stick with their close-knit family groups — most of the time, that is. In the past few months, a wolf from Petersburg has struck out on its own and taken up swimming, behaviors that are unusual — though not unheard of — for a wolf. The swimming wolf traveled from Petersburg to Wrangell Island to Etolin Island, and its movements could help area scientists learn more about the animals’ lifestyle . The animal was captured on Sept. 14 within Petersburg city...
