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The 2015 moose season for the Petersburg, Wrangell and Kake hunting area ended up being the third-best on record, according to Alaska Department of Fish and Game. After a slow week, numbers jumped back up during the final nine days of the season. Area wildlife biologist Rich Lowell reported 103 bulls were logged in this year’s hunt, just behind the 106 harvested last year. The highest recorded tally was for 2009, with 109 moose. Forty of those taken this year were on Kupreanof Island, only four of which failed to comply with local antler r...
The Petersburg office of Alaska’s Department of Fish and Game reported an additional 25 moose were harvested during the third week of this year’s season for Petersburg, Wrangell and Kake, bringing the total to 81. ADFG wildlife biologist Rich Lowell noted the figure represented the highest third-week harvest total in the RM038-area moose hunt’s history. The ongoing tally included 91 moose harvested by Tuesday, and by the season’s end this evening the full figure could be in the mid- to upper-90s. That would put this season’s count just shy of t...
Alaska Department of Fish and Game reported the first half of the moose season has generally been going well for the Petersburg-Wrangell-Kake area. ADFG wildlife biologist Rich Lowell reported a total of 54 bull moose had been checked in by the end of week two, on Sept. 28. The hottest spots have been on Kupreanof Island, where 17 moose have been harvested. Eight of those were taken in the Kake area. Hunters in the Stikine River area had 15 confirmed harvested by the halfway point; Mitkof...
Local hunters have been hit harder than usual by antler restrictions so far this year. The season began on Sept. 15, and by the end of the first week seven of 35 moose reported harvested in the Wrangell, Petersburg and Kake areas were deemed noncompliant. In 2014, hunters harvested 28 moose over the same period. Only three of these were ruled illegal, about the norm. The full season went on to be one of the best on record, with 106 moose harvested. Alaska Department of Fish and Game wildlife biologist Rich Lowell reported the number of noncompl...
Wrangell will be getting a new Alaska Wildlife Trooper (AWT) shortly, the Department of Public Safety confirmed last week. Residents may recognize Trooper Scott Bjork, who was transferred to Juneau in January. AWT said Bjork will be posted here temporarily, both for the moose season and for transitioning in a new trooper. The office did not have details on who will be assigned to Wrangell but said the change could be expected within the next few weeks. During the Legislature’s budget battles in the spring, the Department of of Public Safety p...
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game has extended the Southeast-Yakutat commercial troll fishery through Sept. 30. The extension applies to the retention of all species except king salmon, with the following restrictions: Districts 1 and 2-waters south of the latitude of Foggy Point at 54°55.54′ N latitude will be closed; District 12, Section 12-B waters north of the latitude of Point Couverden will be closed; District 14, sections 14-B and 14-C will be closed; and District 15 will be closed. The areas of frequent high king salmon abundance w...
Alaska’s fishing industry was dismayed last week by the sudden news that Jeff Regnart, Director of the state’s Commercial Fisheries Division, will leave the job on October 2. “I’m resigning due to family reasons, aging parents…I just can’t be in the state full time like this job demands,” Regnart explained. Jeff Regnart started as an Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game field tech in high school, and over 30 years worked his way to management positions at Prince William Sound, Cook Inlet and Bristol Bay. He took over as director of the commercial fi...
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced it has adopted emergency regulations changing Title 5 of the Alaska Administrative Code, which deals with hunting season regulations for geese. Acting under a delegation of authority from the Board of Game issued under Alaska Statute 16.05.270, 5AAC 85.065(a)(4) is amended to include the following changes: 1. (C) Geese, Canada and cackling combined: Unit 6 (except Middleton Island), the possession limit is increased from two times the daily bag limit (8) to three times the daily bag limit (12)....
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game is seeking feedback from the public on a document that will guide the agency’s conservation work over the next 10 years. The draft 2015 revision of Alaska’s Wildlife Action Plan is available now for public and agency review. The plan’s purpose is to identify the state’s species of greatest conservation need, describe distribution and habitat use, and recognize key threats and conservation actions that might be used to ensure healthy populations into the future. The preliminary draft plan is availab...
In the Sentinel 100, 75, 50 and 25 years ago. August 12, 1915: According to advices given out, plans are being made for a new jail building for Wrangell. While only the estimate is yet made, it is believed that it will be carried through and the new jail building will be built on the site now occupied by the old courthouse. The facts of the affair have not yet been released but it is felt that the building will be two stories and will possibly contain a room for the commissioner's office. We have long felt the need of some new government...
Whatever one might say about the year’s fishing harvests, it wouldn’t be fair to say the Southeast purse seining fleet is in the pink. The state forecast for 2015 anticipated a 58 million pink salmon harvest for Southeast, but so far harvests have not been living up to the expectation. “We are not even coming close,” explained Dan Gray, Alaska Department of Fish and Game management coordinator for Southeast fisheries in Sitka. With the season already in its ninth week, only 22 million pink salmon have been reported harvested by seiners so far,...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) _ Two employees of an Alaska backcountry lodge startled an adult grizzly bear while running on a trail in Alaska's Kenai Peninsula. The bear stepped out of thick brush and mauled one woman while the other ran for help. Gabriele Markel, 20, was recovering Wednesday at an Anchorage hospital. Her wounds, which authorities described as bites and scratches on her head, back and arm, weren't considered life-threatening. She was upgraded to good condition from fair on Wednesday, authorities said. Markel and a co-worker, Kaitlyn...
Anan Wildlife Observatory is apparently the place to be in Wrangell, according to a recent survey. A study commissioned in June and released earlier this month by the Wrangell Convention and Visitors Bureau found Anan to be the city's most popular visitor destination. Travelers migrate to the area each year from early July to late August to view Anan's bears, which themselves have arrived to take advantage of what is Southeast Alaska's largest pink salmon spawning event. According to United...
Deer hunting season began for Alaska residents and nonresidents in much of the Unit 3 management area last Saturday, lasting through Nov. 30. Bow hunting on Mitkof Island and the Petersburg Management Area, hunting on the remainder of the Mitkof, Woewodski and Butterworth islands, and residential hunting on the Lindenberg Peninsula portion of Kupreanof Island all begin on Oct. 15, and are subject to other limitations. Outlooks for this year’s season for Sitka black-tailed deer are much the same as last year, with smaller harvests expected t...
The Alaska Board of Fisheries last week released its 2015-2016 Proposal Book for review. Some 215 proposals were accepted for review during the board’s regulatory meetings. Regulations potentially to be affected include Pacific cod and finfish in the Alaska Peninsula, Chignik and Bering Sea-Aleutian Island areas; Bristol Bay finfish; Arctic, Yukon and Kuskokwim finfish; and statewide finfish. Proposals may be downloaded off the board’s website in sections, as well as for full meetings, at www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=f...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – Six conservation organizations want to stop hunting and trapping of a rare southeast Alaska wolf while the federal government decides whether the animals merit endangered species status. The groups asked Fish and Game Department Commissioner Sam Cotton on Thursday to preemptively close hunting and trapping seasons for Alexander Archipelago wolves, a southeast Alaska species that den in the root systems of large trees. They also asked the Federal Subsistence Board to close subsistence hunting and trapping, and the U...
KENAI, Alaska (AP) – Several hundred people made their way to Kenai for the opening weekend of the most widely used personal dipnetting beach in the state. More than 300 people gathered on the Kenai River Saturday to use their hand nets to search for salmon, the Peninsula Clarion reported. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game has predicted that 3.7 million sockeye will be harvested during the 2015 fishing season, but many people reported smaller-than-average catches and slow fishing this weekend. “Very few people (are catching),’’ said Ma...
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced late last week its revised 2015 sport fishing regulations for king salmon in Southeast and Yakutat. Starting yesterday and in effect through May 2, 2016, Alaskan resident permit-holders’ bag and possession limit is two king salmon 28 inches or greater in length. From October 1 through March 31, resident sport anglers may use two rods while fishing for king salmon. Nonresidential permit holders’ bag and possession limit is still one king salmon 28 inches or greater in length, with an annual limit...
Preliminary prices for Dungeness crab are in and a bit higher than last year’s. The average price for the first week was “a solid” $3 per pound throughout Southeast Alaska, according to Alaska Department of Fish and Game Petersburg Assistant Shellfish Biologist Kellii Wood. Last year’s average price was $2.99, according to Petersburg Shellfish Biologist Joe Stratman. Wood noted that 838,156 pounds were caught in the first seven days of the fishery by 169 permit holders. “That is the fourth highest amount the fleet has caught in the first sev...
Lower prices in the market are souring what’s predicted to be another large salmon run. “In general, a lot of prices for species are down,” said Andy Wink, Senior Seafood Analyst with the Juneau-based McDowell Group, “especially sockeye and chum.” Prices have dropped $0.05, $0.10 and more than $0.50 in some cases. Wink and local processors pointed to two big factors: currency and supply. The pink salmon market, for example, is “gearing up for a huge harvest,” Wink noted, and the wholesale will be dictated by how big the run is. There’s still...
Results are in for 63rd annual King Salmon Derby, held in Wrangell from May 9 to June 7. Chad Smith will take home the $6,000 prize for the 42.7 pound salmon he caught off Ham Island on May 24. He also bagged the $2,500 Memorial Weekend prize in the process. Just behind him, Tim Dodson took second place with a 40-pounder caught off the Nose on May 20. Along with the $4,000, he won the $500 prize for week two, and the $250 Art Clark Pioneer Prize for largest fish entered by a senior. Kevin Roope...
Salmon fisheries are opening up this month from one end of Alaska to the other. Total catches so far of mostly sockeye, were under one million fish, but will add up fast from here on. A total haul for all Alaska salmon this season is pegged at 221 million fish. A highlight so far is a 40 percent increase in troll action at Southeast regions, where nearly 300 fishermen are targeting king salmon. That’s likely due to a boosted price averaging $7.54 a pound, up $1.88 from last year. Speaking of high prices – Alaska halibut fishermen are fet...
As of Tuesday, the Alaska Legislature meeting in a special session in Anchorage had still not passed a budget for the new fiscal year, which begins July 1. On Sunday, the Senate Finance Committee rejected a compromise budget passed by the House the previous day, which included some small concessions to the minority such as reversing cuts to the ferry system and per-student funding. A conference committee between the two chambers was being organized to negotiate an amended budget as legislators posture around various funding priorities....
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADFG) Division of Sport Fish announced a bag and possession limit of king salmon in the Wrangell Narrows-Blind Slough Terminal Harvest Area, which took effect on Monday and will last through July 31. King salmon limits for residents and nonresidents will be two fish for those measuring 28 inches or greater, and two for those less than 28 inches. King salmon caught by nonresident anglers in the terminal harvest area will not count toward the 2015 nonresident annual limit. The terminal harvest area...