Sorted by date Results 151 - 175 of 363
The M/V Matanuska arrived in Petersburg late Sunday night during its first voyage of the season out of Bellingham, but that same day a passenger onboard the M/V Kennicott, which left Bellingham on June 27, tested positive for COVID-19. The protocols that the Alaska Marine Highway System has in place to prevent the spread of the virus seem to have limited the infection to the one individual who only had one other close contact, according to a press release issued by the Alaska Department of...
Surveys of Alaska's fish, crab and halibut stocks in the Bering Sea have been called off or reduced due to constraints and dangers posed by the coronavirus. In what they called an "unprecedented" move, NOAA Fisheries announced in late May that five Alaska surveys will be cancelled this summer "due to the uncertainties created by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the unique challenges those are creating for the agency." NOAA said in a statement that they found "no way to move forward with a survey plan...
A rapid response by nearly 800 Alaska fishermen will provide a guideline for giving them a hand up as the coronavirus swamps their operations. An online survey from April 14-May 3 by Juneau-based nonprofit SalmonState asked fishermen about their primary concerns both before the Covid outbreak and in the midst of the pandemic in April. It also asked what elected officials at local, state and federal levels can do to help them directly. Over half of the 817 responses came in over four days, said Tyson Fick, Salmon State communications ad...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Federal lawmakers have been urged by tribes and local conservation groups to address transboundary mining, which some consider a threat to southeast Alaska. Transboundary mining is when run-off from a mine in one country pollutes water that eventually flows into another country. The dams in Canada holding back toxic wastewater from the mining process have failed before in 2014 when the Mount Polly Mine in British Columbia spilled millions of gallons of industrial waste into nearby waterways in southern British Columbia, t...
Ferry situation a disgrace To the Editor: The article on the AMHS receiving $10M in U.S. Virus recovery funds is a cover-up. You cannot blame the problems of the ferry system on the virus. The blame lies with the incompetence of the governor, the legislature, and the DOT. When was the last time that Petersburg and Wrangell had ferry service? When the M/V Matanuska broke down, common sense would tell you that you can't operate a ferry 24 hours a day, seven days a week, month after month without...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - The Alaska ferry system is expected to receive an initial injection of $10 million in federal coronavirus recovery funding, officials said. The allocation for the Alaska Marine Highway System is part of $29 million in funding that the state received for rural transit needs from the Federal Transit Administration, CoastAlaska reported Saturday. The state had initially said the amount was $5 million but corrected the figure to $10 million on Monday without providing further...
Strict new rules are now in place for Alaska fishermen and their vessels to protect against and prevent the spread of COVID-19 during the 2020 salmon season. Effective April 24, Governor Dunleavy provided 11 pages of mandates that specifically apply to those who have not “agreed to operate under a fleet-wide plan submitted by a company, association or entity” representing them. Among other things, each independent skipper must sign a “Health Mandate Acknowledgement Form” prior to going fishing. They are required to maintain a written or time...
The Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS) vessels, M/V Columbia, M/V Kennicott, and M/V Tustumena were scheduled to leave the Ketchikan Shipyard and resume service in mid-April and early May 2020. For the safety of AMHS employees and to reduce the potential spread of COVID-19 at the Ketchikan Shipyard, AMHS reduced shipboard crew levels on March 25, to the minimum necessary to safely care for assets. Vigor Ketchikan Shipyard expects to complete overhaul work for the Columbia, Kennicott and...
As the first cruise ships are expected to arrive in town on May 12, it is still too early to tell how COVID-19 will affect the cruise ship industry in Southeast Alaska, according to Dave Berg, co-founder of Viking Travel. One issue affecting large, foreign cruise ships is the closure of the Vancouver cruise ship port, said Berg. The closure was a result of COVID-19, and the cruise ship port isn't expected to reopen until June 30. While most of the ships that port in Petersburg are small,...
The Pacific halibut fishery opened on March 14 amid little fanfare and flattened markets. The first fish of the eight month season typically attracts the highest prices and is rushed fresh to high-end buyers, especially during the Lenten season. But that’s not the case in this time of coronavirus chaos, when air traffic is stalled and seafood of all kinds is getting backlogged in global freezers. Alaska’s share of the 2020 halibut catch is about 17 million pounds for nearly 2,000 fishermen who own shares of the popular flatfish. A week int...
JUNEAU – The Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS) vessel M/V Matanuska has arrived at the Ketchikan Vigor Shipyard for repairs to its propulsion system. The United States Coast Guard approved the sailing plan for Matanuska to travel to Ketchikan on one engine, along with a tug escort provided by Vigor Marine. The ship returned to service in November 2019 after a two-year, $47 million overhaul. AMHS anticipates that Matanuska's repairs will be completed at some point in May and hopes that the v...
The shutdown of ferry service in Southeast Alaska has impacted many aspects of day-to-day life in communities across the region. In previous reporting by the Wrangell Sentinel and Petersburg Pilot, peoples' travel plans have been disrupted, businesses have been impacted, and cultural events like Celebration 2020 could potentially see decreased turnout. Another aspect of Southeast communities that is facing disruption from the lack of ferries are school districts. The schools of Wrangell and...
Sen. Bert Stedman told the community while attending the Petersburg Chamber of Commerce banquet on Saturday that the future of the Alaska Marine Highway System depends on how negotiations go with Gov. Mike Dunleavy. Stedman said that legislators will discuss the AMHS and present possible scenarios to the governor when Dunleavy releases his operating budget; however, without enough votes to override the governor's anticipated vetoes, negotiations won't be too aggressive. "If you don't have the...
Decades ago, the Alaska Marine Highway System was a pillar of the state’s transportation network. Alaskans and visitors alike piled onto ferries running up and down the Inside Passage for a trip that was a little adventurous, a little luxurious — Dining rooms! Staterooms! Bars on board! — and close enough to the cost of driving through Canada that they were a strong contender for traveler dollars. Fast forward to the present, and the system is in grave danger of falling to pieces. Its only operating vessel until early March is the MV Lituy...
Vital role of AMHS not addressed To the Editor: Recently I traveled to Juneau to meet with Legislators to discuss the importance of the Alaska Marine Highway. Mayors and administrators from statewide coastal communities teamed up to highlight the importance of the system. We heard stories of food shortages, missed medical appointments, and economic hardship from around the state. I found that the message was received with a sympathetic ear, but our friends from non-maritime communities believe that the ferry system serves too few at too great...
January 30, 1920 The Petersburg Fire Department will purchase an automobile of some kind for fire fighting purposes, if the citizens of the town are willing to help. A committee has been appointed and will visit the merchants and property owners within the next few days to ascertain their wishes. It has been demonstrated that the auto is the most efficient fire fighting apparatus in existence Should fire break out at any point in the city, from Standard Oil dock to the Point an alarm would bring the car, with a 50 gallon chemical and...
The borough assembly failed to pass a letter to the Secretary of Agriculture and the United States Forest Service at an assembly meeting Monday expressing discontent with the process of reviewing the Roadless Rule in the Tongass National Forest. The letter, which was drafted by Assembly Member Chelsea Tremblay, notes that when the Forest Service presented their six alternatives to the Roadless Rule at a public meeting in November, it seemed as if the decision to go with the alternative six,...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — More than half of Alaska’s ferries will be out of service amid a lack of funds to repair the vessels, transportation officials said. The state Department of Transportation and Public Facilities announced this week that the Aurora and the LeConte will be pulled from service after inspections revealed required steel replacement, the Juneau Empire reported Friday. About 24 employees of the Aurora were already notified they would be relieved of duties effective Jan. 14, officials said. The Aurora is set for long-term lay...
Lower catches for Pacific halibut are in the forecast for the foreseeable future. That was the message from the International Pacific Halibut Commission at its meeting last week in Seattle. The IPHC oversees halibut stock research and sets catch limits for nine fishing regions ranging from Northern California and British Columbia to the Bering Sea. There are fewer of the prized flatfish (down 4%), they weigh less (down 5%) and no big pulses appear to be coming into the stock was the grim and the results of summer long surveys at nearly 1,370...
A resolution supporting alternative one of the draft environmental impact statement for the exemption of the Roadless Rule in the Tongass National Forest will go before the borough assembly at their first meeting in December after the assembly pushed the vote back by two weeks at their meeting on Monday. The United State Forest Service released the findings of its draft environmental impact statement earlier this month that showed the United States Department of Agriculture supported...
WRANGELL - The Nolan Center opened its newest exhibit on shipwrecks with much fanfare on Friday, Nov. 8. With food, wine, music, and special presentations, many people turned out for the grand opening. The exhibit, "Wrangell Remembers - Shipwrecks Close to Home, 1908-1952," features stories and artifacts of several Southeast Alaskan shipwrecks from the 20th century. Four ships are featured in this exhibit, The Star of Bengal, the S.S. Mariposa, the Princess Sophia, and the Princess Kathleen....
Heed vaping warning To the Editor: As of November 13, 2019, 2,172 cases of e-cigarette, or vaping, product use associated lung injury have been reported to CDC from 49 states (all except Alaska), the District of Columbia, and 2 U.S. territories (Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands). CDC has identified vitamin E acetate as a chemical of concern among people with e-cigarette, or vaping, product use associated lung injury. The CDC recommends that people should not use THC-containing e-cigarette, or...
The federal government’s plan to raze more roads through the Tongass National Forest is facing strong headwinds from fishermen, Native groups and coastal communities throughout Southeast Alaska. Over 220 Southeast Alaskan fishermen signed a letter to the Trump Administration last week opposing the abrupt push to exempt the Tongass National Forest from a roadless rule in place for over a decade. The exemption would release more than 9 million acres from protection and open nearly 200,000 acres to logging. The U.S. Forest Service made the a...
The borough assembly signed on to a Salmon Beyond Borders letter on Monday to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to act against Canada's inadequate mining regulations in British Columbia. Watershed from Canada's abandoned, proposed, developing and operating large-scale mines in B.C. impact or pose a great risk to American interests as the watershed from the mines flow into the United States, according to the letter. Salmon Beyond Borders asks that the U.S. Department of State work with Global...
Over six emergency flares were fired into the sky just before 8 P.M. on Sunday in the area of Farragut River, but the United States Coast Guard determined that individuals at one of the cabins were just disposing of expired flares. Dennis Rogers and his family were anchored in Francis Anchorage of Farragut Bay when they saw a red parachute flare slowly descending from the Farragut River area, Rogers said in a written statement to the Pilot. Rogers immediately called the Coast Guard Sector Juneau...
