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Alaska’s mariculture industry has passed some big milestones, and is getting set to head into the weeds. Aquatic farming, which was Ok’d by Alaska lawmakers in 1988, topped $1 million in shellfish sales for the first time ever in 2014, coming in at $1.2 million. “This is the highest sales we’ve had since the inception of the program which is pretty exciting,” said Cynthia Pring-Ham, Director of Mariculture for the state Dept. of Fish and Game, adding that shellfish production increased 27 percent. That’s an average of $7,049 in sales per a...
July Paine & Partners, LLC of San Francisco entered into agreements with two different groups to sell Icicle Seafoods. The Petersburg Public Library expanded its collection by 1.7 million titles after it joined a consortium of libraries across the state called the Joint Library Catalogue. U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Peter Vermeer took command of the USCGG Anacapa, replacing Lt. Kathryn Cry. The Alaska Department of Transportation cancelled the scheduled summer sailings of the M/V LeConte that would hav... Full story
PETERSBURG (AP) — The Alaska Department of Fish and Game is predicting a return of about 34,000 king salmon to the Stikine River next year in southeast Alaska. The estimated return is large enough to allow commercial fishing in the area and a catch up of to 1,000 Chinook. Catches of Stikine kings are managed under the Pacific Salmon Treaty between the U.S. and Canada, KFSK-FM reported. The department's announcement means trollers and gillnetters could have the opportunity to fish for the kings in early May, which would be a first since 201...
9 marks a quarter of a century for this weekly column that targets Alaska’s seafood industry. At the end of every year, I proffer my ‘no holds barred’ look back at the best and worst fish stories, and select the biggest story of the year. The list is in no particular order and I’m sure to be missing a few, but here are the Fishing Picks and Pans for 2015: • Most eco-friendly fish feat: The massive airlift/barge project led by the Dept. of Environmental Conservation that removed more than 800,000 pounds of marine debris from remote Alaska be...
January-June January Petersburg School Superintendent Lisa Stroh resigned from her position citing family medical issues as her reason for leaving although communication between borough staff and student letters indicated turmoil between Stroh and school staff. Two third and fourth grade elementary students published their own class newspapers. Former Petersburg School District Maintenance Director Tye Petersen was sentenced to 12 years in prison for Distribution, Receipt and Possession of... Full story
PETERSBURG — The Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced Dec. 18 that seasons for the 2015/2016 commercial Tanner and golden king crab fisheries in Southeast Alaska will open by regulation at 12:00 noon on Wednesday, February 17, 2016. The season start date for the Tanner and golden king crab fisheries is based on the date with the smallest Juneau tidal range between February 10 and February 17. Any delay to the start of the 2015/2016 Tanner and golden king crab fisheries due to weather will be announced 24 hours before the start of the f...
Alaska crab shells are fueling an eco-revolution that will drive new income streams for fabrics to pharmaceuticals to water filters. And for the first time, it is happening in the USA and not overseas. The entrepreneurs at Tidal Vision in October made the leap from their labs in Juneau to a pilot plant outside of Seattle to test an earth-friendly method that extracts chitin, the structural element in the exoskeletons of shellfish and insects. Their first big run a few weeks ago was tested on a 60,000 pound batch of crab shells delivered by...
There are many positive and negative aspects to hunting moose in Petersburg, and one of the most notable negatives is dealing with the strict antler restrictions imposed on hunters. At times, it seems like hunters afield are literally rolling the dice when they pull the trigger. If the moose is legal, there is celebration, but if the animal is illegal it leads to a $300 fine. Thirteen moose were killed in the region this season that failed to meet the antler restrictions, and their meat was distributed to charity organizations and those in... Full story
Commercial sea cucumber divers harvested more than 1.4 million pounds of sea cucumbers this fall, according to Alaska Department of Fish and Game preliminary harvest estimates. With an average price of $3.50 per pound, that's $5.1 million worth of sea cucumbers. Snow Pass yielded the most harvest weight with 327,454 pounds of cucumbers coming out of the waters and saw 58 divers fish the area on October 26, the most out of any area time this season. The cucumber dive fishery is a rotational...
SITKA — The Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced this week the preliminary guideline harvest level (GHL) for the 2016 Sitka Sound sac roe herring fishery is 15,674 tons based on a 20% harvest rateof a forecast mature biomass of 78,372 tons. To forecast biomass, the department uses an age structured analysis model using a long time series of egg abundance and age composition data from department surveys conducted during and following the spring fishery. Herring egg abundance is estimated using aerial surveys designed to map the length o...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly approved a letter supporting grant funding towards the Alaska Department of Fish and Game local knowledge study of salmon fisheries in southeast Alaska. “The proposed project is important to our community as a means of archiving and disseminating our cultural heritage as it relates to local salmon fisheries and the stocks that sustain them,” the letter states. “We support the collection of local and traditional knowledge that is held among our community members. Documenting this knowledge and making it avail...
Alaskans are being asked to weigh in on two tough issues: budgets and halibut bycatch. First off, the state Boards of Fish and Game are asking for ideas on cutting costs within their annual meeting cycles, as well as for the state agencies involved with providing all of the backup information to the boards. Both boards include seven members which are appointed by the governor and approved by the Alaska legislature for three year terms. The Fish Board’s role is to conserve and develop the fishery resources for the state’s subsistence, com...
The popular January Tanner crab fishery has been called off for the third year running throughout the Westward Region (Kodiak, Chignik and the South Peninsula), leaving fishermen and managers wondering where all the crab has gone. State managers for several years have been tracking a huge plug of crab that appeared poised to enter the 2016 Tanner fishery, but based on this summer’s surveys, the crab have failed to materialize. “In 2013 saw a very large cohort of juveniles in the survey estimated at over 200 million crab, which was one of the...
October 30, 1915 – H. S. Finch arrived from Seattle Wednesday and is spending the week meeting friends and looking after business in this vicinity. He is well satisfied with his fish brokerage venture, and reports a steady increase of trade. Mr. Finch was in the fish business at Anacortes several years ago, and he finds this a big asset in his present undertaking, as many of his old customers are again dealing with him. Rather unexpectedly, the freighter Redondo arrived in port Thursday with 7,500 feet of pipe for the water system. The work of...
United Fisherman of Alaska members gather in the Sons of Norway hall this week as it conducts its 2015 Fall Board Meeting. Board members representing 35 Alaska commercial fishing organizations began their meeting Tuesday, Oct. 27 where representatives of Lt. Governor Mallott, Alaska Department of Fish and Game, University of Alaska Anchorage and other independent commercial fishing agencies gave presentations to the board. Much of the time was devoted to internal discussion regarding seafood...
WRANGELL — Two Wrangell fishermen have pleaded guilty to charges related to falsified commercial catch reports. In documentation submitted to the U.S. District Court in Juneau on Oct. 19, federal prosecutors alleged Charles Petticrew Sr. and Charles Petticrew Jr. conspired together to submit falsified Individual Fishing Quota records over a three-year period. Petticrew Jr. was alleged to have knowingly submitted IFQ reports that falsely specified the Gulf of Alaska statistical areas where around 3,977 pounds of halibut were caught, valued in a...
Alaska’s 2015 salmon season produced the second largest harvest ever, but rock bottom prices yielded the lowest pay out to fishermen since 2006. That will cut into the tax base of coastal communities and state coffers, which collect fully half of all fish landing taxes. Preliminary tallies from the Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game show that the statewide salmon catch topped 263 million fish (the record is 273 million in 2013) with an ex-vessel (dockside) value at $414 million, a 28 percent decrease from last year. (http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index...
Jeff Meucci wasn't the only Petersburg resident to see a brown bear recently. Jane Fuqua, her husband Dylan Durst and their two children Wes, 5, and Sage, 1, had a run in with a brown bear near the Blind River Rapids boardwalk area late last month while they visited the new picnic area and picked cranberries. Fuqua and Wes were on their knees in the muskeg looking for berries when Durst saw a small cow moose running along the tree line. About a minute later a bear was trailing the moose's path,...
Skate of Gear moving closer to downtown is definitely helping year-round business. The family owned and operated store doesn’t focus on tourism. Any summer dollars from out of town guests is just a bonus. “I find that we don’t really carry or buy things that I would consider a tourist type of product,” says Lisa Nilsen. “We buy more for local customers.” Tourists will stop in to buy jewelry and cards, but that’s about it. The fact that Skate of Gear lacks large display windows is not helping business a bunch, but Nilsen likes the new location....
About one fourth of crabbers are soaking their pots this fall compared to those fishing last summer, despite high prices. Dungeness crab prices crept up one cent from $2.99 per pound to $3.00 per pound since summer. Dungeness prices have averaged around $2.40 during the past five years. According to Alaska Department of Fish and Game data, 54 permit holders are fishing crab since October 1, compared to the 195 crabbers who fished this past summer and the 137 permit holders who fished last fall. This fall, crabbers brought home 55,234 pounds of...
Six more illegal moose were killed during the third week of this year’s hunting season—bringing the total number of illegal moose harvested this season to 13. The high number is causing Alaska Department of Fish and Game staff to question whether or not to close the remainder of the season, said ADFG Area Wildlife Biologist Rich Lowell. “With a little over a week remaining in the season, the high harvest of 13 illegal moose during the first three weeks of the season is a cause for concern,” Lowell wrote in a press release. “If not for the fact...
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game is seeking interest in holding an Alaska Bow Hunter Education Course for interested Petersburg bow hunters. Beginning July 1, 2016 all big game bow hunters are required to obtain the certification after the ADFG Board of Game voted several years ago to require the course. ADFG Area Wildlife Biologist Rich Lowell said the board of game delayed implementation for two years in order to make sure the public was well aware of the requirements. Lowell said he’d like to see five to six people fill the class. ...
Hunters shot seven illegal moose during the first week of this year’s hunting season, more than twice that of last year’s first week. In a press release, Alaska Department of Fish and Game Area Wildlife Biologist Rich Lowell reported the number of checked-in moose that don’t comply with antler restrictions is disconcerting. “In a typical season, the harvest of six and nine sublegal moose (or about 10 percent of the overall harvest) would represent the take of illegal moose during the course of the entire season,” Lowell wrote. “With thr... Full story
The first week of moose season resulted in similar harvest numbers as the record breaking 2009 season, with one exception. As of Sept. 21, hunters in the Petersburg, Wrangell and Kake areas killed 35 moose, matching the record year, but seven illegal bulls were also harvested. On average six to nine illegal bulls have been killed over the entirety of a season since the local regulations changed in 2009, and if this trend continues, Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADFG) may have to consider altering season closure dates. “If people comply w... Full story
Moose season is now open and hunters are afield trying to fill their freezers. Hunters will continue to operate under the same regulations, as hunting areas and antler restrictions remain unchanged from 2014. The season opens with high hopes for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADFG) and hunters alike. Last fall, 106 moose were taken locally, the second highest total on record for the RMO-38 moose hunt. The total was just a couple shy of the 109 recorded moose killed in 2009. “That’s very good, because it wasn’t that long ago that we we... Full story
