Author: kfskadmin

A team of four, trained volunteers from Petersburg has been trying to free a young grey whale that’s tangled in some sort fishing net and line. The animal was originally spotted in Ideal Cove, south of Petersburg but the responders found it this morning in the Wrangell Narrows right in front of Town. The team includes Petersburg Marine Mammal Center President Barry Bracken, and Board Members Don Holmes and Sunny Rice, as well as local Fisherman Bob Martin. They’ve all trained to respond to tangled whales as part of the Alaska Marine Mammal Stranding Network.
Grey Whales are unusual for the area. Bracken says the animal appears injured….and emaciated and from what they can see so far, the netting does not look like the type of gillnet gear used in southeast, which suggests the whale may have been tangled for a while.
The team is working from Bracken’s charter vessel “Island Dream” and he gave Matt Lichtenstein an update by cell phone late Friday morning.

An exhibit of 27 new works by local artist Beth Flor is on display at the Miele Gallery in Petersburg. Flor paints in oil on canvas and is well-known for her realistic still-lifes of Mexico and landscapes of Southeast Alaska streams surrounded by grass flats. Matt Lichtenstein stopped by the downtown gallery for a preview of her latest work

A group of Petersburg residents has organized a “walk to remember children gone too soon” for Saturday morning. It starts at 10 at Saint Andrews Episcopal Church, where Dawn Allen Heron is Pastor. Matt Lichtenstein asked her about the event

A former bookkeeper has been charged with five felony counts in connection with the alleged theft of thousands of dollars from Rock and Road Construction in Petersburg.

Higher value helped make up for the lower catches of Dungeness crab in Southeast this summer. At the same time, crabbers faced bigger expenses and on-going concerns over the impacts of a growing sea otter population on once-productive crabbing spots. The state has released its preliminary harvest estimate for the 2 month summer dungy fishery. Matt Lichtenstein has more detail