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More big bundles of old fishing nets will soon be on their way from Dutch Harbor to Denmark to be remade into high end plastics. It will be the second batch of nets to leave Dutch for a higher cause and more Alaska fishing towns can get on board. Last summer a community collaborative put nearly 240,000 pounds, or about 40 nets, into shipping vans that were bound for a Danish ‘clean tech’ company called Plastix. The company refines and pelletizes all types of plastics and resells them to makers of water bottles, cell phone cases and other items....
The Environmental Protection Agency announced last Friday that it has reached an agreement with Trident Seafoods Corporation and the U.S. Department of Justice to resolve violations of the Clean Water Act for discharges of fish waste at two seafood processing facilities in Wrangell and in Sand Point, in the Aleutians. Under the agreement, Trident will remove nearly three-and-a-half acres of waste from the seafloor near its Sand Point plant, and limit the amount of seafood waste discharged from its Wrangell plant. “We are pleased that Trident h...
The nation’s top fishing port welcomed seven European seafood buyers in late January – all women – and showed off its massive seafood industry during peak operations at Dutch Harbor. The women, whose companies import more than $60 million in U.S. seafood sales, hailed from France, Germany, Lithuania, Portugal, Spain, and the U.K., said Hannah Lindoff, international program coordinator for the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, which hosted the trip. “They are interested in Alaska pollock, cod, surimi, octopus, salmon, roe, black cod and kin...
Alaska pollock is the nation’s largest food fishery, usually producing more than three billion pounds each year. The flaky whitefish dominates in fish sticks, fast food sandwiches and surimi “seafood salad” blends - but most Americans don’t even know what a pollock is. Trident Seafoods is intent on changing that by bringing the fish directly to the people. “It is the most abundant, certified sustainable species in the world. It’s our mission to show how this delicious, cousin to the cod fish can be enjoyed one serving at a time,” said Lo Reich...
Sales tax data made available this month suggest a slight dip in local consumer spending. The news comes at a time when the region's economy appears to be fragile. Earlier this fall, Southeast Conference released its annual By the Numbers economic report, which found 2016 to have been the first time since 2007 that jobs and earnings were both down from the previous year. The labor force had declined by 434 net jobs, bringing the total number of positions to 45,260 regionally. The dip...
Fewer men and women went out fishing in Alaska last year, in a familiar cycle that reflects the vagaries of Mother Nature. A focus on commercial fishing in the November Alaska Economic Trends by the State Department of Labor shows that the number of boots on deck fell by five percent in 2016 to about 7,860 harvesters, driven by the huge shortfall in pink salmon returns and big declines in crab quotas. Fishing for salmon, which accounts for the majority of Alaska’s fishing jobs, fell by 6.4 percent statewide in 2016, a loss of 323 workers. T...
Preliminary harvest and value figures for the 2017 commercial salmon fishery indicate the season was a step up above the previous year's disastrous harvest. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game reported a 66.7-percent increase in exvessel value between the two years, with 224.6 million wild salmon worth around $678.8 million brought in by the state's fishing fleet. Chum salmon saw the biggest boon of the year, breaking records with 25.2 million fish, worth about $128.3 million. The haul...
A diesel run powering Wrangell is expected to wrap up on Saturday, according to its electrical superintendent. Clay Hammer of Wrangell Municipal Light and Power explained the 11-day shutdown of the Tyee Lake hydroelectric facility was planned, in order to conduct annual maintenance on the lines. The main goal has been the replacement of 105 marker balls which make transmission lines visible to passing aircraft. That work, being undertaken by Southeast Alaska Power Agency, began on September 7....
Later this month the region’s economic development organization will be meeting in Haines to discuss new trends, problems and opportunities it will face in the coming year. Representing many of the area’s municipalities, federally-recognized tribes, businesses, government agencies and organizations, Southeast Conference holds two major forums each year, in the spring and in the fall. Its autumn meeting is its biggest, in past years drawing hundreds to hear about and discuss concerns unique to the region, from transportation and utilities to its...
One of Wrangell’s two seafood processors has drawn down production early for the season due to lower than expected returns this summer. Updated twice daily, on Tuesday the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s Blue Sheet reported just over 143 million salmon have been harvested statewide, though numbers were not available for the Bristol Bay, Kuskokwim and Aleutian Islands districts. Seventy-four percent of these are pink salmon, with over 106 million already reported in. Coming off of last year’s season – declared a “disaster” by Gov. Bill W...
It’s been a fairly good start to the summer for king salmon fishermen. The first opening of that troll season started on July 1, abruptly ending by emergency order just before midnight on July 4. The order was based on preliminary catch rate and effort data. “It looks like we did take the target harvest,” reported Grant Hagerman, ADFG’s region troll management biologist in Sitka. That target is 63,000 non-Alaska hatchery fish, as laid out by the Pacific Salmon Treaty signed with Canada. A total of approximately 26,000 Chinook and 550 landings h...
Additional chairs had to be arranged in City Hall’s meeting chamber Tuesday evening, as at least three dozen concerned residents crowded in to see the Borough Assembly at its end-of-month meeting. On many minds was the ongoing strike of public employees, 24 of whom took up pickets on June 22. (See adjoining stories) Of residents in the room, seven opted to speak their mind on the matter during the meeting’s “persons to be heard” segment. Several exhorted the Assembly to resume negotiations with the employees’ union, International Brotherhood of...
A big batch of old gillnets is being shipped south for reprocessing. The Indian Environmental General Assistance Program (IGAP) offices in Wrangell and Petersburg planned to send several container loads this week to a Seattle-area processor for reuse. In all, the work of preparing the nets for transport took about two weeks. Wrangell's IGAP hired on temporary laborers this spring to help move, clip and sort through the collected nets. Weed, cork and lead lines were removed from them, with some...
The 2018 budget unveiled on May 23 by the Trump Administration is bad news for anything that swims in or near U.S. waters. At a glance: the Trump budget will cut $1.5 billion from the U.S. Commerce Department, with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) taking the hardest hit. The NOAA budget for its National Marine Fisheries Service operations, research and facilities would be slashed by about $43 million. It would eliminate NOAA’s coastal research programs and the Sea Grant program. The Trump dump also includes pulling t...
Alaska salmon managers are hoping for the best and planning for the worst as lawmakers extend into a third special session to try and agree on a state budget. It is the third year in a row they have not finished their legislative session on time due to budget differences. The haggling, which could last up to 30 days, means pink slips could go out to all state workers in less than two weeks in advance of job layoffs. "It's similar to what happened last year. Pink slips go out on June 1 and then...
KETCHIKAN, Alaska (AP) – Officials in Ketchikan have approved an ordinance that more than doubles water rates for the southeast Alaska city’s seafood processors over the next three years. The City Council approved the ordinance in a 5-2 vote on Thursday. Water rates will increase by 35 percent each year over the next three years for Ketchikan’s three fish processors E.C. Phillips and Son, Trident Seafoods and Alaska General Seafoods, The Ketchikan Daily News reported. The new water rates come in response to a consulting firm’s study that fo...
After four decades of public service, City Hall will bid farewell this month to its longtime finance director and recent borough manager, Jeff Jabusch. "It's going to be kind of strange, every morning getting up and not driving into this parking lot after forty years. My car will probably just come here automatically after that length," he said. "It's been very rewarding," he said of his tenure. "I've got to meet a lot of interesting people, and working with a lot of people, both staff people an...
Alaska salmon fishermen could haul in a harvest that nearly doubles last year’s catch, due to a projected uptick in the number of pinks. An Alaska Department of Fish and Game report on 2017 salmon run forecasts and harvest projections pegs the total catch at 204 million fish. That compares to just over 112 million salmon taken by fishermen in 2016. The catch last season included 53 million sockeye salmon—the fifth largest harvest since 1970—but only 39 million pink salmon, the smallest harvest since 1977. For this year, the forecast calls for a...
Wrangell’s Port Commission gave its go-ahead to a tidelands purchase proposed by the Stikine Inn’s owners. Bill Goodale, who jointly manages the dockside hotel with his wife, Cheryl Goodale, appeared at the February 2 meeting to explain his proposal. He wishes to purchase from the city 25,450 square feet of submerged tidelands and 2,000 square feet of uplands to the north and west of the hotel’s current property line, with the intent of expanding and adding to the building. “We’re hoping for 30 rooms, plus retail space on the lower floor,” G...
Trident Seafoods will be welcoming a new manager for its Wrangell plant during the summer's production run. Nick Ohmer was named as the company's selection in a media brief last week. A lifelong resident of Southeast Alaska, in an interview Ohmer said he would be bringing to the job his local knowledge and personal connections with Wrangell's fishermen. Ohmer grew up in Petersburg, and even before fishing alongside those from the neighboring community he grew up with many of them through basketb...
Candied salmon ice creampoke snack kits salmon bisque baby food fish skin tote bags and pet oils – Those are among the more than 20 new items to be revealed this week at the industry’s most popular annual seafood soiree: the Alaska Symphony of Seafood, where the public is invited to taste and vote on their favorites. Now in its 24th year, the event attracts commercially ready entries from major companies to small “Mom and Pop’s” who frequently take home the top prizes. Bambino’s Baby Food of Anchorage, for example, won grand prize for its Hali...
Members of the Wrangell Assembly learned a new water treatment plant being sought after will be financially unfeasible for the foreseeable future, and are looking into other options. Even before the water shortage problems of last summer due to its plant being unable to keep up with demand, the city was aware the facility could use replacement. After it was installed nearly two decades ago, the treatment plant's combination of roughing filters and slow sand filtration system turned out to be ill-suited to the sedimented water coming from Wrange...
In its meeting December 13, the City and Borough Assembly approved issuance of a new sewer revenue bond. Amounting to $91,000, the 40-year bond will finance a portion of the cost to acquire, construct and install additions to two of the borough’s main sewer pump stations. The work includes new piping and control systems for the stations, which together service about 80 percent of the city’s waste. As of this month, Public Works estimated the city’s sewer system has treated 112,994,910 gallons of wastewater, while maintaining 1.5 emplo...
