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Wrangell's 64th Annual King Salmon Derby wound to a close on Sunday, with the winning fish snagged only two days before. Fishing with her family near Found Island on Friday, Malia McIntyre reeled in a 46.7 pound Chinook. Her catch not only wins her the $6,000 grand prize, but also the $500 weekly prize and $350 silver bracelet, awarded to the woman with the largest entered fish. She will join other prize winners tonight at the Nolan Center to collect their awards. The Wrangell Chamber of...
June 6, 1941: Samuel R. Privett, a resident of Wrangell since 1927, has taken over the Union Oil dealership here. He succeeds Edward J. Bradley, who has been the dealer here for seven years, said he would be selling heating oil as an independent dealer. Privett, who has been associated with the logging industry during his fourteen years in Alaska, took over the dealership last Friday. He is being assisted in the operation by Jimmy Early. June 6, 1966: Wrangell will have its first backout next Wednesday night. Following a conference with...
The budget impasse with Alaska legislators is wreaking havoc on salmon fisheries across the state, and the industry is bracing for the possibility of a complete shutdown in some regions. If lawmakers can’t agree on a budget by June 1, all state workers will be on notice for layoffs starting July 1. That includes 750 full-time and seasonal workers in the commercial fisheries division, many of whom are the boots on the ground for salmon management. “The word that comes to my mind is catastrophic,” said Scott Kelley, director of the state comme...
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced on Tuesday that modified king salmon sport fishing regulations that have been in effect for Wrangell and Petersburg’s District 8 are rescinded. As of this morning, the increased sport fishing opportunity for the district has come to an end, bringing regulations back in line with those of the wider Southeast region. Under the regulations, an Alaska resident permit-holder can bag and possess a limit of three king salmon, of 28 inches or greater in length. Nonresidents are limited to one king s...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – A veterinary pathologist worked Monday to determine what killed a juvenile fin whale discovered on the bow of a cruise ship entering an Alaska port. The cause of death was not immediately apparent for the endangered whale spotted just after 5 a.m. Sunday on the bulbous bow of the Zaandam, a Holland America Line cruise ship, as it prepared to dock in Seward. The carcass was towed to a beach near Seward, a spokeswoman for the fisheries section of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Julie Speegle, said M...
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced last week limits for the year’s lingcod sport fishing season, which for Southeast Alaska began on Monday. Running through to Nov. 30, licensed residents will be limited to bagging one lingcod a day, with two in possession, and no size limitation. During the season nonresident anglers will likewise have a bag limit of one per day, though with only one in possession. In addition, nonresidents may only keep lingcod which are between 30 and 45 inches or else are 55 inches or greater in length. N...
Anglers are fueling up their boats and assembling their gear in preparation for the 64th Annual King Salmon Derby, which starts on Saturday. There are only a few changes to this year’s derby from past contests, among which will be three weigh-in stations around town. During weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. stations will be located at the Wrangell Chamber of Commerce office by the city dock and at Petro Marine at Inner Harbor. An additional station will be set up at the Harbormaster’s office for weekday nights from 5 to 9 p.m. and on weekends, fro...
In the face of Alaska’s multi-billion dollar budget shortfalls, state policy makers are putting the onus on fishermen to cover the costs of going fishing. “One of the sources we have to offset general fund decreases is increased test fishing. We don’t like to catch fish or crab or anything just to raise money, but in this climate we’re having to look at that long and hard,” said Scott Kelley, director of the Commercial Fisheries for the Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game. Test fishing is typically done by department chartered vessels to assess st...
In a news brief released April 28, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced additional sport fishing opportunities for king salmon would be available to Wrangell and Petersburg’s District 8. Sport fishing for king salmon in the district may be conducted with the use of two rods per angler, with no more than six lines fished from a vessel. Resident anglers have a bag limit of three king salmon 28 inches or greater in length, with a limit of six in possession. Nonresidents have a bag and possession limit of two, up to six for the year. Ch...
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced the opening of the commercial king salmon troll fishery in District 8. District 8: will be open from 12:01 a.m., Monday, May 2 - 11:59 p.m., Wednesday, May 4, with restrictions at the Babbler Point Area, Wrangell Harbor Area, Greys Pass and Beacon Point/Point Frederick Area. All fish legally retained in the commercial salmon troll fishery, whether for sale or retained for personal use (condition code 95) must be recorded on a fish ticket....
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced the first opening of the Southeast Alaska drift gillnet fishery will begin Monday, May 2, 2016. This opening is directed at returns of Stikine River king salmon and will occur in the following area: District 8: will be open from 8:00 a.m., Monday, May 2 - 8:00 a.m., Tuesday, May 3, with some restrictions at the Stikine River, Beacon Point/Point Frederick Area, Bear Creek and Wrangell Harbor Area. Gillnet Gear Restrictions: The gear allowed will be the standard length and depth (300 fathoms and...
Alaska’s Board of Game adopted a number of changes for the upcoming regulatory year, which take effect July 1. Of local interest, the definition of spike-fork antlers was updated to read as “antlers of a bull moose with only one or two tines on at least one antler, a point or tine originating within two inches of the base of the antler and less than three inches in length will not be counted as a tine; male calves are not considered spike bulls.” The change was proposed this year by Wrangell’s Game Advisory Committee (AC) as Proposal 6. In its...
Results from last summer's citizen science bat tracking program were presented at the Nolan Center on Monday. Since 2004 the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADFG) has been tracking the region's bat population. One component of this research has been the trapping and radiotagging of little brown bats, one of the state's seven identified species. The department also makes use of year-round acoustic monitoring stations and has begun to enlist volunteers to use acoustic driving transects. This...
Members of Wrangell Cooperative Association and the wider community were invited out to an informational workshop Tuesday night, introducing them to the Tribe's latest program. Alongside its Transportation and IGAP (see article inside) offices, the Subsistence Fisheries Management Program intends to improve quality of life and opportunity for tribal members, in this case through salmon restoration in traditional watersheds. Brian Ashton was invited by WCA to head the new program, which at the...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – Fishing industry and lawmakers on Thursday puzzled over the origins of a proposed one percent tax increase in fisheries business taxes and fishery resource landing taxes. During a hearing on the bill by the House fisheries committee, fishermen testified that they did not understand the origins of the increase. It is expected to raise $18 million in new revenue for the state annually, according to the Department of Revenue. It is one of six proposed industry taxes from Gov. Bill Walker, including increases to mining, m...
Local spending appears to have dropped substantially during the last holiday season. The latest sales tax figures collected by the City and Borough of Wrangell indicated that for the 2016 fiscal year’s second quarter – or from October through December 2015 – only $506,216 in sales taxes were collected, a 16-percent drop over the corresponding period the previous year. Sales tend to be lower through the third quarter than the second, picking up again during the spring and summer seasons. So in 2015, from January to March the city colle...
The Sitka black-tailed deer hunting season is now closed in Southeast Alaska. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game reminds all hunters who have obtained deer harvest tickets to return completed hunt reports to their nearest office. Even those who did not hunt or harvest a deer must submit a report. Hunt reports may be submitted by mail or in person at an ADFG office, or online at hunt.alaska.gov. The information collected from the hunt reports helps biologists estimate changes in area-specific deer harvest and hunting effort, monitor...
Wrapping up the last of this year’s game proposals, Wrangell’s Advisory Committee (AC) for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s regulatory boards held its last meeting of the year on Jan. 28. Comments gathered by the committee – made up of area sportsmen, fishermen, and subsistence users – go to the boards of Fish and Game when they meet later this month and in March. Digital copies of the regulations proposal books are available for review online at the Board page on www.adfg.alaska.gov. Flipping through the booklet, Wrangell...
A single Chinook salmon is worth more than a barrel of oil. The winter kings being caught by Southeast Alaska trollers are averaging10 pounds each with a dock price of $7.34 a pound, according to state fish tickets. That adds up to $73.40 per fish, compared to less than $25 per barrel of oil. Those who depend on fishing for their livelihoods want to make sure that budget cuts combined with any new fishery taxes, don’t cut core services that result in missed fishing opportunities. “Not all cuts are equal, and if there are cuts that interfere wit...
In the Sentinel 100, 75, 50 and 25 years ago. January 20, 1916: Owing to the fact that matters seem to progressing rather slowly in regard to the Dry Strait survey, Mr. F. Matheson, who has the matter in charge, recently wrote to Delegate Wickersham regarding the affair and received an answer which states, “On December 8th I wrote to the Secretary of War asking about the report of the Engineer on the matter of Dry Strait improvement and on the 14th he wrote me saying that he had not yet received it from the District Engineer’s Office.” An en...
Fishing issues will take a back seat to budget cutting when the Alaska legislature convenes on January 19 for its 90-day session, but two early fish bills (and one hold-over) already are getting attention. One new measure aims to stop the migration of fishing permits outside of the state. We lost over 50 percent of our permits over the 1973 original issuance of permits,” said Robin Samuelsen of the Bristol Bay Economic Development Corporation (BBEDC), speaking at a two day Alaska Sea Grant workshop last week in Anchorage titled Fisheries Access...
On Jan. 4 a federal judge imposed fines on two Wrangell fishermen for falsifying Individual Fishing Quota records over a three-year period. Charles Petticrew Sr., 70, and son Charles Petticrew Jr., 42, had on Oct. 16, 2015 pleaded guilty to charges brought against them by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Alaska, and agreed to pay fines totaling $100,000. The two admitted to submitting IFQ reports falsely specifying statistical areas in the Gulf of Alaska where they caught nearly 4,000 pounds of halibut, valued at $23,375. The reports were s...
Ahead of statewide regulatory meetings scheduled for February and March, the local Advisory Committee (AC) for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s regulatory boards met at the Fire Hall on Monday to start putting together its recommendations. High on the list of its hunting priorities for this session was Prop. 6, put forward by Wrangell’s AC. This would modify the definition of a moose antler, specifically having “spike-fork antlers” to mean antlers of a bull moose with only one or two tines on at least one antler, antler project...
PETERSBURG (AP) — The Alaska Department of Fish and Game is predicting a return of about 34,000 king salmon to the Stikine River next year in southeast Alaska. The estimated return is large enough to allow commercial fishing in the area and a catch up of to 1,000 Chinook. Catches of Stikine kings are managed under the Pacific Salmon Treaty between the U.S. and Canada, KFSK-FM reported. The department's announcement means trollers and gillnetters could have the opportunity to fish for the kings in early May, which would be a first since 201...
PETERSBURG — The Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced Dec. 18 that seasons for the 2015/2016 commercial Tanner and golden king crab fisheries in Southeast Alaska will open by regulation at 12:00 noon on Wednesday, February 17, 2016. The season start date for the Tanner and golden king crab fisheries is based on the date with the smallest Juneau tidal range between February 10 and February 17. Any delay to the start of the 2015/2016 Tanner and golden king crab fisheries due to weather will be announced 24 hours before the start of the f...