Articles written by anna laffrey


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  • State files another appeal with court to save commercial king salmon troll fishery

    Anna Laffrey, Ketchikan Daily News|May 31, 2023

    A federal judge has denied the state of Alaska’s request for a stay of an order that could close down the Southeast king salmon troll fishery this summer and winter. The last option to open the fishery this season is another appeal. After the judge’s ruling last Friday, the state immediately filed a request with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for a stay that would — if granted — allow trollers to work while the National Marine Fisheries Service attempts to better justify the fishery, as required by the judge’s May 2 order. “The stat...

  • Ketchikan-to-Hollis ferry carries its millionth passenger

    Anna Laffrey, Ketchikan Daily News|May 31, 2023

    The Inter-Island Ferry Authority on May 24 welcomed its one millionth passenger since the service began operating between Ketchikan and Prince of Wales Island in 2002. As passengers arrived for the Prince of Wales ferry’s 3:30 p.m. run from Ketchikan to Hollis, Inter-Island Ferry manager Ron Curtis stood at the loading ramp, keeping track of passengers to figure out when the all-time passenger count hit a million. At 999,999 he announced: “It will be the next person to get on the ferry.” Chance Headley approached the purser's station with...

  • Judge rules Ketchikan schools can display tribal values posters

    Anna Laffrey, Ketchikan Daily News|May 17, 2023

    A state judge has ruled that Southeast Traditional Tribal Values posters may hang throughout the Ketchikan School District, rejecting a lawsuit that sought to ban the posters. The judge’s ruling also allows the schools to continue using the tribal values in programs about expected behaviors. Ketchikan Superior Court Judge Katherine H. Lybrand’s order, which was announced on May 8, rejected a lawsuit that Justin Breese and Rebecca King filed last year against the Ketchikan School District and Ketchikan Charter School over posters titled “So...

  • Metlakatla leading Alaska's efforts against invasive green crabs

    Anna Laffrey, Ketchikan Daily News|May 17, 2023

    Forty people spread across the estuarine beach of northwest Tamgas Harbor to study the invasive European green crab that's been moving into the large bight on the southern shore of Annette Island since at least July 2022. For two days the last week of April, a cohort of scientists, resource managers and community members who want to quash the spread of the insidious green crab gathered in Ketchikan and visited Annette Island Reserve to share information about the crab's recent invasion in...

  • Former Ketchikan shop owners plead guilty to selling fake Native artwork

    Anna Laffrey, Ketchikan Daily News|May 10, 2023

    A Washington state family has pleaded guilty in federal court to violating the federal Indian Arts and Crafts Act when they owned and operated several businesses in Ketchikan. They sold carvings and wood totem poles made by people in the Philippines, misrepresenting the items as authentic artwork made by Alaska Natives, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. According to the department, Cristobal Rodrigo, 59, Glenda Rodrigo, 46, and Christian Rodrigo, 24, sold carvings imitating traditional Alaska Native designs out of two stores in...

  • Last year's Southeast salmon harvest was 69% of 10-year average

    Anna Laffrey, Ketchikan Daily News|Apr 26, 2023

    The Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced this month that commercial salmon fishermen across all gear groups caught a total 31.7 million salmon in Southeast Alaska during 2022. Last year's all-species harvest was low, Fish and Game reported. The 2022 catch amounts to 69% of the average harvest over the past 10 years of 46.1 million salmon. The Southeast salmon harvest has been erratic in the past few years. The 2022 catch of 31.7 million was about half of the 2021 catch of 58.9 million and about double the 2020 catch of 14.6 million...

  • Search continues for invasive green crab around Annette Island

    Anna Laffrey, Ketchikan Daily News|Mar 1, 2023

    No invasive green crabs have been found outside the area on Annette Island where they were discovered last summer, though experts are working against a potential population explosion in Southeast Alaska. Barb Lake, with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Juneau, gave a presentation in Ketchikan last Friday about the invasive crab species that a team of scientists with the Metlakatla Indian Community first identified on Annette Island in July. It’s the only place that the crab has been captured in Alaska waters. Lake said t...

  • Commercial shrimp fishermen frustrated with change to May season

    Anna Laffrey, Ketchikan Daily News|Feb 8, 2023

    The 2023 commercial pot shrimp fishery in Southeast Alaska will open May 15. Fishermen targeting pot shrimp missed out on their usual October opener last year following a season change set by the Alaska Board of Fish. Fishermen expressed frustration over the season change during a preseason meeting held Feb. 1 by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. About 70 people from across Southeast attended the Zoom meeting to review the department’s shrimp surveys and catch-limit estimates. In previous years, the pot shrimp season ran from Oct. 1 u...