Sorted by date Results 701 - 725 of 940
Alaska’s fishing industry was dismayed last week by the sudden news that Jeff Regnart, Director of the state’s Commercial Fisheries Division, will leave the job on October 2. “I’m resigning due to family reasons, aging parents…I just can’t be in the state full time like this job demands,” Regnart explained. Jeff Regnart started as an Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game field tech in high school, and over 30 years worked his way to management positions at Prince William Sound, Cook Inlet and Bristol Bay. He took over as director of the commercial fi...
September 11, 1915 – When the cannery boats arrived in last Sunday morning with 27,000 seine fish the catch for the season was finished, and within a couple of weeks the cannery crew will have completed work. The Petersburg pack this season is the largest put up by any cannery in this section of South-eastern Alaska, and is a record pack for the cannery, exceeding by 8,000 cases the output for any previous year. The total pack is 63,000 cases, of which about 50,000 are pinks, 6,000 reds, and the balance cohoes, with a few chums. The m...
The 8th Annual Rainforest Festival kicks off next week and those attending the festival are going to be offered diverse opportunities, including watching an impactful documentary about a basket weaver, a field trip to listen for bats and wine-making with local ingredients followed by wine tasting. Things get started on Labor Day with the 2nd Annual Rainforest Run Half Marathon. Participants will be faced with the task of completing the 13.1 mile long course. Organizers are hoping to increase... Full story
Fish deaths, drought in California, tropical creatures appearing in cold waters – those freakish happenings and more are being blamed on a giant splotch of warm water that for two years has been pushing against coastlines on the West Coast, Canada and into Alaska. “They call it the Blob because of its original circular shape on the sea surface,” explained Dr. Carol Janzen, an oceanographer and Operations Director at the Alaska Ocean Observing System in Anchorage. “However, this feature is not static, it’s constantly reshaping itself in circul...
Of an estimated 58 million pink salmon harvest for 2015, so far seiners have netted less than half that, some 26 million by the end of last week. "We are not even coming close (to projections)," explained Dan Gray, Alaska Department of Fish and Game management coordinator for Southeast fisheries in Sitka. He estimated that the season will end with a harvest of 30 to 35 million pinks, and recent weekly catch trends indicate that the season is past its peak. "It's dying fast," an industry expert... Full story
KETCHIKAN (AP) — Due to a lower estimate of the number of wolves in southeast Alaska, state and federal managers have reduced the combined limit for the federal subsistence and state general hunts to nine wolves in the area. In Game Management 2, the area that include Prince of Wales Island and its adjacent islands, the state wolf hunting season will run for just 10 days, if at all, according to The Ketchikan Daily News If all nine wolves are killed during subsistence hunting and trapping seasons, which begin in September and November, the s...
FAIRBANKS (AP) — Despite a below-average overall run, the Yukon River king salmon population had the highest number of Chinooks make it across the border toward their Canadian spawning grounds in 10 years. The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports that about 83,000 fish went across the border this year. An international treaty mandates that at least 42,500 Chinooks must get to Canada, but Alaska fishery managers have only managed that goal in two of the past four years. Between 118,000 and 140,000 Chinooks were projected to enter the Yukon this y...
August 21, 1915 – The launch Trygve arrived in port Thursday evening, being a couple of days ahead of the time she was expected. Mr. Hogue reports a fine trip, and believes there is business enough on the route to justify weekly trips. He says the folks at the several points where the boat touched appeared to be prospering, and are delighted with the prospect of having a weekly boat service from Petersburg. The Trygve, in command of Captain Jack Lindsay, will leave on her second trip Tuesday, carrying passengers and freight, for Cape F...
The Alaska Board of Fisheries last week released its 2015-2016 Proposal Book for review. Some 215 proposals were accepted for review during the board’s regulatory meetings. Regulations potentially to be affected include Pacific cod and finfish in the Alaska Peninsula, Chignik and Bering Sea-Aleutian Island areas; Bristol Bay finfish; Arctic, Yukon and Kuskokwim finfish; and statewide finfish. Proposals may be downloaded off the board’s website in sections, as well as for full meetings, at www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=f...
Deer hunting season began for Alaska residents and nonresidents in much of the Unit 3 management area last Saturday, lasting through Nov. 30. Bow hunting on Mitkof Island and the Petersburg Management Area, hunting on the remainder of the Mitkof, Woewodski and Butterworth islands, and residential hunting on the Lindenberg Peninsula portion of Kupreanof Island all begin on Oct. 15, and are subject to other limitations. Outlooks for this year’s season for Sitka black-tailed deer are much the same as last year, with smaller harvests expected t...
July 24, 1915 – The Glacier Fish Company, which was organized by a number of substantial Tacoma business men about six months ago, has engaged Nels Nelson as buyer for this vicinity. Joseph Maddock, manager for the company, was a passenger for the north on the Admiral Watson last Monday evening. He was en route to Icy Straits, where the company has “The Glory of the Seas” stationed and fitted up as a cold storage plant. Mr. Maddock plans to stop over in Petersburg on his return south. The Tacoma company expects to do a considerable busin...
ANCHORAGE (AP) — Experts say this year’s Bristol Bay sockeye harvest will be less than half the record-breaking boom recorded last year. Commercial harvest forecasts had put the catch this year at 37.6 million fish. As the season’s halfway point passed, that number fell by over 17 million sockeye, the Alaska Journal of Commerce reported. Experts are saying a late run is unlikely. “My perspective is that the run is below forecast,’’ said Travis Elison, the management biologist for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s Dillingham office. “That...
June 10, 1915 – At an adjourned meeting of the council Thursday evening it was decided to send a delegate to Juneau to take up the matter of the building of the Petersburg – Scow Bay board walk with J.C. Hayes, superintendent of construction of the road commission of Alaska. A delegation from Scow Bay was present and acted with the council in the matter. S. L. Hogue was selected as the delegate. Resolutions on the subject passed by the Scow Bay school board will also be presented to Mr. Hayes. June 12, 1940 – Three salmon canneries are runni...
Preliminary prices for Dungeness crab are in and a bit higher than last year’s. The average price for the first week was “a solid” $3 per pound throughout Southeast Alaska, according to Alaska Department of Fish and Game Petersburg Assistant Shellfish Biologist Kellii Wood. Last year’s average price was $2.99, according to Petersburg Shellfish Biologist Joe Stratman. Wood noted that 838,156 pounds were caught in the first seven days of the fishery by 169 permit holders. “That is the fourth highest amount the fleet has caught in the first sev...
Lower prices in the market are souring what’s predicted to be another large salmon run. “In general, a lot of prices for species are down,” said Andy Wink, Senior Seafood Analyst with the Juneau-based McDowell Group, “especially sockeye and chum.” Prices have dropped $0.05, $0.10 and more than $0.50 in some cases. Wink and local processors pointed to two big factors: currency and supply. The pink salmon market, for example, is “gearing up for a huge harvest,” Wink noted, and the wholesale will be dictated by how big the run is. There’s still...
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced late last week its revised 2015 sport fishing regulations for king salmon in Southeast and Yakutat. Starting yesterday and in effect through May 2, 2016, Alaskan resident permit-holders’ bag and possession limit is two king salmon 28 inches or greater in length. From October 1 through March 31, resident sport anglers may use two rods while fishing for king salmon. Nonresidential permit holders’ bag and possession limit is still one king salmon 28 inches or greater in length, with an annual limit...
Dungeness crab season is now open, and fishermen are flocking to the sea earlier. This time last year, there were 151 permits registered, Alaska Department of Fish and Game Petersburg Shellfish Biologist Joe Stratman said. The 2014-15 season ended with 192 permit holders. This year, there are already 193 permits registered, he added. "We have an increase in effort this year," Stratman said. And the results of last year's season may be a contributor, he added. The 2014-15 season was a good one... Full story
A one handed clap best describes the reaction to the 43,000 signature drop off by anti-salmon setnet advocates at the Division of Elections last week. It means enough signatures were gathered to include the question on the 2016 primary election ballot, and let Alaska voters decide whether to ban setnets at Cook Inlet, Mat-Su, Anchorage, Juneau, Valdez, Ketchikan, and any communities designated as “urban” and “non-subsistence” in the future. The ban is being pushed one-handed by the Alaska Fisheries Conservation Alliance (AFCA), whose board o...
Salmon fisheries are opening up this month from one end of Alaska to the other. Total catches so far of mostly sockeye, were under one million fish, but will add up fast from here on. A total haul for all Alaska salmon this season is pegged at 221 million fish. A highlight so far is a 40 percent increase in troll action at Southeast regions, where nearly 300 fishermen are targeting king salmon. That’s likely due to a boosted price averaging $7.54 a pound, up $1.88 from last year. Speaking of high prices – Alaska halibut fishermen are fet...
As of Tuesday, the Alaska Legislature meeting in a special session in Anchorage had still not passed a budget for the new fiscal year, which begins July 1. On Sunday, the Senate Finance Committee rejected a compromise budget passed by the House the previous day, which included some small concessions to the minority such as reversing cuts to the ferry system and per-student funding. A conference committee between the two chambers was being organized to negotiate an amended budget. However, any deal that would tap into Congressional Budget... Full story
Alaska’s salmon industry is ready to get corked by the inability of state lawmakers to pass a budget. More than 20,000 state workers are bracing for 30 day layoff notices, meaning they’ll be off the job when the new fiscal year starts on July 1. The timing couldn’t be worse for Alaska’s salmon managers who are nearing the peak of a season that could set new records. “There is some budget, about 27 percent of our normal amount for us to work in the field, and do our management responsibilities. But how we proceed from July 1 is what we’re wor...
Alaskans will have to wait until fall to learn if salmon habitat prevails over a coal mine proposed at Upper Cook Inlet. A decision due earlier this month by the state Department of Natural Resources has been delayed until after a public hearing later this summer, said Ed Fogels, DNR Deputy Commissioner. At issue is competing water rights claims filed in 2009 by the Chuitna Citizens Coalition and PacRim Coal of Delaware and Texas. The Coalition wants to protect spawning tributaries of the salmon-rich Chuitna River, dubbed the Kenai of the West...
The 34rd Annual Petersburg Chamber of Commerce King Salmon Derby gets underway this Friday at 7 a.m. The derby continues through the Memorial Day Weekend and ends Monday at 5 p.m. Two tagged fish have been released at Frederick Point. The $10,000 fish is about a 15 lb. King, while the $5,000 King is a 28-30 lb. fish, according to Derby committee member Doug Welde who trolled for the Kings for two mornings this week. The $10,000 tagged fish prize is sponsored by Alaska Marine Lines and the Petersburg Chamber of Commerce and the $5,000 tagged... Full story
Nowhere in the world do people have as much opportunity to speak their minds to fish policy makers as they do in Alaska. As decision day approaches, a groundswell of Alaska voices is demanding that fishery overseers say bye-bye to halibut bycatch in the Bering Sea. They are speaking out against the more than six million pounds of halibut that are dumped overboard each year as bycatch in trawl fisheries that target flounders, rockfish, perch, mackerel and other groundfish (not pollock). The bycatch levels, which are set by the North Pacific...
Maximilian Worhatch III was born to Mary Josephine Gola and Maximilian Worhatch II on September 2nd, 1933 in Callery, Butler County, Pennsylvania. He was born at the height of the depression in an old farmhouse on the property where his father managed a fireworks company. In 1933 jobs were scarce and living conditions so dire that when the doctor was paid in dollars for his maternity services he broke down and cried, for it had been nearly a year since he had received actual money for his... Full story
