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Snacks that are good for people and the planet now come in the form of crispy chips that are made from Bristol Bay sockeye salmon skins. The new, flash fried snack was spawned by a Los Angeles-based company called Goodfish, which aims to “propel sustainable seafood into our mass-market consumer culture.” It is the second venture for partners Justin Guilbert and Douglas Riboud, a well-financed duo who are committed to trailblazing brands that have “higher standards of sourcing, manufacturing, and social ethos.” A decade ago they co-foun...
It got little attention from the mainstream media but seafood netted some historic firsts in the nation’s new dietary guidelines. The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee submitted a report in July to the Secretaries of Agriculture and Health and Human Services that recommends what Americans should include in their diets from 2020 through 2025, a task it has undertaken every five years since 1980. “This is by far the strongest they’ve come out for seafood in all of the U.S. dietary guidelines history, and at virtually every point in the lifecy...
Most Alaskans are surprised to learn that seafood is by far Alaska’s top export, the source of the state’s largest manufacturing base and its #1 private employer. More surprising is that those simple to find facts are not included in the official trade sheet for Alaska provided by the office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR). The information on the USTR website, for example, incorrectly claims that petroleum and coal were Alaska’s top exports in 2018. But seafood has been state’s top export by far for decades. “Seafood comprises...
Governor Dunleavy’s controversial selections to the state Board of Fisheries (BOF) will get a legislative hearing in early fall and the call is out for public comments. The board oversees management of the state’s subsistence, commercial, sport and personal use fisheries. Appointments were made on April 1 and would normally go through a vigorous vetting process by the Alaska legislature with public input. But COVID-19 sent lawmakers home early from the last session, leaving the confirmation process in limbo. Now, Representative Louise Stutes (R...
Thank you to everyone who participated in the public testimony meeting last week hosted by the University of Alaska Board of Regents. As many of you are already aware, the University is considering merging the University of Alaska Southeast (UAS) into either University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) or University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA). This idea comes after many years of financial struggle. If this idea is adopted, it certainly would have a negative long-term impact on our local and Southeast regional economy. The University budget has been cut...
Local writer Vivian Faith Prescott recently announced the publication of her newest book, Silty Water People. The book is a collection of some of her oldest poems, she said, and is a look at "the effects of assimilation" on Wrangell families and the community as a whole. The poems range from the serious, to the humorous, to the intimate. The ideas of identity and culture have always fascinated her, Prescott said. She holds a doctorate in cross cultural studies. Silty Water People, she said, is...
Strict new rules are now in place for Alaska fishermen and their vessels to protect against and prevent the spread of COVID-19 during the 2020 salmon season. Effective April 24, Governor Dunleavy provided 11 pages of mandates that specifically apply to those who have not “agreed to operate under a fleet-wide plan submitted by a company, association or entity” representing them. Among other things, each independent skipper must sign a “Health Mandate Acknowledgement Form” prior to going fishing. They are required to maintain a written or time...
Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan held an electronic town hall meeting last week to talk about the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act and what kind of aid it provides to small businesses. In their town hall meeting, the senators focused on several key provisions. One was the Paycheck Protection Program. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, the program offers a loan designed to provide an incentive for small businesses to keep their workers on payroll in...
Genetically tweaked salmon that grows three times faster than normal fish…fillets grown in labs from fish cells…now plant-based seafoods such as “vegan shrimp,” or “Toona” are gaining footholds in the marketplace - and confusing customers. A new study by FoodMinds for the National Fisheries Institute showed that about 40 percent of consumers believed plant-based imitations contain actual seafood. Up to 60 percent thought the products had similar nutritional content as real fish. Still, fake seafood producers are pushing back against mor...
Alaskans saw salmon die offs last summer across the state when water temperatures soared into the mid-70s to above 80 degrees in some regions. But what about threats to salmon from the accompanying global gorilla - increased acidity? It’s a shock to learn that while extensive studies for years have been underway by Alaska scientists on impacts to major fish and shellfish stocks, there’s been none done in Alaska for salmon. In fact, only two lab studies have been done on Alaska salmon, both out of state, which showed acidity impairs coho sal...
Following is the Wrangell Sentinel's news review for January through June of 2019. Next week the review will include events from July through December. January Jan. 13 - The Fairbanks Arts Association opened their 24th annual statewide poetry contest for submissions this December. Each year, the association picks a new judge for the contest. This year will be judged by Wrangell resident Vivian Faith Prescott. Prescott is the author of numerous works, including The Hide of My Tongue and The Dead...
Hundreds of fishery stakeholders and scientists will gather in Anchorage next week as the state Board of Fisheries (BOF) begins its annual meeting cycle with a two-day work session. The seven-member BOF sets the rules for the state’s subsistence, commercial, sport and personal use fisheries. It meets four to six times each year in various communities on a three-year rotation; this year the focus is on Kodiak and Cook Inlet. The fish board and the public also will learn the latest on how a changing climate and off kilter ocean chemistry are a...
In the past year, at least four citizens from Petersburg and Wrangell have sought and gained their U.S. citizenship to be with their families and for peace of mind. Elisa Teodori originates from Italy, but moved to Petersburg after she met her husband, Tor Benson, while working in Ecuador. Laura Davies first came to the US from Canada to work as a recreation therapist in Georgia, but eventually moved to Wrangell to take a job working with Alaska Crossings and met her husband. Gilda Barkfelt...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – Add salmon to the list of species affected by Alaska’s blistering summer temperatures, including the hottest July on record. Dead salmon have shown up in river systems throughout Alaska, and the mortalities are probably connected to warm water or low river water levels, said Sam Rabung, director of commercial fisheries for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. The department has not quantified past heat-related fish deaths because they tended to be sporadic and inconsistent, Rabung said. But department scientists this...
August 21, 1919 Major Jack Hamilton, “soldier of fortune” and veteran of the late war, who has been travelling through Alaska for the past ten weeks on a lecture tour, arrived here from Petersburg last evening accompanied by Madame Hamilton. He will lecture in Wrangell tomorrow night. Since coming to Alaska Major Hamilton has received considerable publicity through the press of the Territory, and there is probably not a person in Wrangell who is not already familiar with the story of his life and adventure. “Major Hamilton touched on other...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – Biological oceanographer Sonia Batten experienced her lightbulb moment on the perils of too many salmon three years ago as she prepared a talk on the most important North Pacific seafood you'll never see on a plate zooplankton. Zooplanktons nourish everything from juvenile salmon to seabirds to giant whales. But as Batten examined 15 years of data collected by instruments on container ships near the Aleutian Islands, she noticed a trend: zooplankton was abundant in e...
As the District 36 Representative, my primary assignment now in the Legislature is to serve as the Vice-Chair on the House Finance Committee. In that duty, I traveled to Juneau, Anchorage, Wasilla, and Fairbanks between July 15-18 in order to hear Public Testimony on HB 2001, the special session budget bill. During those three days of testimony, we heard over 600 people testify in person. During the month of July, we had over 2,300 Alaskans provide testimony to the House Finance Committee. Over 85% of the testifiers were in support of...
Fisheries fare better than most people in terms of Governor Mike Dunleavy’s budget cuts. Just under one million dollars was cut from the commercial fisheries division of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, leaving it with an $85 million budget, half from state general funds. “To give the governor credit, he recognized the return on investment,” said Doug Vincent-Lang, ADF&G Commissioner. “It’s a theme I had all the way through the legislature that we take a $200 million budget of which about $50 million is unrestricted general funds and...
State Representative Dan Ortiz (I) held a teleconference with constituents in Ketchikan and Wrangell Monday, July 8, to hear public opinions on the state budget, the PFD, and other items. Monday was the start of a second special session of the state legislature, one that has appeared to be just as divisive amongst legislators and Alaskan residents as the previous sessions. One of the hot topics of this session, when it was announced, was whether or not to overturn Governor Mike Dunleavy’s l...
Salmon dominates the summer fishing headlines but it’s among many other fisheries going on throughout the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea. Alaska’s salmon season has gotten off to a mixed start, with strong catches in some regions over the past month and dismal hauls in others. Good harvests have continued at the Copper River and more recently throughout Prince William Sound. That’s not been the case at Kodiak, Cook Inlet and Chignik where fishing is off to a very slow start. Trollers are targeting Chinook salmon in Southeast, and other salmo...
Meredith Sykes, 79, passed away on May 12, 2019 in Washington State. She was a small-town girl from Fargo, North Dakota, who traveled the world, with adventures in Asia, Europe, and Africa. She braved the wilds (and not-so-wilds) of Alaska for 32 years before moving to Gig Harbor, Washington in 1993. She and her family lived in Wrangell from about 1961 to 1972 and her children were born in Wrangell. She was an excellent cook and baker and instilled that passion and talent in all three of her daughters. She belonged to gourmet groups in Anchorag...
Aminda Skan, the daughter of former Wrangell resident Mercedes Angerman, is a second-year pharmacy student with Doctor of Pharmacy program that is jointly organized by the Idaho State University and the University of Alaska Anchorage. She received her bachelor's degree in biological science from UAA in May 2017. Her doctorate program has ISU's name on it, but as she explained in an email, it allows her to remain in Alaska to achieve her degree. Recently, through her work to increase the number...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – During Republican Mike Dunleavy’s successful run for governor last year, he offered few specifics for his vision of limited government but was clear that Alaska residents should get a full payout from the state’s oil-wealth fund. Lawmakers and Dunleavy’s predecessor capped the annual checks at $1,600 or less the past few years as they struggled to address a budget deficit that has persisted amid low to middling oil prices and is now estimated at $1.6 billion. Dunleavy’s call for paying the full amount this year, around $3...
David Charles (Chuck) Oliver, 90, passed away peacefully March 17, 2019, in Anchorage, Alaska. He was born September 30, 1928 in Fall Creek, Oregon, to David and Dorothy Oliver and raised by Dorothy and Lloyd Williams. On September 29, 1947, Chuck married his high school sweetheart Alice Irene Rice. He attended Oregon State University before joining the U.S. Army and served during the Korean conflict. He was honorably discharged as a First Lieutenant. He returned to Oregon where he and Alice sta...