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Sales of Alaska’s most popular seafoods are being hit hard by markets upended by the coronavirus, but perhaps none is getting battered worse than halibut. Along with the big losses in the lucrative restaurant trade, Pacific halibut also is facing headwinds from increasing foreign imports. Starting three years ago, sales of fresh Pacific halibut to established markets on the east coast were toppled by a flood of less expensive fish flowing in primarily from eastern Canada. Trade data show that for 2019 through February 2020, total Canadian h...
Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht told the borough assembly on Monday that the borough has been working with Icicle Seafoods and Trident Seafoods on their plans for bringing cannery workers into town during the upcoming fishing season. Giesbrecht said the two canneries' plans are being reviewed by medical professionals at Petersburg Medical Center. Both canneries are making modifications to their plans and submitting them to the state for approval, said Giesbrecht. The borough is having a...
Local canneries are in the beginning stages of developing a plan to prevent the possible spread of COVID-19 brought into town by cannery workers that will be hired for the upcoming fishing season. “We have a tremendous responsibility to the communities that we bring workers into,” said a representative from Icicle Seafoods who asked not to be named. The representative said Icicle Seafoods has been screening workers in the past, but the company has stepped up their procedures in light of the COV...
The Local Emergency Planning Committee held their second meeting in two weeks telephonically, as the borough and local businesses take further precautions to prevent a COVID-19 outbreak in Petersburg. To start off the teleconference, Petersburg Public Health Nurse Erin Michael and Petersburg Medical Center's Laurie Miller gave a brief overview of the new developments being taken by local health professions in reaction to the virus. Michael said the public health office and PMC are making...
Canned salmon from Icicle Seafoods was included in the 25 totes of fresh produce and groceries donated to the villages of Kake and Angoon this week. The Southeast villages have been impacted by the recent lack of ferry service prompting Rotary Club president elect Bennett McGrath and Pastor Nathan Lopez to gather donations of cash and food for the two communities. (Left to right) Toni Rogers, Marva Reid and Delinda Herbrandson hand label half pound cans of sockeye salmon in the Petersburg...
Betty was born in Evanston, Illinois to Swedish immigrants, Carl and Elizabeth Roger, fondly remembered by all as Big and Little Benna. Petersburg did not have a doctor at that time so Elizabeth traveled back to be with her family in Evanston to give birth to their first born. Betty was raised "out the point" in the log house her father built. It still stands today overlooking the Wrangell Narrows and Frederick Sound. Growing up during the depression was very difficult, but the family made the... Full story
Icicle Seafoods executives and workers rallied around the family and friends of Ken Hicks who passed away last week. Ken was the cannery foreman and was employed by the company for 33 years. Workers and friends worked hand in hand with his daughter Erin to sort and pack up his belongings. Their all-in efforts reflect the love and appreciation everyone had for Ken's long-time contributions to the company. May such acts of kindness continue beyond this Christmas season and throughout the New...
Kenneth LeRoy Hicks, 66 died December 9, 2019 at home in Petersburg, Alaska of natural causes. Ken was born February 20, 1953 in Port Townsend, Washington to Don and Pat Hicks. He attended Oak Harbor High School in Washington. He worked in Petersburg for Icicle Seafoods for 33 years as cannery foreman. He was a member of the Moose and Elks lodges. He is survived by: Parents Don and Pat Hicks of Yuma, Arizona; Daughter Erin Hicks of Renton, Washington; Son and Daughter-in-law and grandchildren... Full story
This year's salmon harvest came in below expectations in Southeast Alaska with a particularly bad chum salmon run, but the Dungeness crab fishery kept cannery crews and fishermen busy. "It was a below average harvest for all species of salmon," said Troy Thynes, regional management coordinator for commercial fisheries with Alaska Fish and Game. The coho salmon harvest came in at 1,673,000 in Southeast Alaska, while districts six and eight, the two districts around Mitkof Island and north of...
The Petersburg municipal election is next week, and only one proposition, which would authorize long-term indebtedness for utility capital projects, will be on the ballot. The loans will be through the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation and will be paid back over a 20-year period at 1.5 percent interest. The responsibility of the repayment of the loans would fall on water and wastewater rate payers. The wastewater department has five projects planned for a total of $2.6 million,...
Cannery Park has been taking shape in the past few weeks, but Icicle Seafoods Plant Manager Patrick Wilson said more improvements are still on the way for the one-time storage lot. Wilson has been spearheading the project, which began about five years ago in the downtown area. The lot that Cannery Park sits on is owned by Icicle Seafoods. The Fryer building was eventually torn down after it began to fall apart, and Icicle Seafoods used it as a storage lot. Wilson said he wanted to display the...
SITKA, Alaska (AP) — Alaska wildlife troopers have confiscated catch from a fishing industry lobbyist suspected of fishing in closed waters, officials said. Bob Thorstenson Jr., 55, was commercial fishing Sunday when wildlife troopers cited him for fishing within 200 yards (183 meters) of a protected salmon stream near Sitka, CoastAlaska reported Thursday. The stream acts as a buffer to protect native pink salmon that have become vulnerable near freshwater streams because of drought conditions, said Eric Coonradt, a state Department of Fish a...
Voters will decide if they want the borough to take out loans to fund eight utility projects totaling no more than $8 million after the assembly passed ordinance #2019-05 in its third reading last week. The loans will be through the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation and will be paid back over a 20-year period at 1.5 percent interest. The responsibility of the repayment of the loans would fall on water and wastewater rate payers. The wastewater department has five projects planned...
It’s been one year, so how’s that trade war with China working out for the nation’s seafood industry? As with farmers, there’s not much winning and ongoing tweeted skirmishes have global fish markets skittish. The quick take is the 25 percent retaliatory tariff imposed by China on US imports last July caused a 36 percent drop in US seafood sales, valued at $340 million, according to an in-depth analysis of Chinese customs data by Undercurrent News. “Chinese imports of US seafood fell from $1.3 billion in the 12 months prior to tariffs (...
The borough assembly approved an ordinance last week in its first reading that would give voters the opportunity to decide whether or not to allow the water and wastewater departments to take out loans not to exceed a total of $8 million for capital improvement projects. The responsibility of the repayment of the loans would fall on water and wastewater rate payers. The loans will be through the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation and will be paid back over a 20-year period at 1.5...
Borough manager Stephen Giesbrecht submitted a list of potential budget discussion items to the borough assembly on Monday that outlines possible cuts in funding to services as the assembly begins talks on the 2020 fiscal year budget. “The direction that I’ve heard from the assembly prior to today via informal conversations and various meetings is not that we don’t want to consider cuts if the budget’s balanced. What I was hearing from the assembly is we need to reduce the size of the borough government,” said Giesbrecht. One suggestio...
James Christopher Jensen was born in Petersburg, Alaska on March 18, 1954. His parents, Gordon and Helmi Jensen, and his sister Sue welcomed him to his childhood home on Wrangell Avenue, a paradise of kids and dogs and a street where everyone knew what to do with a gaff hook, a krumkaka iron or a basketball. It the 1950s it was the age of radio, the steamship and a community much smaller but as full of life as it is today. Chris grew up on the family seiner, the Symphony, their longliner... Full story
Despite the departure of processing workers, Patrick Wilson, Icicle Seafoods manager said they will be able to handle the chums coming in from Crawfish Inlet. “We can still do chums, Wilson commented. “We just wish the run came in two weeks earlier,” before workers were being sent home, he said. Wilson said his staff can still take care of the catch. “Anything to keep the fleet fishing,” he added. September 1 is the release date for the summer workers, but 100 production workers remain and will be able to handle the fish, according to Wilson...
Three of the five commercially harvested salmon species are coming in below Department of Fish and Game forecasts, according to assistant area management biologist Kevin Clark. “Biologically, I think that we’re going to be alright in the long run because for the most part, we’ve been meeting goals or near meeting goals,” said Clark. “That is kind of our charge, the sustainability of the fishery. Not necessarily to make sure everybody makes money every year, but to make sure that there’s fish there for their children and grandchildr...
Vote yes To the Editor: Push is coming to shove at the borough budget due to declining revenues. Management is having to make budget cuts. Property taxes and sales taxes are the largest two sources of revenue that pay for schools, police, fire protection, library and museum, even part of Mt. View Manor food service and KFSK. Now we have almost 600 senior sales tax exemption cards in our population of just 3,000. Sales tax revenue is consequently less. This October’s ballot proposition changes the sales tax program to give sales tax rebates t...
Icicle Seafoods, Inc. reports that Julianne Curry, a fourth-generation family fisherman and advocate for the Alaska seafood industry, has been named the company's Public Affairs Manager. "Julianne was born and raised in Petersburg, Alaska, where Icicle also has deep roots," said John Woodruff, Chief Operating Officer at Icicle Seafoods. "As a long-term resident of the area and a third generation Icicle fisherman, she is in tune with the state's fishing sector and with Icicle Seafoods and its...
Plastics in recycled fishing nets are being used to make an amazing array of products around the globe and Alaska plans to get in on the action. An Alaska Net Hack Challenge is being planned for September 8 and 9 that aims to identify potential opportunities for using the tons of old nets piled up in landfills and storage lots across the state and develop new items from the materials. Fishing nets can weigh from 5,000 to 20,000 pounds each. “The purpose of the program is to change how people look at fishing nets and ropes. Instead of looking a...
Alaska Humanities Forum's (AHF) second cohort of Alaska Salmon Fellows convened in Petersburg at the Holy Cross House for 5-days beginning with a reception at the Sons of Norway Hall last Friday. According to Fellow Kris Norosz, this was the first time the cohort of 16-fellows had met in person. The Alaska Salmon Fellows work to facilitate conversations about salmon issues and identify innovative opportunities to strengthen the resource for future generations. A contingent of about 28 people,...
The nation’s top fishing port welcomed seven European seafood buyers in late January – all women – and showed off its massive seafood industry during peak operations at Dutch Harbor. The women, whose companies import more than $60 million in U.S. seafood sales, hailed from France, Germany, Lithuania, Portugal, Spain, and the U.K., said Hannah Lindoff, international program coordinator for the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, which hosted the trip. “They are interested in Alaska pollock, cod, surimi, octopus, salmon, roe, black cod and kin...
