Sorted by date Results 26 - 50 of 75
4/1/20 COVID-19 Update Mayor Steve Prysunka and Borough Manager Lisa Von Bargen hosted a brief teleconference, on Wed., April 1, to share pertinent information regarding the COVID-19 pandemic with the public. There are still no confirmed cases of the virus in Wrangell as of this date, Prysunka said. However, this is not cause for relaxation. Von Bargen said she was recently part of a teleconference with other city managers across Alaska, along with representatives from FEMA and the Department...
Trident Seafoods, one of the two main seafood processors in Wrangell, has decided not to operate during the upcoming salmon season. Stefanie Moreland, vice president of government relations, seafood sustainability, and corporate social responsibility with the Trident Seafoods Corporation, explained that this decision was made earlier this year. Predictions of a low abundance of salmon in Southeast Alaskan waters led them to the decision to not operate the Wrangell plant this season. However, Mor...
A longstanding tradition for Wrangell High School students is their senior project. As their high school careers begin to draw to a close, WHS students will organize a community service project to help give back to their community, before heading off to their next stage in life. These projects can vary in size and scope. Last year, students volunteered at Christmas Tree Lane, held ACT prep courses, assisted in amphibian research along the Stikine River, and much more. Danika Smith is one of...
They say good things come in small packages and that’s the case for Alaska cod fishermen heading into the new year. A small cod fishery will occur in Gulf state waters (out to three miles) for 2020, putting to rest speculation that no cod would be coming out of the Gulf next year. A catch quota of about 5.6 million pounds, down from 10.2 million pounds, will be split among five regions: Prince William Sound, Cook Inlet, Kodiak, Chignik and the South Alaska Peninsula, with limitations on gear and staggered openers. That will be a relief to thous...
The biggest fish story for Alaska’s salmon season so far is the early plug of pinks at the South Alaska Peninsula. By June 28, over 8 million pink salmon were taken there out of a statewide catch of just over 8.5 million. Previously, a catch of 2.5 million pinks at the South Peninsula in 2016 was the record for June and last year’s catch was just 1.7 million Managers at the Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game at Sand Point said at this pace, this month’s catch could near 10 million pinks. “It’s unheard of, really,” ADF&G’s Elisabeth Fox told KDLG...
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...
The Wrangell Mariners' Memorial Board held its second annual auction at the Stikine Inn last Saturday evening. The auction, to raise money for a planned memorial to honor Wrangell seafarers, had over a dozen items in both a live and silent auction. Many people from across town came out to support the memorial and to bid. This was the second year in a row for the board to hold an auction. Board Member Brennon Eagle gave the public a short update on the memorial and the organization before the...
Mary Ann Phillips, 65 and a lifelong Wrangell resident, passed away February 5, 2019 in Zihuantanejo, Mexico while on vacation with her family. She was born on November 18, 1953 in Bishop Rowe Hospital to Maurice and Mary Buness. She attended Wrangell Public Schools until her family moved to the Tacoma area in 1964. She returned to Wrangell with them in January 1970 and made her home here since. After graduating from Wrangell High School, she attended the University of Alaska Fairbanks. She...
Protein Noodles by Trident Seafoods took top honors at the 26th annual Alaska Symphony of Seafood, winning first place in the retail category and the Seattle People’s Choice award. The winners were announced last week at Pacific Marine Expo. The refrigerated noodles are made from pollock surimi and touted as a high protein, gluten free alternative to traditional pastas. “All pastas are wheat based and they don’t contain any protein and there’s not a lot of nutritional value,” said John Salle, Trident’s senior vice president of marketing, innova...
Offshore fish farms could soon dot the sea scape along with those oil and gas platforms being proposed for U.S. waters by the Trump Administration. The fish farms, which would be installed from three to 200 miles out, are being touted as a way to boost seafood production, provide jobs and reduce the nation’s $16 billion trade deficit due to America’s importing nearly 90 percent of its seafood favorites. The U.S. Commerce Department is holding meetings around the country through November to talk about its strategic plan for getting aqu...
August 27, 2018 Citizen assist: Child refusing to go to school. Traffic: Person called in possible traffic violation. Agency assist-USFS: Verbal warning for commercial sale of firewood. Lost/stolen wallet reported. DVO served. August 28, 2018 Catering permit. DVO served. Citizen assist. August 29, 2018 Parking complaint. Report of theft. Disturbance. August 30, 2018 Time limit parking citation issued to Andrew Twyford, 19. Parking complaint. Vacation check requested. Recovered firearm. August 31, 2018 Traffic complaint: Speeding. Missing...
January 26 Russell R. Stevens, 50, appeared before First District Court Magistrate Judge Chris Ellis on the charge of Reckless Endangerment, a Class A misdemeanor. The defendant pleaded guilty to the charge, with an additional count of Violate Conditions of Release dismissed by prosecution. Stevens was ordered to serve 120 days with 120 days suspended, and to pay $200 in surcharges with $100 suspended. He was placed on one year of probation. Duke W. Aitken, 25, appeared before First District Court Magistrate Chris Ellis on two misdemeanor...
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....
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...
In a brief meeting Thursday evening, the Planning and Zoning Commission approved final plat review for three items. The final review of a plat for Sea Level Seafoods was approved, creating a new subdivision lot zoned waterfront development. The 6,983 square foot parcel is a section of parking lot owned by the city, which will be leased out to the adjacent business for its ongoing use. The request was reviewed by Ports and P&Z back in February 2016, with both commissions recommending to the Borough Assembly the tidelands disposal. Planning and...
Planning and Zoning approved review of a trio of preliminary plats zoned for waterfront development. The first was Lot 5 at the Woodbury Tidelands Subdivision II, in Inner Harbor. Sale of tidelands at the site to owner Brett Woodbury was approved by the Borough Assembly last month at the recommendation of both the Planning and Zoning and the Port commissions. In his application packet, Woodbury is requesting to purchase the additional tidelands in front of his property in order to reconstruct the existing float. This would allow him deeper...
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...
November 14 A judgment was made in the State of Alaska v. Sea Level Seafoods LLC at First District Court in Wrangell. The defendant pleaded guilty to one strict liability violation of Reports: Transporting Requirements, a first offense. Judge Kevin Miller imposed a $10,000 fine, with $8,000 suspended, and a $10 police training surcharge, and placed the company on probation for one year. Geoffrey Aaron Stokes, 28, appeared before First District Magistrate Judge Chris Ellis on the charges of Vehicle Theft 1 and Driving Under the Influence – A...
As Alaska’s iconic halibut fishery wraps up this week, stakeholders are holding their breath to learn if catches might ratchet up slightly again in 2017. Meanwhile, prices for hard to get shares of the halibut catch are jaw-dropping. The halibut fishery ends on Nov. 7 for nearly 2,000 longliners who hold IFQs (Individual Fishing Quotas) of halibut. The Alaska fishery will produce a catch of more than 20 million pounds if the limit is reached by the fleet. Last year, the halibut haul was worth nearly $110 million at the Alaska docks. For the f...
With the seasonal peak behind it, Alaska’s commercial fishing industry is expecting one of the worst shortfalls for salmon in recent memory. As of Tuesday, Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s in-season blue sheet summary estimated just over 102,245,000 salmon had been caught statewide, with less than a quarter of that caught in Southeast. Despite a fair showing for sockeye, the state’s fishermen would be fortunate enough to harvest half the 263,463,000 salmon estimated caught last year. The news has not been good for the local comme...
A sewer main broke early Monday morning, necessitating a temporary shutdown of nearby pump stations and causing an overflow of untreated water into Inner Harbor. The main line connecting town to the sewage treatment plant ruptured near the Sea Level Seafoods processing facility at 1204 Zimovia Highway. City crews responded to the scene, shutting down pump stations near the Public Works Department building and City Park in order to repair the break. Eighty-five percent of Wrangell households are connected to the municipal sewage system, and the...
