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STEVENS VILLAGE — In a normal year, the smokehouses and drying racks that Alaska Natives use to prepare salmon to tide them through the winter would be heavy with fish meat, the fruits of a summer spent fishing on the Yukon River like generations before them. This year, there are no fish. For the first time in memory, both king and chum salmon have dwindled to almost nothing and the state has banned salmon fishing on the Yukon, even the subsistence harvests that Alaska Natives rely on to fill their freezers and pantries for winter. The remote c...
ANCHORAGE (AP) — Residents of Alaska’s largest city often contend with bears and moose, but state officials are warning of another wild animal that has been causing problems: river otters. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game says river otters have attacked people and pets in some of the city’s most popular outdoor areas, the Anchorage Daily News reported. Officials are asking people to be extra careful when they are around rivers, creeks and lakes along the city’s greenbelt. Earlier this month, a 9-year-old boy was taken to an emergen...
Alaska’s 2021 salmon catch has topped 219 million fish, which is 15% higher than the preseason forecast of 190 million. The two biggest money makers exceeded expectations the most. The sockeye haul came in at 54 million compared to the predicted 46.5 million reds. Similarly, the pink salmon catch of nearly 151 million swamped the projection by 27 million humpies. And although the run of chum salmon was disappointing, falling about 4 million short of the 15.3 million projection, nearly 5 million chums were caught since Aug. 1, “making it one...
Alaska’s Bering Sea crabbers are reeling from the devastating news that all major crab stocks are down substantially, based on summer survey results, and the Bristol Bay red king crab fishery will be closed for the first time in more than 25 years. The state announced the closure Sept. 3. That stock has been on a steady decline for several years, and the 2020 harvest had dwindled to just 2.6 million pounds. Most shocking was the drastic turnaround for snow crab stocks, which in 2018 showed a 60% boost in market-sized male crabs (the only o...
Alaska’s 2021 salmon harvest has blown past the forecast and by last Friday had topped 201 million fish, well above the 190 million projected at the start of the season. The catch was bolstered by a surge of pink salmon to the three top-producing regions: Prince William Sound, Southeast and Kodiak, combined with strong landings of sockeyes. “Pink salmon runs are over 95% complete, based on average run timing. Effort drops off quickly this late in the season, so it is difficult to predict where that harvest will end up,” said Forrest Bower...
The number of bears getting into trash and having close encounters with people or their pets is increasing, said Chadd Yoder, Wrangell’s state wildlife trooper. And it’s likely to get worse before it gets better, he said, as bears try to fatten up before winter hibernation. Bears accustomed to searching garbage for food can become a serious issue, Yoder said, and he wants to educate people on what they can do to keep bears out of their backyards. The real hot spot for bears getting into trash is between 5-mile and 10-mile Zimovia Highway, he...
Salmon harvests are coming in slowly in the Wrangell-Petersburg area, according to Sea Level Seafoods and the state fisheries biologist out of Petersburg. Though it’s too early for a lot of specific numbers, both report catches have been lower than in previous seasons. “It’s going pretty slow,” said Nik Morozov, manager at Wrangell’s Sea Level plant. “We’re close to half of what we normally do.” Morozov said he has three tenders out right now, and had been assuming they would fill up and bring back loads of fish quickly, but that is not hap...
Early prices to Alaska salmon fishermen are trickling in and, as anticipated, they are up across the board. That will give a nice boost to the economic base of fishing communities and the state from fish taxes, fees and other assessments. About one-third (62 million) of Alaska’s projected catch of 190 million salmon had crossed the docks by July 16 at the halfway point of the fishing season. Prices paid to fishermen vary based on buyers, gear types and regions, and bonuses and post-season pay adjustments won’t be finalized until early next yea...
FAIRBANKS (AP) - It has been a record-breaking year for sockeye salmon catches in Alaska’s Bristol Bay region this year, an official said. “We’re approaching 27 million total run,” Tim Sands, a state Department of Fish and Game area management biologist said of the Nushagak District. “Our average run would be 9 million, so to be triple the average is amazing.” The region has experienced numerous record-breaking days. The all-time record for catch in the Nushagak District on one day was more than 1.7 million set on June 30. “Then the very next d...
“Unprecedented” is how fishery managers are describing sockeye catches at Bristol Bay, which topped one million fish for seven days straight at the Nushagak district last week and neared the two million mark on several days. By July 9, Alaska’s statewide sockeye salmon catch was approaching 32 million, of which more than 25 million came from Bristol Bay. The only other region getting good sockeye catches was the Alaska Peninsula, where nearly 4.6 million reds were landed so far. Statewide, the big numbers will be pinks, which run in distinct tw...
Legislative efforts to restore an Office of Children’s Services caseworker in Wrangell and fund a commercial fisheries staffer in town survived the governor’s budget vetoes. Wrangell lost its Department of Fish and Game position last year due to the governor’s budget cuts, and has been without a children’s services caseworker for several years. The borough and school district both had spoken in support of restoring the caseworker job in town, with the borough offering to provide free rent and help with the salary to entice state funding. Though...
Higher-than-expected sportfishing catch rates for Southeast king salmon have prompted the state to cut back on the catch limit for residents and non-residents. Without the reduction, the Southeast sport fishery was expected to have exceeded its allocation of 37,120 fish for the year by 3,460 to 12,650 kings, the Department of Fish and Game reported last Thursday. “This is basically what we’ve been doing the past few years,”Patrick Fowler, Petersburg/Wrangell fisheries biologist, said Monday. The department usually has enough of an indic...
Crab has been one of the hottest commodities since the COVID-19 pandemic forced people in 2020 to buy and cook seafood at home — and demand is even higher this year. Crab is now perceived as being more affordable when compared to the cost enjoying it at restaurants, said global seafood supplier Tradex, and prices continue to soar. That’s how it’s playing out for Dungeness crab in Kodiak and, hopefully, in Southeast Alaska, where the summer fishery started on June 15. Kodiak’s fishery opened on May 1 and 76,499 pounds were landed by last Friday...
Continuing a decade-plus of tradition, the U.S. Forest Service and other volunteers will sponsor Family Fishing Day at Pats Lake from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. June 26. The fishing day is an opportunity for families to come out and enjoy the outdoors, said Corree Delabrue with the Forest Service. It’s also a chance for kids to develop an interest in fishing and become “anglers for life.” “Family Fishing Day, it started probably over 10 years ago, I think,” she said. “It was originally put on and organized by the local Boy Scout troop. When all those s...
Alaskans who are engaged in or interested in mariculture are invited to become founding members in a new group that will advance the growing industry across the state. The newly formed Alaska Mariculture Alliance is a private, nonprofit successor to a five-year task force formed in 2016 by Gov. Bill Walker and reauthorized in 2018 by Gov. Mike Dunleavy. The task force will sunset on June 30. “One of the priority recommendations was to create a long-term entity that would coordinate and support development of a robust and sustainable m...
ANCHORAGE (AP) - Wildlife officials said two campers were attacked by a bear this weekend while they were sleeping in a tent in Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. Alaska Department of Fish and Game biologist Jeff Selinger said the campers were sleeping when the bear attacked Saturday around midnight. The campers had a bear horn and spray, but did not have enough time to use them. “There’s no indication that they did anything to prompt the attack or did anything wrong,” he said. “It’s one of those where you happen to be in the wrong place at...
ANCHORAGE (AP) - Alaska Wildlife Troopers do not intend to issue a citation to a man who was seen lifting a baby moose over a guardrail in Southcentral Alaska, though it is illegal to “handle any wild animal in a similar fashion,’’ an Alaska State Troopers spokesperson said June 10. An Anchorage man, Joe Tate, was driving home June 3 from a fishing trip with friends when saw a line of cars and a moose on the highway about 20 miles south of Soldotna on the Kenai Peninsula. Tate said a mother moose was pacing in the road, and a young calf strug...
Wrangell’s first king salmon derby since 2017 is just days away from dropping hooks in the water. The derby opens Tuesday and will run through June 30, ending in time for the start of the long Fourth of July holiday weekend. The community’s 66th king derby had been on hold the past few years, due to weak salmon runs. Derby tickets, at $25 each, and the derby booklet with rules and fishing area map will be available this week at Angerman’s, the Totem Bar, Sentry Hardware and the Wrangell Chamber of Commerce office in the Stikine Inn, said Steph...
Eager buyers are awaiting Alaska salmon from fisheries that are opening across the state, and it’s easy to track catches and market trends for every region. Fishery managers forecast a statewide catch topping 190 million salmon this year, 61% higher than the 2020 take of just over 118 million. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s Run Forecasts and Harvest Projections for 2021 Alaska Salmon Fisheries and Review of the 2020 Season provides breakdowns for all species by region. And salmon catches are updated daily at ADF&G’s Blue Sheet, found...
More than five tons of genetically engineered Atlantic salmon are on their way to U.S. restaurants and food service outlets where customers will not be told what they’re eating. Federal labeling law “directs” companies to disclose genetically modified ingredients through use of a QR code, on-package wording or a symbol. Mandatory compliance takes effect in January 2022, but the rules don’t apply to restaurants or providers of meals away from home. The Associated Press reports thus far, the only customer to announce it is selling the salmon...
We need to preserve the biggest of the kings Tyee is a Native word that has several meanings. The Big One is the one that describes a 30-pound or bigger king salmon. At the south end of Wrangell Island, there are five rivers that at one time had a lot of big kings, like the one that derby winner Gary Smart caught in 2017. Not all kings are created equal, the genetic strain is what makes the big ones so special. If we lose this genetic strain, it will be lost forever. More than 70 years ago, the...
Just three days after announcing the Ketchikan king salmon derby would return after a three-year absence, organizers reversed course and said there will be no derby next month. Organizers had planned for two weekends of derby fishing — June 18-20 and June 25-27 — but the Alaska Department of Fish and Game thought that would be a bad idea, considering low king stocks in the area. The department’s sport fish division called the event organizer on May 11 with the bad news. “They expressed some concerns with the idea of basically encoura...
The Alaska House passed a version of the state operating budget Monday that would bring back the Department Fish and Game and Office of Children's Services to Wrangell, but the spending plan still needs Senate approval and the governor's signature before the two jobs could be restored. Wrangell lost its children's service caseworker several years ago to budget cuts. The commercial fisheries office closed last year. The Legislature tried last year to fund both positions, but Gov. Mike Dunleavy...
The state Commercial Fisheries Division budget is facing no cuts for the upcoming fiscal year that starts July 1, assuming the current numbers make it through the Legislature and any gubernatorial vetoes. The budget approved by the state House on Sunday includes funding to reopen the Fish and Game Wrangell office, which the Dunleavy administration closed a year ago. The office was not in the governor’s budget proposal this year either, but was added in the House Finance Committee through the work of Ketchikan Rep. Dan Ortiz. The spending p...
Trident Seafoods has notified city officials the company will not reopen its Wrangell plant this summer. Plant manager Nick Ohmer called on Tuesday with the expected news, Borough Manager Lisa Von Bargen told the assembly at its evening meeting. "I had a conversation with him about what it would take to get the plant back open here in Wrangell," Von Bargen said. Ohmer responded that the seafood processor would need "to see somewhere between 40% and 50% more fish chums than were projected to retu...