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The arrival of herring signals the start of Alaska’s spring fisheries and this year’s commercial catch limits from each of the three main areas are record breakers. But much of the catch will go unharvested — there is no market. Combined harvests from three prime producing areas total 118,346 tons, or nearly 237 million pounds. The limit for the Sitka Sound harvest in late March is set at over 45,164 tons, followed the first days of April at Kodiak where a harvest of 8,075 tons is allowed. Alaska’s largest roe herring fishery at Togiak in Brist...
The 64 million salmon returning home to Alaska hatcheries accounted for nearly one-third of the 2021 statewide commercial harvest. It was the eighth-largest hatchery homecoming since 1977. At a payout of $142 million, the salmon produced 25% of the overall value at the dock. An additional 220,000 salmon that got their start in a hatchery were caught in Alaska sport, personal use and subsistence fisheries. Counting the fish taken at the hatcheries for brood stock, nearly 69 million adult hatchery salmon returned last year, according to the...
The Legislature’s main duty every year is passage of the state budget. Last week, the House made considerable progress by finishing up budget subcommittee work. Budget subcommittees meet frequently with each department to navigate potential budget changes and create a plan for the upcoming budget. I am chair for three budget subcommittees: The departments of Education, Environmental Conservation and Transportation. So far, our department budgets do not look much different than last year’s budgets. For the Department of Education, we added add...
This year’s king salmon catch limits in the Wrangell-Petersburg area are tighter for Alaska residents and nonresidents than the numbers that were in effect at the start of last year’s sportfishing effort. However, they are essentially the same limits as mid-season catch restrictions imposed last June to manage the runs. The sportfishing regulations announced last month close off most of the waters around Wrangell and Petersburg to retention of king salmon starting April 1 and continuing to either June 14 or July 14, depending on the area. It...
WASHINGTON (AP) - America's national bird is more beleaguered than previously believed, with nearly half of bald eagles tested across the Lower 48 states showing signs of chronic lead exposure, according to a study published Feb. 17. While the bald eagle population has rebounded from the brink of extinction since the U.S. banned the pesticide DDT in 1972, harmful levels of toxic lead were found in the bones of 46% of bald eagles sampled in 38 states from California to Florida, researchers...
A Juneau-based fishing charter and lodge owner has a hunch that a viable commercial squid fishery could exist in Southeast. Richard Yamada, who's been operating fishing charters for 40 years, has been looking for ways to reduce the damage to his business as king salmon numbers decline. He speculates that an influx of magister squid in the northern Inside Passage might be one factor affecting salmon survival. About 15 years ago. while fishing for rockfish, he and his clients caught a magister...
Feb. 16, 1922 The recommendation of the Board of Engineers to Congress for an appropriation of $50,000 for a breakwater for the protection of Wrangell harbor is as welcome as it was unexpected. Just a short time ago the board had publicly announced its intention of reporting unfavorably on the project. Then, following a survey made under the direction of Col. James G. Steese, District Engineer of the Alaska Rivers and Harbor District, the board recommended that the project be approved and Congress asked to make the necessary appropriation....
A proposed rule change by the Federal Subsistence Board would allow for the harvest of an additional 20 moose in state Game Management Unit 3 on Kuiu and Kupreanof islands north of Wrangell. One group thinks it’s a bad idea. The Wrangell Fish and Game Advisory Committee sent a letter to the subsistence board in January opposing the change because “taking more bulls from the herd by drawing could be counterproductive to the intent of this proposal.” According to Frank Robbins, a wildlife biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in P...
Frigid February fishing in Alaska features crabbing from the Panhandle to the Bering Sea, followed in March by halibut, black cod and herring. Southeast crabbers will drop pots for Tanners on Friday, and they’re expecting one of the best seasons ever. Fishery managers said they are seeing “historically high levels” of Tanners with good recruitment coming up from behind. The catch limit won’t be set until the fishery is underway but last year’s take was 1.27 million pounds (504,369 crabs), which weighed 2.5 pounds on average. Crabbers know they...
A bill that would restore the state licensing fee on sportfishing guides and operators — which expired in 2018 — is slowly working its way through the Legislature. An amendment in the House last year to charge nonresidents twice the annual fee as Alaska residents has raised some questions and concerns, most recently at a Senate committee hearing on the bill. Restoring the licensing fee would raise an estimated $420,000 a year for fisheries data management work. Meanwhile, a separate bill to bring back a longstanding surcharge on all spo...
The Alaska Board of Fisheries voted 4-2 last Thursday to uphold its previous decision to convene the Southeast and Yakutat finfish and shellfish regulations meetings in Anchorage March 10 through 22 rather than in Ketchikan. Originally, the meeting — already postponed for one year due to the pandemic — was scheduled for Jan. 4-15 in Ketchikan. But on Jan. 1, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced the meeting was being postponed “out of an abundance of caution due to the record-breaking rise of COVID-19 cases in the United State...
The Alaska Board of Fisheries, which had planned to hold its Southeast and Yakutat shellfish and finfish regulations meeting in Ketchikan this month before a surge in COVID-19 cases and winter-weather travel problems forced its cancellation, has rescheduled the sessions for March 10-22 in Anchorage. The board, however, was scheduled to meet Thursday afternoon via Zoom to possibly reconsider the decision to move the meeting to Anchorage. “Given the myriad of factors to consider, the board will vote on the meeting location,” according to a boa...
Kodiak fishermen are getting an advance price of $8.10 per pound for Tanner crab in the fishery that opened Jan. 15. High crab prices have led all other seafoods during the COVID-19 pandemic as buyers grab all they can to fill demand at buffet tables, restaurants and retail counters around the world. “Our strategy was to get a price before the season even started. It’s simply bad business to go fishing without a price,” said Peter Longrich, secretary of the 74-member Kodiak Crab Alliance Cooperative which negotiated the deal with local processo...
Pacific halibut catches for 2022 will be announced at the annual International Pacific Halibut Commission meeting held online Jan. 24-28, and fishermen are hoping for another year of increased catches when the fishery opens in early March. Last year’s coastwide catch limit was 39 million pounds for commercial, sport, subsistence and personal-use fisheries, and bycatch, spanning from California and British Columbia to the far reaches of the Bering Sea. Alaska always gets the lion’s share of the quota, and in 2021 fishermen holding shares of the...
FAIRBANKS (AP) — It’s not just people who are a bit irritated by the deep snow this winter in Alaska. A wildlife official in Alaska told Fairbanks television station KTVF-TV that the deep snowfall and strong winds that have been prevalent across the state this winter have prompted moose to act more aggressively toward humans. “The December snowfall was really high,” said Tony Hollis, Fairbanks area wildlife biologist for the Department of Fish and Game. “This deep snow has caused moose to not want to be out in the snow. They want to be out on...
Citing COVID-19 concerns and weather-related transportation worries, the state has postponed the 12-day Alaska Board of Fisheries meeting that was scheduled to have started Tuesday at the civic center in Ketchikan. The meeting to consider more than 150 proposed changes to state management regulations for finfish and shellfish in Southeast Alaska and Yakutat already had been postponed from January 2021 because of COVID-19 issues. Last Friday, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced that the 2022 meeting would proceed in Ketchikan with...
Legislation titled the Alaska Salmon Research Task Force Act was introduced in Congress last month by Alaska senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan that, if passed, could help scientists and fisheries managers gain a better understanding about the causes of salmon declines. Under the bill, a task force of up to 19 people would conduct a comprehensive review of salmon science and management in Alaska. The bill also would establish a working group specifically focused on salmon returns in the Arctic-Yukon-Kuskokwim region of Western and...
Dec. 22, 1921 A live Chamber of Commerce for Wrangell promises to be a reality. Last week, half a dozen citizens who styled themselves organizers sent out invitations to the business and professional men of the town to attend a meeting in the Wrangell Hotel dining room. The meeting was called to order by Mayor Grant. Leo McCormack was elected temporary chairman. The chairman called for the reading of some correspondence which the organization committee had with the Juneau Commercial Club. The correspondence showed that the Juneau organization...
Strong global and U.S. demand for sockeye salmon has 2021 pushed prices to near record highs and boosted fishermen’s paychecks. Both Silver Bay and Peter Pan Seafoods a few weeks ago increased their base prices to fishermen to $1.45 per pound, a 20-cent increase from the summer. Other Alaska companies are likely to follow suit. That compares to a final price in 2020 of just $1.06 “Obviously, the base price is announced earlier in the season. Now that we can see where sales are going and really have a confident look, we’re excited to celeb...
Dec. 8, 1921 The Catholic church now has a bell. The ceremony connected with its installation took place last week, the dedication being made by Rev. Father Gallant, of Skagway. The bell is one with a history. It was originally installed in Wrangell by Rev. Father Altorf sometime after the organization of the first Catholic church here in 1879. During the 1890s, no priest was located here and for a time work on the church was practically abandoned in Wrangell. It was during this time that the church bell was taken to Juneau. Now, after more...
Longtime Sitka troller James Moore has won recognition for his work in developing salmon hatcheries in Southeast, promoting a troll-fleet logbook program, and many other activities supporting Southeast fisheries. After five decades as a salmon troller in Southeast waters, advocating for the fishery all the while, Moore has been honored by the Alaska Trollers Association as a Friend of the Fleet. Moore attributed the accolade in part to his work in establishing the Chichagof-Baranof Aquaculture...
The 2022 pink salmon harvest in Southeast is forecast at about half the 10-year average but better than 2020, the brood year for next summer’s returns. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game and federal fisheries officials have forecast next year’s pink harvest at 16 million fish in Southeast. The 10-year average is 34 million pink salmon, with 2020 a very weak year at 8 million pinks harvested — the sixth-worst year since 1962. This year’s returns were excellent, at 48 million pinks, surpassing pre-season forecasts. Trawl surveys collect...
A hearing on seafood bycatch didn’t satisfy a bipartisan group of Alaska legislators at a meeting of the House Fisheries Committee on Nov. 15. The bycatch issue came up again this summer when all Yukon River salmon fisheries were canceled due to so few returning Chinook and chums. Along with ocean and climate impacts, villagers questioned the takes by huge trawlers that catch and process fish at sea. A presentation of the committee hearing by Glenn Merrill, regional administrator at NOAA Fisheries/Alaska, showed that in the 2019 Bering Sea p...
JUNEAU (AP) — Wildlife officials have announced a one-month trapping season for wolves on and near Prince of Wales Island, despite concerns conservationists have raised about the population. A statement from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game and U.S. Forest Service announced state and federal trapping seasons will run from Nov. 15 to Dec. 15. The statement cited a fall 2020 Fish and Game estimate of 386 wolves, which it called the most current estimate and one that was higher than expected “considering it followed a reported harvest of...
The Wrangell borough assembly recently passed a resolution calling for a pause in mine development in the British Columbia/Alaska transboundary region until a binding international agreement on watershed protections is developed that would ensure upstream mining operations in British Columbia do not harm fisheries or water quality in the Taku, Unuk and Stikine rivers. But there is one mining-related activity that B.C. should be aggressively pursuing — shutting down and cleaning up the abandoned Tulsequah Chief mine in the Taku watershed. The B...