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Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI) officials hear that processors have mostly cleared out their overflowing inventories of Alaska salmon from the 2022 and 2023 seasons, but the problem remains that Americans don’t buy enough seafood to sustain consistently profitable sales, particularly in years of strong salmon runs. And while last year’s problem was an oversupplied market, which pushed prices paid to fishermen to as low as 20 cents a pound for pink and chum salmon, this year’s harvest may come up short of a robust supply, Greg Smith...
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced this month that it finished revamping its scientific documentation for state-managed salmon fisheries in Southeast Alaska after a U.S. District Court judge ruled in May of 2023 that the 2019 authorization that NOAA created for the regional salmon fisheries did not comply with the National Environmental Policy Act process, nor the Endangered Species Act. NOAA’s new documentation responds to a 2020 lawsuit by the Seattle-based nonprofit Wild Fish Conservancy. WFC sued federal f...
WRANGELL — Though it was important to pinpoint the exact location and extent of damage to the community’s wastewater outfall pipeline into Zimovia Strait, officials also discovered that the 12-inch plastic pipe and the seabed around it have become home to hundreds of sea cucumbers. “Over the years and years, wildlife has figured it out,” Tom Wetor, the borough’s Public Works director, said Sept. 26. Sea cucumbers, a bottom-dwelling invertebrate, proliferate around the nutrient-rich waters near the diffuser end of the outfall line, he said. “I...
The commercial dive fishery for sea cucumbers will kick off across Southeast Alaska on Monday, Oct. 7, and divers this season can harvest up to 1.76 million pounds of sea cucumbers across the region, up from last season's "guideline harvest level" of 1.67 million pounds, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced on Aug. 28. Commercial sea cucumber fishery openings will be announced on a weekly basis with different fishery areas open during different time windows until each individual area's specific guidelines harvest level has been...
Petersburg's moose season opened last week. The one-month window runs from Sept. 15 through Oct. 15. Those hunting on Mitkof, neighboring islands and the mainland are permitted to harvest one bull this fall. There are no regulation changes from last hunting season, and Frank Robbins, Petersburg-Wrangell area biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, said he has not seen any notable changes to the health of the central Southeast herd. Last year's Petersburg-Wrangell area harvest was...
The Southeast Alaska sport fishery is on track to exceed its king salmon allocation for the summer by 14,000 fish, prompting the state to close the region to sportfishing for kings. The closure went into effect at 12:01 a.m. Monday, Aug. 26. “King salmon may not be retained or possessed, and any king salmon caught must be released immediately and returned to the water unharmed,” according to the Department of Fish and Game announcement late Friday, Aug. 23. The king salmon sport fishery will reopen on Oct. 1 for the winter season. “While the (...
August 29, 1924 – Again the sea takes a toll from Petersburg. R. Dahl, in the prime of life, falls overboard and is drowned. Last Monday he was taking up a crab net and, while hitching a line to a snatch block that was hanging a short distance off the deck, lost his balance and fell overboard. Mrs. Dahl was in the cabin and their two boys were on deck. They were so frightened and excited that they did not act immediately, but saw Mr. Dahl apparently on top of the water. By the time the nine-year old boy got the small dinghy to where his f...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly has taken a stance against the potential listing of Gulf of Alaska Chinook salmon as a threatened or endangered species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Assembly members voted unanimously to send a letter of opposition to the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) in response to a petition from the Wild Fish Conservancy, an environmental group based in Washington state, which requested the ESA listing and designation of critical habitat of any GOA...
Local trollers and regional fisheries advocates expressed relief today following Friday’s 9th Circuit Court decision to overturn a U.S. District Court ruling that threatened to shut down Southeast Chinook troll fisheries. “Great news,” Alaska Trollers Association president Matt Donohoe said in a brief text while out fishing. “I’m really grateful that the 9th Circuit understood that WFC’s serial litigation was absurd and ruled in Alaska’s favor.” Jeff Farvour, a Sitka based commercial fisherman and board member of the Sitka-based Ala...
Heavy fishing on chinook salmon by sport fishermen — including nonresident charter customers — is taking fishing opportunity from Southeast Alaska’s commercial troll fishing fleet this summer. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced last Tuesday that trollers in August and September will likely lose out on the remainder of the summer troll fishery allocation for Chinook because sport fishermen across Southeast are on track to exceed their summer 2024 allocation by about 14,000 Chinook, and because of a regulation change that the depar...
A cyanide spill at a major gold mine in the Yukon Territory — high in the Yukon River watershed — has sparked widespread concern in Canada. But Alaska salmon advocates say the mishap isn’t just a problem for Yukoners: The spill happened upstream of a tributary of the Yukon River. The Yukon is Alaska’s biggest transboundary waterway, and residents along its shores who have depended on salmon for generations are already suffering amid crashes of multiple species. Officials on both sides of the border say it’s too early to know the full impact of...
Considering the shallow, rocky waters in the Blind River Rapids, SSRAA production manager Bill Gass was unsure of how successful the beach seine operation to hand deliver king salmon broodstock to Crystal Lake Hatchery would be. But the team of 20 folks, including local volunteers and staff from the Southern Southeast Regional Aquaculture Association (SSRAA) and Alaska Department of Fish and Game, successfully captured and transported 146 live king salmon during the first two Tuesdays in July,...
10 volunteers pulled on their rubber boots and rain jackets last Friday to search Petersburg's beaches for suspicious crab carapaces in observation of European Green Crab Awareness Day. After breaking into four groups, the volunteers combed the waterfronts of the Wilson Creek camp area, Crescent Beach, Greens Camp, and Woodpecker Cove; they found 33 carapaces in total, none of which were green crab. "I think it went well. I think it's good we didn't find any green crab," said organizer and...
Federal disaster aid is on the way for some commercial fishing permit-holders in Haines and throughout the state, though many may be too wrapped up in the current season to apply for it right away. Applications for crew and subsistence users are currently available online. Unique applications for permit-holders and processors from the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission were mailed out on June 26 and are due August 24. The commission says those who have not received a hardcopy...
July 11, 1924 – With perfect weather as though ordered for occasion and a list of interesting exercises and sports carried through without a hitch, and with many out-of-town visitors present, the 1924 Fourth in Petersburg proved an unqualified success. The Filipino team won from the whites in baseball by a score of 10 to 4. Bonapart Cambas and young Johnson boxed three lively rounds, the decision going to the former on a foul. Rayborn showed his skill on a surfboard by riding behind the fastest boat in Alaska, piloted by Earl Ohmer. No o...
Suspense can be felt on docks throughout Southeast Alaska as commercial troll fishermen gear up to chase Chinook salmon during the first general Chinook fishing opener of the summer season. Trollers beginning at 12:01 a.m. on Monday, July 1 can target a total of approximately 66,700 Chinook salmon in an opener that will be closed by emergency order when catch estimates approach that harvest target, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced last Thursday. Fish and Game estimates that trollers will catch 66,700 Chinook in six to seven...
Earlier this month the Alaska Department of Fish and Game notified the public of the verified expansion of invasive European green crab distribution in Alaska waters after finding 11 molted carapaces on the shore of Bostwick Inlet, Gravina Island on June 13. First found in Alaskan waters in July 2022, green crab are considered one of the top 100 worst invasive species globally by the International Union for Conservation and Nature due to their predatory tendencies and their rampant destruction...
In January, the Wild Fish Conservancy — the same Washington-based conservation group that unsuccessfully sued to shut down last year’s SE Alaska troll fishery for king salmon — filed a petition with the federal government to list Alaskan Chinook salmon as a threatened or endangered species and designate critical habitat under the Endangered Species Act. This action obligated the National Marine Fisheries Service to conduct a 90-day evaluation of the petition. And despite finding that the petition “contained numerous factual errors, omissio...
Mountain lions are not commonly spotted in Southeast Alaska, but earlier this month one was killed on the south end of Wrangell Island. Alaska Wildlife Troopers and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game were notified that a mountain lion had been shot and killed on June 3. They took possession of the carcass and are conducting an investigation. Troopers leading the investigation declined to comment. Riley Woodford, information officer with the Alaska Division of Wildlife Conservation in Juneau, said he knew of three other documented sightings...
Fish and Game issued an emergency order last week reducing the harvest opportunity for king salmon in the Wrangell Narrows terminal harvest area. Effective June 15, the possession limit has changed from four king salmon per day - two 28 inches or longer and two less than 28 inches in length - to one king salmon of any size per day. And nonresident annual limits will now apply in this area. Blind Slough freshwater king salmon fishing remains closed for the summer; as does commercial harvest of...
Commercial purse seine fishermen in Southeast Alaska this month are preparing for an interesting summer salmon season with no confidence that they will earn a good price for the pink and chum salmon that they catch, and with seafood processing companies Silver Bay Seafoods and E.C. Phillips and Son each starting out their first year of operations in the former Trident Seafoods plants in Ketchikan and Petersburg, respectively. Southeast seine fishery openings will kick off for the 2024 season...
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is prodding the state of Alaska over its failure to update water pollution rules. Last Thursday, the EPA issued a formal determination that the state should update pollution limits that are based in part on the amount of fish consumed by state residents. Under federal law, those limits are supposed to be reviewed every three years, but Alaska hasn’t updated its limits since 2003. The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation has been working since 2013 on an updated list of water quality s... Full story
May 30, 1924 – E.J. McKechnie, one of the U.S. Forest Service stationed at Petersburg, says that four miles will be added to the road at Farragut Bay this year. He hopes to have his equipment and men ready around June 5 so that work can then be started. The roadway now begins at the Wallace Homestead and runs toward the river. More settlers are moving into the Farragut Bay section. Mr. McGregor is prospecting along the river and there is a chance that paying mines may be added to the resources of the district. June 3, 1949 – At the May 26t...
The Biden administration says that listing numerous Alaska king salmon populations under the Endangered Species Act could be warranted, and it now plans to launch a broader scientific study to follow its preliminary review. Citing the species’ diminished size at adulthood and spawning numbers below sustainable targets set by state managers, the National Marine Fisheries Service announced its initial conclusion in a 14-page federal notice on May 23. It said a January 2024 listing request from a Washington state-based conservation group had m...
The success of the Ktunaxa Nation to finally convince the governments of Canada and the United States to convene the International Joint Commission (IJC) to address the long-standing coal mining pollution in the Elk Valley in southeast British Columbia (B.C.) and Montana is a very big deal. The IJC is provided for and guided by the Boundary Waters Treaty, signed by Canada and the United States in 1909. The IJC studies and recommends solutions to transboundary issues when asked to do so by the national governments. While this is great news, the...
