Sorted by date Results 551 - 575 of 627
It appears to have been a successful month for moose hunters as the season came to an end yesterday. As of Tuesday morning, Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADFG) biologist Rich Lowell reported it likely to be the second-best season on record. A total of 97 bull moose were harvested from the Petersburg-Wrangell area, better than last year's 92. The highest recorded figure was 109 moose in 2009. Of this year's harvest, 36 were killed near the Stikine River, its highest harvest in 24 years....
As the third week of this year’s moose hunt came to a close this past Sunday, the current harvest is still slightly ahead of last year’s numbers. According to Alaska Department of Fish and Game biologist Rich Lowell, a total of 72 moose were reported killed for the Petersburg-Wrangell area, compared to 71 last year. With a few more reported taken Tuesday, the number stands at 74. Twenty-five have so far been taken on the Stikine River, and another 27 on Kupreanof Island. There were also six harvested on Mitkof Island, five at Thomas Bay, thr...
Crab harvests in southeast Alaska this year won't feature the state's historic cash crops of Red King Crabs, as historically low population levels persist in the region, according to Alaska's Department of Fish and Game, which announced the pre-emptive closure of the 2014/2015 fishing season on Oct. 3. The Southeast Alaska Red King Crab Management Plan directs the department to manage the Southeast Alaska red king crab fishery in accordance with the Alaska Board of Fisheries' "Policy on King and...
Despite the rough weather and Monday opener, it’s been a good season so far for area moose hunters. According to Alaska Department of Fish and Game biologist Rich Lowell, it’s better even than average. Fifty-two moose have been reported killed in the first two weeks, compared to 49 at this time last year for Unit 3, the Petersburg-Wrangell area. A total of 92 were gathered in 2013. Nineteen have so far been taken on the Stikine River, better than the 15 noted for this time last year. A further 16 were reported had on Kupreanof Island. The...
In the Sentinel 100, 75, 50 and 25 years ago. October 8, 1914: Miss Durkey, president of the Alaska Garnet Mining & Manufacturing Company who are operating at the garnet ledge at the mouth of the Stikine, was a passenger up on the Mariposa the first of the week. Miss Durkey states that the Company will ship some twelve tons of garnets south on the Dolphin next trip. The company has secured a selling concession from the government to sell their garnets in the Manufacturer’s Building at the San Francisco Fair and this shipment will be the f...
PETERSBURG – Fishermen are ending this summer’s pink salmon season 10 million over the projected harvest. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s (ADFG) harvest forecast was 22 million pinks and fishermen hauled in 32 million. Sitka-based ADFG biologist Dan Gray said, “Just in terms of straight numbers, we had a pretty good year.” This year’s harvest pales in comparison to last year’s record-breaking pink harvest where fishermen brought in some 85.5 million pinks. But a more apt comparison would be to past even-year harvests, since harvest...
PETERSBURG – Efforts by the Canadian agency Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) to relocate salmon across a barrier created by a landslide in late May are helping sockeye salmon reach escapement goals. DFO began relocating sockeye and Chinook salmon via helicopter across the barrier in early July. As of July 20, nearly 4,000 sockeye and over 1,000 large Chinook salmon were successfully transported over the slide area and released into the upper Tahltan River. Water levels in the Tahtan River had receded by the end of July making it possible f...
Seafood is by far Alaska’s top export and as it heads overseas, global politics play a big role in making sales sink or swim. That dynamic took center stage last week when Russia banned imports of foods for one year from the US, Canada, Europe, Norway and Australia in retaliation for sanctions imposed due to its aggressive actions in Ukraine. It is a direct hit to Alaska, which last year exported nearly 20 million pounds of seafood to Russia, valued at more than $60 million. The primary product it hurts is pink and chum salmon roe; Russia is a...
PETERSBURG – There has been an ebb and flow of boats in the harbor as the summer salmon season presses on. The Southeast drift gillnet fishery opened on July 6 with the challenge of overcoming a landslide on the Tahltan River in late May that caused a barrier to salmon passage. The Tahltan is a tributary of the Stikine and a major contributor to the Southeast gillnet fishery for sockeye, and the landslide there was thought to have caused a complete blockage to salmon passage, said Troy Thynes, Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADFG) b...
PETERSBURG – Even to those well adjusted to Petersburg weather, the downpour of rain in the past weeks hasn't gone without notice. So far two days this month have set new precipitation records. National Weather Service data showed some 1.97 inches of rain fell on Petersburg last Saturday and 3.25 inches fell on Sunday, breaking previous precipitation records for those respective days in August. The normal average rainfall for each day is 0.20 inches, according to the National Weather Service. Th...
Deer season opened for Wrangell Island on Friday. “We’ve been selling a lot of licenses,” said Emma McMurren, a shopkeeper at Angerman’s. Hunters have been lining up not just for the deer season, but for bear and wolves as well. “They’re pretty excited,” she added. However, starting this year Alaska hunters will have to forego using urine-based attractants, due to concerns that they are a means of bringing chronic wasting disease (CWD) to the state’s deer and elk population. CWD is a transmissible set of conditions affecting the brains and...
PETERSBURG – The Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s (ADF&G) Division of Sport Fish announced last week that fishing is prohibited for the month of August in all waters of Blind Slough upstream from a line between Blind Point and Anchor Point until August 31. The closure is due to broodstock concerns at Crystal Lake Hatchery, as king salmon numbers are below the year’s goal. An aerial survey conducted July 27 observed approximately 150 live king salmon and between 200 and 300 dead specimens, considerably below the target of 500 male and 50...
This year’s Bearfest attracted a number of bear-knowledgable brainboxes, from biologists and behaviorists to wilderness managers, guides and artists. Over the course of the five-day event, experts shared their knowledge in a series of workshops, demonstrations, and lectures with the public. “It’s a great opportunity for Wrangell residents and visitors alike to hear from some of the best bear experts in the world,” explained Lance Craighead, conservation director at the Craighead Institute in Montana. A lot of what was discussed was practical, l...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – Gov. Sean Parnell has asked a federal agency to buy about 1 million cases of canned pink salmon to ease a glut that has weighed down prices for Alaska fishermen this year. Parnell made the request in a letter to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack this week. He wants the USDA to purchase $37 million worth of canned pink salmon under a federal law that allows for buying surplus food from farmers and donating it to food banks or other programs. USDA purchased $20 million worth of salmon earlier this year, which Parnell c...
If you haven't joined in the fun already, there's still time as the fifth annual Alaska Bearfest continues around Wrangell through Sunday afternoon. A blend of fun, food and education, the festival celebrates the area's bear population. Bearfest was started in 2010 by Sylvia Ettefagh, operator of Alaska Vistas. In addition to the educational and recreational opportunities it presents, Ettefagh's aim for the festival is to make Wrangell a top destination for ursine enthusiasts everywhere. "Our...
The Southeast Seine fishery is performing as expected despite a closure last week, said Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADFG) biologist Dan Gray. “As expected, we have a fairly low pink salmon forecast and it’s early yet in the development of that run, but it looks like what we thought,” Gray said. In the Hidden Falls terminal harvest area, the Northern Southeast Regional Aquaculture Association needs 180,000 chum salmon for brood stock. As of July 8, only 5,000 passed the barrier net and into a containment area. “Without that in place i...
Salmon takes center stage in Alaska every summer, but many more fisheries also are going on all across the state. The world’s biggest sockeye salmon run is expected to surge into Bristol Bay any day, where a catch of about 17 million reds is projected. Elsewhere, the annual summer troll fishery in Southeast Alaska kicks off on July first with a target of just over 166,000 Chinook salmon. Lots of crab fisheries are underway each summer— Dungeness fishing began on June 15 in Southeast where a harvest of 2.25 million pounds is expected. The reg...
You’ve heard it before and you’ll hear it again: The seafood industry is Alaska’s largest private employer, putting more people to work than mining, oil/gas, timber and tourism combined. The annual revenue the seafood sector contributes to State coffers is second only to Big Oil. So where does the seafood industry rank for the major candidates running for Alaska Governor and the US Senate? Here’s what a thorough look at each of their campaign websites reveals, starting with the race for Governor (all in alphabetical order)— Byron Mallott (...
ANCHORAGE (AP) – An Alaska Zoo official in Anchorage says five wolf pups rescued by firefighters from the Funny River wildfire will have a new home at the Minnesota Zoo once they're healthy enough to travel. KTUU-TV reports that Alaska Zoo Executive Director Pat Lampi says the zoo in Anchorage has worked previously with the Minnesota Zoo, located south of Minneapolis-St. Paul. Fish and Game Department spokesman Ken Marsh says the two females and three males will remain at the Alaska Zoo infirmary for now. Zoo officials say the pups were left w...
Salmon season is just getting underway, but seafood companies are still selling last summer’s record catch of 226 million pink salmon - and it has prompted lots of creative thinking. “The challenge is to market all this fish and still maintain the value,” said Tyson Fick, communications director for the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI), the state’s lone marketing arm. “It wouldn’t be any problem for the producers just to flood the market, and then we would see a tremendous downward pressure in years to come. More so, we see this as...
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska (AP) — Bloodied and dazed after being slashed by the claws of a brown bear, a woman struggled to walk 2 miles along a curvy, hilly trail to find someone to help her. The woman, who has asked that her identity not be released, was hospitalized in stable condition Monday, a day after the attack on an Anchorage military base, officials said. She suffered lacerations to her neck, arms and legs. The woman was jogging with her soldier husband Sunday morning on the northwestern part of the sprawling Joint B...
PETERSBURG – Southern Southeast Regional Aquaculture Production Manger Bill Gass said he’s impressed by how fast State officials are moving forward with plans to reconstruct Petersburg’s Crystal Lake Hatchery incubation facility that was destroyed by a fire last month. “It’s not a matter of deciding to pay it or not,” Gass said. “Before an expenditure of that magnitude happens or not they (State officials) need to get engineers involved, quotes from contractors, a fully functional design that would go out to bid… We’re the contracted operat...
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game announces the regulations for king salmon, effective April 2, 2014 - April 30, 2015. The regulations are: Alaskan Resident: The resident bag and possession limit is three king salmon 28 inches or greater in length. Nonresident: The nonresident bag and possession limit is one king salmon 28 inches or greater in length, except during May and June the bag and possession limit is two king salmon 28 inches or greater in length. The nonresident annual limit is six king salmon 28 inches or greater in length....
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game will hold commercial troll public meetings in Wrangell on Wednesday, April 2 in the Nolan Center Classroom at 6:30 p.m. Meeting topics will include, but are not limited to, plans for the 2014 spring and summer troll fisheries, the 2014 Pacific Salmon Treaty Chinook salmon abundance index and quota, and a review of the 2013 troll season. All members of the public are welcome to attend....
PETERSBURG – This year’s Tanner Crab season saw the highest harvest since the 2000/2001 season. Alaska Department of Fish and Game Lead Crab Biologist Joe Stratman said Tanner Crab prices and the overall harvest value were also up from last year. This season’s total harvest value was $3.1 million, with an average of $2.53 per pound compared to last year’s $2.8 million harvest value and $2.28 per pound. Preliminary estimates show this season’s Tanner fishery in Registration Area A is 1.25 million pounds with 80 permit holders. “This harvest jus...