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November 22, 1913 – What is believed to be a new species of salmon has appeared in the Skeena river this season, says a report; and fishermen are puzzled at the strange fish. It has never been seen before, either in the Skeena or any other British Columbia river. In appearance, the new salmon resembles both the sockeye and the humpback, being described as a cross between the two. Its markings seem to include characteristic spots and colorings of both fish and the dorsal fin, while distinct f...
When one thinks of Southeast Alaskan wildlife the tendency is to imagine the grumbles and crashes of humpback whales, bears, moose and wolves trampling through muskeg and salmon ripping up sloughs and stReam. But Joshua Ream lives in a different wild. He turns over logs and peers into shallow ponds looking for and documenting native amphibians. “I chose to work with amphibians here in Alaska because there’s relatively little known about the species we have and a lot of people don’t even realize that they occur here,” Ream said. Ream, a wildlif...
Kevin Colson, Wildlife Biologist with the University of Alaska Fairbanks, gave a presentation in the public library conference room Tuesday night about moose populations and their long journey to Southeast Alaska. To help tell the story, Colson for the past year and a half has worked with Petersburg high school teacher Joni Johnson and her science students as they collect and catalogue moose DNA samples. Before moose made their way to Southeast, a very recent occurrence that didn’t happen until the early 1900s, they lived in the boreal f...
WRANGELL — The Wrangell Borough Assembly’s energy committee met for the second time ever Tuesday night. Committee members took no formal actions, other than to elect assembly member James Stough – the only sitting assembly member on the committee – as chair, and to elect Brian Ashton, a Southeast Alaska Power Agency board member and Thomas Bay Power Authority commissioner. The former energy committee chair, board member Pamella McClocskey, had resigned. However, the committee composed a set of possible recommendations to the assembly to be f...
ANCHORAGE (AP) — On Friday evening, after all the human patients were finished for the day at the Alaska Spine Institute’s imaging center, a dead killer whale calf underwent a CT scan and an MRI. The whale offered a rare opportunity for extensive study, both because of the small size and good condition. “It’s very sad when a baby whale dies, but the amount of scientific information we are going to be able to get over the next 24 hours is going to be tremendous,” said Judy St. Leger, director of pathology and research for SeaWorld who has studi...
JUNEAU (AP) — Celebrity Cruises announced Tuesday it was cancelling the remainder of a seven-night cruise to Alaska, plus four additional cruises, after mechanical issues forced a ship carrying more than 3,100 passengers and crew members to return to port in Ketchikan. The cruise line said in a statement that passengers on the current cruise on its Millennium ship would receive refunds of their cruise fares and chartered air travel home. It also said it was offering future cruise certificates for 100 percent of the fare paid for this cruise. T...
Designer-builder, sailor, skier and mountain climber, Dieter Klose, has best left his mark on Petersburg in the form of distinctive architecture. From the cantilevered Troll Bridge of Sandy Beach Park to the numerous homes, businesses, and even a church, Klose uses his expertise in building, his passion for natural landscape and an eye for detail, to make the most of each building he creates. To understand Klose’s designs, it’s best to look back at the architectural inspiration of the community...
Alaska salmon catches are poised to blow past the pre-season forecast of 179 million fish due to a plug of pinks that is coming in stronger than expected. “We are going to be short on sockeyes by five million or so, and we’re probably not going to make the chum salmon numbers either. So we’ll have to go over with pinks, but at the rate things are going that is entirely possible,” said Geron Bruce, deputy director of Fish and Game's Commercial Fisheries division. As of Friday the total pink salmon catch had surged to nearly 114 million (the fo...
(CBC) The British Columbia provincial government has sent firefighters to help with fires in Yukon that have scorched more than 1,300 square kilometres this summer – and have sent smoke as far west as the Panhandle of Southeast Alaska. One of the most dangerous areas is near the village of Carmacks where, according to Yukon Wildland Fire Management, 15 fires have burned through more than 110 square kilometres. The danger rating is listed as extreme, the highest rating, which means the fires are spreading extremely fast for extended periods. B.C...
A Canadian parliamentarian has submitted a bill in the legislature of British Columbia seeking to protect the Stikine, Nass and Skeena rivers Nathan Cullen, Minister of Parliament for the Skeena-Bulkley Valley of Northwestern B.C. has introduced a member’s bill that he says will put the protection back into what he calls a government-gutted Canadian Navigable Waters Protection Act. Cullen said he submitted the bill believing that the Conservative government of Canada has removed what he calls “9...
24 Alaska becomes the 49th state and M/V Chilkat becomes the first state owned ferry 1963 The Alaska Marine highway System is founded, providing many roadless communities with a way to “driove” from one town to the next. M/V Matanuska, M/V Malaspina and M/V Taku are built Service expands to Prince Rupert, British Columbia 1964 M/V Tustumena is built. March 27: Earthquake! Ports in Valdez and Cordova are damaged 1967 Service extended to Seattle, Washington. linking the system to the Lower 48 1974 M/V Columbia, the largest vessel in the fle...
Elmer Arnold Martens, 96, last surviving child of Alaska pioneers Loui and Ragnhild Martens, passed away peacefully of natural causes with his family at his side on April 14, 2013. Elmer was born in Petersburg, Alaska on May 23, 1916, the fourth child of the pioneer family. Elmer played on the Petersburg basketball team and had an abiding love of the game. He was a proud graduate of Petersburg High School and wore his “Petersburg Alumni” cap to the end. He fished on the Star with his father and... Full story
Absent from supermarket fliers this spring have been ads featuring the year’s first fresh halibut, reflecting the anticipated push back by buyers to the high priced fish. “No ads in the papers. No excitement this year,” said more than one major buyer. In recent years, dwindling supplies of halibut helped push up dock prices to more than $7/lb at major ports, and halibut fillets topped $20/lb at retail. That’s not the case this year. The fishery opened March 23 and the prices for first deliveries at Kodiak were reported at $5.25 - $5.75/l...
ANCHORAGE (AP) — Alaska's challenge to the Clinton administration-era roadless rule in national forests was rejected Monday by a federal judge, who said it came too late to be considered. The rule that was put into place in January 2001 restricts road construction in national forest areas without roads. The Bush administration in 2003 exempted the vast Tongass National Forest, the nation's largest at nearly 26,563 square miles on Alaska's Panhandle. A federal judge in March 2011 overturned that decision and the state of Alaska sued to o...
There’s lots of movement in Alaska’s salmon permit markets, but sales of catch shares are in a stall. Permit values are up and down depending on region, and interest reflects how the salmon runs have been coming in. For example at Bristol Bay, where sockeye runs for two years have been down and another lackluster season is expected this summer, salmon drift permit values have nosedived from a $165,000 high water mark in 2011 to around $90,000 now. “It’s hard to imagine they will go up a lot with a catch forecast of 16 to 17 million salmon...
Halibut catches could be cut by 33 percent next year if proposed numbers get the nod by the International Pacific Halibut Commission next month. That would mean a coast wide harvest of just 22.7 million pounds for fisheries in California, Washington, Oregon, British Columbia and Alaska. Alaska’s share of the halibut catch would be 17.4 million pounds, down from about 25 million this year. Unlike past years, staff scientists are not making catch limit recommendations by separate areas. Instead, they are providing “assessment and advice framework...
Alaska’s salmon harvest and value for 2012 came in well below last year, dropping 21 percent and 30 percent, respectively. According to preliminary state tallies, the value of the salmon catch totaled nearly $506 million at the docks this summer on a statewide catch of 124 million fish. That compares to a 2011 take of 177 million salmon valued at just over $641 million. A breakdown shows that the 2012 Chinook harvest of 333,000 was worth $17.6 million; sockeyes came in at 35.2 million valued at nearly $246 million; the coho catch of 3 m...
October 20, 1982- An unfamiliar building, a strange view from the front window, a new bed-it can be disquieting to an adult, let alone a child. Maria Estelle, director of the Petersburg Children’s Center, is getting nervous thinking about helping 40 children adapt to a new day-home. She is nonetheless looking forward to the move into the new Petersburg Children’s Center. The actual move won’t be made until Nov. 1, but a ribbon cutting ceremony will be held on Oct. 22 at 11 a.m. across from the elementary school. Construction of the cente...
State fishery managers are asking for input from Alaskans to help solve the case of disappearing king salmon. A letter went out last week from Alaska Department of Fish and Game Commissioner Cora Campbell inviting stakeholders to a two day symposium in Anchorage later this month titled ‘Understanding Abundance and Productivity Trends of Chinook salmon in Alaska.’ The stated goal is ‘to increase understanding and develop the most complete research plan possible.’ A draft analysis by a newly appointed fisheries research team represents initial...
Questions regarding the decrease in port departures were a topic of discussion by Petersburg City Council Monday evening. Petersburg Mayor Al Dwyer addressed a letter to Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities Deputy Commissioner of Marine Operations Michael Neussl asking about the reduced ferry schedule for 2013. “Our community has seen an overall decrease in port departures by 19.5 percent since 2002 and an 18.6 percent decrease in passenger disembarkment over the same time period,” Dwyer noted. “These two facts are clear... Full story
Gabriel Seaman Army Pvt. Gabriel C. Seaman has graduated from basic combat training at Fort Jackson, Columbia, S.C. During the nine weeks of training, the soldier studied the Army mission, history, tradition and core values, physical fitness, and received instruction and practice in basic combat skills, military weapons, chemical warfare and bayonet training, drill and ceremony, marching, rifle marksmanship, armed and unarmed combat, map reading, field tactics, military courtesy, military justice system, basic first aid, foot marches, and...
The amount of mature sockeye salmon present in the waters of Southeast Alaska and other areas of the Pacific Northwest has been on a downward spiral recently according to a study published last week in the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences. The study states that the, “widespread decrease in productivity has important implications for management of salmon stocks and requires research into its potential causes to help determine future management strategies.” Dr. Randall Peterman, a professor in fishery science and management at...
The Crystal Lake Hatchery began operation in Petersburg in 1973 and is one of the oldest operating hatcheries in southeast Alaska. “This hatchery was started as a sport fish hatchery,” Crystal Lake Hatchery Manager Loren Thompson explained. “It still is, it’s the only one in southeast Alaska.” According to the Southern Southeast Regional Aquaculture Association, the facility was first stocked with Chinook from the Columbia River. Andrews Creek fish were used at the hatchery and spread from ther...
May 26, 1982 - Salmon fishermen in southern Southeastern Alaska can expect to find bright red 7/8 inch diameter plastic disc tags on some adult pink and red salmon they harvest in 1982. The tags are being placed on adult pinks and reds as a part of the joint U.S.—Canada salmon interception research program being conducted in southern Southeastern Alaska and northern British Columbia waters in 1982. This large-scale tagging project is designed to determine the proportion of red and pink salmon from each country that contribute to major i...
The value of Alaska fishing permits has see-sawed over the past year with Cook Inlet prices heading upwards and Bristol Bay on the down side. “Cook Inlet had a really good year last year, and they’re expecting another strong fishery this summer. Salmon drift permits have taken off with sales made at $80,000 compared to around $50,000 last year,” said Doug Bowen of Alaska Boats and Permits in Homer Prices have headed the other way in Bristol Bay. The Bay permits, are not so hot. They ran way up last year on expectations of good fish numbe...
