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Southern Southeast Alaska Aquaculture Association hopes to secure $200,000 to make up for a loss in funding for Crystal Lake Hatchery (CLH) following the expiration of a sport fishing license surcharge SSRAA General Manager David Landis told the Borough Assembly at their Monday meeting. The sport fishing license surcharge needed to be renewed before Dec. 31 by the state legislation, but the COVID-19 pandemic prevented lawmakers from acting before the deadline, said Landis. The most recent...
WRANGELL - Between state budget cuts, a mainline vessel engine breakdown, a halt to port calls in Prince Rupert, B.C., and COVID-19 travel restrictions, the Alaska Marine Highway System has struggled the past year to provide service to Wrangell and the rest of Southeast. Under the governor's proposed budget for the state fiscal year that starts July 1, the ferry system would have even less money to provide service. "Woefully inadequate," Ketchikan Rep. Dan Ortiz, who also represents Wrangell,...
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Division of Sport Fish announced today that opportunity for slope rockfish species will continue through January 31, 2022. Resident and nonresident anglers: • The daily bag and possession limit is one slope rockfish. No annual limit. • When releasing any rockfish, anglers must use a deepwater release mechanism to return the fish to the depth it was hooked or to a depth of at least 100 feet. • All vessels must have at least one functional deepwater release mechanism on board and readily available for u...
This year marks the 30th year that the weekly Fish Factor column has appeared in newspapers across Alaska and nationally. Every year it features “picks and pans” for Alaska’s seafood industry - a no-holds-barred look back at some of the year’s best and worst fishing highlights, and my choice for the biggest fish story of the year. Here are the choices for 2020, in no particular order - Best little known fish fact - Alaska’s commercial fisheries division also pays for the management of subsistence and personal use fisheries. Biggest fishing t...
January The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration proposed establishing critical habitat areas for humpback whales in three distinct population segments located off Mexico, Central American and the Western Pacific. The Petersburg Borough sent a letter of disapproval to the National Marine Fisheries Service regarding the proposed critical habitat for humpback whales after residents spoke out against the proposal. The Petersburg Borough authorized the hire of Josh Rathmann to fill the...
As Alaska faces its toughest budget squeeze ever, the state’s commercial fisheries are set to get a bit of a breather. But it is due more to fund swapping than lawmakers’ largess. For the commercial fisheries division, the largest within the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, the preliminary FY2022 budget released by Governor Dunleavy reflects a slight increase to $72.8 million, compared to nearly $68 million last year. “I think we did really well this year,” said Sam Rabung, commercial fisheries division director, speaking last week at a Unit...
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game is predicting an average pink salmon harvest of 28 million fish in 2021, according to an advisory announcement. While the point estimate for the harvest is 28 million fish, the range of the forecast is between 19 to 42 million fish. Andy Piston, Fish and Game Southeast Alaska pink and chum salmon project leader, said that such a wide forecast range is a reflection of the uncertainty in the forecast. "Twenty-eight million sounds pretty good compared to...
Alaska coastal communities will get a bit of an economic boost in 2021 from increased catches of Pacific cod. The stock, which crashed after a multi-year heat wave starting in 2014 wiped out several year classes, appears to be rebounding throughout the Gulf of Alaska. No cod fishery occurred at all this year in federally managed waters (from three to 200 miles out) where the bulk of the harvest is taken, and a catch of under six million pounds was allowed in state managed waters (out to three miles). For 2021, the North Pacific Fishery...
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,...
