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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...
Organizers are creating programs to start using a $49 million federal grant and $15 million in matching funds to grow Alaska’s shellfish and seaweed farming industry. The money will go toward a statewide effort, though more permit applications were filed for new or expanded farms in Southeast than in any other region 2016 through 2022, according to state statistics. Southeast set a record last year with seven applications for seaweed and shellfish farms, Rachel Baker, deputy commissioner at the Alaska Department of Fish Game, said at last w...
Two proposals to open Petersburg Creek to black bear hunting failed at the Alaska Board of Game’s Southeast regional meeting in Ketchikan last month. The Petersburg Creek Closed Area, measuring 44 square miles, has been closed to black bear hunting since 1975 in order to provide a recreational bear viewing area near Petersburg and because of public safety concerns, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. The area, however, is open to the hunting of other species. One of the f...
This summer's commercial Chinook trolling fishery is in jeopardy following the recent release of a judge's recommendation to suspend the fishery as part of an ongoing lawsuit, leaving Southeast trollers in uncertain waters. Western District of Washington Magistrate Judge Michelle Peterson's report, released in December 2022, concludes that the National Marine Fishery Service (NMFS), also known as NOAA Fisheries, violated the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and the National Environmental Policy Act...
The state Board of Game has approved a proposal to reopen an elk hunt on Zarembo Island, though the odds that a local could nab a tag and take a bull will be low — a small number of tags will be available and the drawing will be open to hunters nationwide. The first drawing will likely take place this fall, with the hunt set for fall 2024. There hasn’t been an elk hunt on Zarembo for nearly 20 years, due to concerns about the small population’s sustainability, explained Petersburg-based state Fish and Game biologist Frank Robbins. “The last ye...
Wrangell — After a three-year closure blamed on weak chum returns, Seattle-based Trident Seafoods plans on running its Wrangell processing and cold storage plant this summer. “We’re going to operate in July and August,” focusing on chums and pinks, employing a little over 100 workers for the season, said Shannon Carroll, Trident’s director of public affairs, on Jan. 26. That would be a smaller payroll than in past years, he said. Chum salmon returns to Southeast have improved the past couple of years. In advance of running the processin...
January 18 – An officer responded to a report of a possible garage fire on Wrangell Avenue and found that the smoke was coming from a pellet stove. An officer conducted a welfare check on Harbor Way. Petersburg Police Department (PPD) received a report of a dead eagle on 8th Street. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADFG) was notified and responded. A driver at South Nordic Drive and Tango Street was issued a warning for headlight requirements. A driver on Chief John Lott Street was issued a warning for signal requirements. A driver at F...
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game is currently seeking public comment on the draft of its 2023 Statewide Sport Fish Stocking Plan, which includes two programs affecting the Petersburg area-the Southern Southeast Chinook Salmon Enhancement and the Blind Slough Coho Salmon Enhancement. According to the stocking plan, Fish and Game is looking to release approximately seven million fish in hundreds of locations across the state annually over the next five years. Matt Catterson, a fishery biolog...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – Summer Myomick bundled her baby against the freezing winds whipping off the Bering Sea and stepped outside into a blur of blowing snow. It was a short walk from the school where she had visited relatives to the health clinic about 150 yards (137 meters) away, but the young mother could hardly have seen where she was going _ or the terror that was approaching. Myomick, 24, and her son, 1-year-old Clyde Ongtowasruk, made it just beyond the front of the Kingikmiut School in Wales, Alaska, just below the Arctic Circle, w...
