Author: Joe Viechnicki, KFSK

Petersburg’s Rotary club welcomed the district governor for the Yukon and Alaska last week. Rotary, an international service organization, works to eradicate polio and do other health and sanitation projects in communities around the globe. It’s also well known for its student exchange program.

The terms of two members of the Petersburg borough assembly run out this October. One of them, Eric Castro says he won’t be running for re-election. Nancy Strand is gathering signatures and likely will be a candidate for another term.

It’s very early still in the pink salmon season in Southeast Alaska, but so far returns look to be tracking with the pre-season forecast for the region. Pinks are targeted mainly by the region’s purse seine fleet and either canned or frozen. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game forecast a commercial catch this year of 23 million fish. Managers are expecting something similar to the disappointing season of 2016, the parents of this year’s pinks. That year the catch only hit 18 million and a fishery disaster was declared.

A long-time researcher on the behavior of humpback whales will be speaking Monday, July 30 in Petersburg. Adam Pack is a professor at the University of Hawaii at Hilo and has been studying dolphins, whales and sea lions for over three decades.

Returns of sockeye salmon in central Southeast Alaska have been disappointing this summer and fishing effort in this area has been low.