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After an anxious three months, the rocky mountain goat Kaleb Baird shot with a bow and arrow on the Cleveland Peninsula has been certified by Pope and Young, a conservation club, as the largest billy ever taken down with a bow in the world. "It was a killer animal and a great goat," said Baird. "It's neat that he gets to be recognized as number one." The mountain goat had a final score of 53 1/2 inches, according to Pope and Young. Baird said an official scorer took ten different measurements...
The Wild Alaskan Company based in Homer has taken “mission based” seafood e-commerce to a whole new level. While many Alaska fishermen and groups sell boxes of seafood directly to customers and can claim several hundred monthly customers, Wild Alaskan has notched more than 140,000 seafood regulars since 2018 and since Covid hit, the company is adding 100 to 200 customers every day. The average order for their subscription service is $160 per month. Founder Arron Kallenberg calls it a “three generation overnight success,” referring back to 1926...
Frozen sockeye salmon strips bring tasty nutrition and relief to teething babies. The lightly seasoned salmon strips, made mostly from Bristol Bay reds, are the third product made by Bambino’s Baby Food of Anchorage that is aimed at getting more seafood into the mouths of babes. “I always kind of giggle because it’s not going to be just for the little ones. I’m sure mom and dad and elder brother or sister are going to be gnawing on those as well,” said Zoi Maroudas, Bambino’s founder and operator. “I also wanted to honor our indigenous fa...
YAKUTAT, Alaska (AP) — An Alaska Airlines jetliner struck a brown bear while landing early Saturday evening, killing the animal and causing damage to the plane, officials said. None of the passengers or crew members on board the plane were injured during the accident at the Yakutat Airport in southeast Alaska, The Anchorage Daily News reported. The Boeing 737-700 killed the brown bear sow, but a cub thought to be about 2 years old was uninjured, Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities spokesman Sam Dapcevich said. Airport c...
Tamped down prices due to toppled markets caused by the Covid virus combined with low salmon returns to many Alaska regions added up to reduced paychecks for fishermen and will mean lower tax revenues for fishing communities. A summary of the preliminary harvests and values by the Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game shows that Alaska’s total 2020 salmon catch came in at just under 117 million fish, a 44% decrease from last season’s haul of 208.3 million fish, and the 13th lowest on record. The statewide salmon value of $295.2 million is a who...
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game has released preliminary data on state salmon harvests for 2020. Information for Southeast Alaska shows that only half as many fish were hauled in this year compared to last year. 2020 data shows that 14,301,964 salmon were harvested this year, totaling a little over 74 million pounds. The estimated ex vessel value for this harvest is about $50 million. This is a major decrease from 2019 numbers, reported at about 32 million fish, 163 million pounds, and...
The number of boots on deck in Alaska has declined and most fisheries have lost jobs over the past five years. Overall, Alaska’s harvesting sector ticked downward by 848 jobs from 2015 through 2019. A snapshot of fish harvesting jobs is featured in the November edition of Alaska Economic Trends by the state Dept. of Labor. The findings show that after hitting a peak of 8,501 harvesters in 2015, fishing jobs then fell to around 8,000 for the next two years before dropping again in 2018 to about 7,600. In 2019, average monthly fishing e...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Federal and state wildlife managers have announced an extension of the wolf trapping season on Alaska’s Prince of Wales Island. Officials on Friday announced the extension of the trapping season by five days with a limit of five wolves, CoastAlaska reported. Alaska Department of Fish and Game regional wildlife supervisor Tom Schumacher said managers looked at data and decided trapping could be safely allowed from Nov. 15 to Dec. 5. “It’ll allow a little bit more opportunity,” Schumacher said. “But we think that that w...
As bears continue to search for food in town, Petersburg Area Biologist Frank Robbins, with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, said he doesn't know at what point the bears will accumulate enough calories to hibernate. "We may have some hungry bears for a long while," said Robbins. Bears are currently experiencing a biological process called hyperplasia. It kicks in just before winter and tells the bears it's time to fatten up for hibernation, said Robbins. But the lack of natural foods,...
From the Daily Dozen Newsroom comes a monthly student-run newspaper dedicated to news Rae C. Stedman Elementary School cares about the most. Students in Vanessa Miller's fifth grade class delivered the first edition of their newspaper, What's up Stedman? on Oct. 7. Each paper was rolled up, wrapped in a rubber band and flung through the door of each of the classrooms in the elementary school. In the weeks leading up to deadline day, the fifth graders contacted sources and compiled information....
After a salmon season that successfully fished its way through a pandemic and upturned markets, the value of Alaska salmon permits is ticking up in two regions while toppling in others. Permit values are derived by the state Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission based on the average value of four permit sales. One of the uppers is the bellwether fishery at Bristol Bay where driftnet permits are showing good gains after a strong fishing season, despite a disappointing base sockeye price of $.70 a pound, down by nearly half from last year....
Many Alaska fishermen are likely to be involved in regulatory meetings next spring instead of being out on the water. And Alaska legislators will be distracted by hearings for hundreds of unconfirmed appointments as they tackle contentious budgets and other pressing issues. New dates have been set for state Board of Fisheries meetings that were bumped from later this year due to corona virus concerns. During the same time, along with four unconfirmed seats on the fish board, the Alaska legislature also will be tasked with considering nominees...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Alaska conservationists are urging state and federal officials not to reopen wolf hunting season around Prince of Wales Island. They are imploring officials to do so in order to allow the population of wolves to recover from last season’s record harvest, CoastAlaska reported. Much of the island is part of the Tongass National Forest, which makes state and federal governments in charge of managing hunting and trapping. The U.S. Forest Service had postponed the federal subsistence wolf season until Oct. 31. The sta...
Although this year's Southeast Alaska salmon season produced a record low run, crabbers enjoyed the second highest summer harvest on record, according to Joe Stratman, lead crab biologist for region one with Petersburg Fish and Game. In Registration Area A, which includes all the inside waters of Southeast Alaska, 5.81 million pounds of Dungeness crab were harvested by 192 permit holders in the 2020 summer season. This year's summer season alone exceeded full season harvests for every previous...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - A larger than normal number of young bears and dwindling natural food supply for them are forcing the animals to head for Juneau's garbage with unusual frequency, a wildlife official said. A poor berry crop and lackluster salmon runs this year mean more bears are looking for food among the city's trash, KTOO Public Media in Juneau reported. Conditions have made bears desperate to fatten themselves before they hibernate for the winter, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game...
This year's pink salmon harvest came in at around 7 million, which is considerably down from the 35 million ten year average. Troy Thynes, regional management coordinator for commercial fisheries with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, said the pink salmon run in Southeast Alaska hasn't been this low since 1976. There are several causes for this year's poor salmon run. In 2018, the parent year for this year's pink salmon, escapement was poor in Northern Southeast Alaska, said Thynes. In...
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Alaska has faced its share of monumental challenges. The testing of all incoming travelers, providing relief for devastated tourism businesses, creating a new unemployment program from scratch. Yet none compared to the challenge of protecting our critical seafood industry and the communities that rely on their economic production. We commend Alaska's seafood industry for successfully navigating the most difficult season Alaska has ever experienced. Captains,...
Following the announcement last week that the Alaska Department of Fish & Game will be shutting down its Southeast Alaska enhancement program due to an absence of funding, F&G Commissioner Doug Vincent-Lang said the state and federal government is committed to provide Crystal Lake Hatchery (CLH) with $317,300 annually. Southern Southeast Regional Aquaculture Association operates CLH under a contract with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game Division of Sport Fishing for an annual total of...
Moose season opened Tuesday, Sept. 15 and according to Alaska hunting regulations for the area, the season will run until Oct. 15. Wrangell, Petersburg, the surrounding islands and nearby stretch of mainland are covered under RM038. According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game website, this hunt is available to nonresidents and residents alike, with the proper permits. Before going out hunting, those wanting to bag a moose should be aware of the regulations in place. According to the...
Bering Sea crabbers will soon know how much they can pull up in their pots for the upcoming season that opens October 15. This week the Crab Plan Team, advisers to state and federal fishery managers who jointly manage the fisheries, will review stock assessments and other science used to set the catches for Bristol Bay red king crab, Tanners and snow crab. Normally, the biggest driver would be data from the annual summer trawl surveys that have tracked the stocks for decades. But this year, the...
The Alaska Department of Fish & Game will be shutting down its Southeast Alaska enhancement program due to an absence of funding, leaving the future of Crystal Lake Hatchery (CLH) in jeopardy, said David Landis, Southern Southeast Regional Aquaculture Association general manager, in a prepared statement. SSRAA operates CLH under a contract with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game Division of Sport Fishing for a total of $517,300. A portion of the funding that the hatchery receives, $200,000,... Full story
A letter asking state officials to declare Southeast Alaska an area impacted by an economic disaster due to fishery losses was approved by the borough assembly at their meeting on Tuesday. The letter, addressed to Gov. Mike Dunleavy and Julie Anderson, commissioner of the department of commerce, community, and economic development, requests that they take steps to secure relief funding for fishermen in Southeast Alaska. The assembly also requested Dunleavy direct the Alaska Department of Fish...
While the number of bear sightings made to the Petersburg Police Department have gone down, Petersburg Area Biologist Frank Robbins, with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, said bears will likely be a common sight in town until winter. Earlier this month, Robbins cautioned the public to secure their garbage cans and put away human and pet food. It is the availability of human sources of food in town that is bringing the bears out of the forests, said Robbins. Since then, he said he has...
Snacks that are good for people and the planet now come in the form of crispy chips that are made from Bristol Bay sockeye salmon skins. The new, flash fried snack was spawned by a Los Angeles-based company called Goodfish, which aims to “propel sustainable seafood into our mass-market consumer culture.” It is the second venture for partners Justin Guilbert and Douglas Riboud, a well-financed duo who are committed to trailblazing brands that have “higher standards of sourcing, manufacturing, and social ethos.” A decade ago they co-foun...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Alaska tribal governments and organizations have asked the state to withdraw a lawsuit alleging a federal agency overstepped its authority by granting an Alaska Native village a special hunting permission during the coronavirus pandemic. The lawsuit opposes the special action granted to the Organized Village of Kake by the federal Office of Subsistence Management, Alaska’s Energy Desk reported. The federal agency granted a request for Kake residents to hunt up to two moose and five male Sitka black-tailed deer. Alaska Fis...
