Local fisherman finds unidentified yellow growth in North Harbor

Local fisherman, Ed Wood, spied a bright yellow growth on one of the pilings at the minus tide of the North Harbor Thursday morning.

“I went to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game and brought Becky Knight to look at the growth,” Wood said. “While she was taking photos, I crawled down and got a sample of it with my knife.”

One of the bigger fears of fishermen in these waters is the growth called Didemnum vexillum, also called D. vex, which was found in Sitka a few years ago. D. vex, also known as rock vomit, is an invasive species that smothers the ocean bed and disallows area fish from feed...