Commercial fishermen expressed shock and dismay this week at the magnitude of the cuts proposed for the halibut catch in southeast Alaska. Matt Lichtenstein reports on some of the initial reaction from the industry.
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Alaska’s commercial halibut fishermen are facing another major cut to the coast-wide catch in 2011. Scientists with the International Pacific Halibut Commission are recommending a total harvest of a little over 41 million pounds of the valuable, flat fish in Alaska, Canada, and the Pacific Northwest. That would be a 19 percent drop from last year’s overall catch limit. Southeast would be particularly hard-hit again with a potential 47 percent cut.
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The first federal permits for Alaska’s halibut charter businesses are expected to be issued soon. That’s according to the National Marine Fisheries Service, which is working to implement a new regulatory regime for charter catches in Southeast and Southcentral Alaska. Matt Lichtenstein asked the agency for an update.
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Long-time Petersburg Indian Association board member Jeannette Ness writes that she was deeply hurt to hear the meeting minutes she recorded in October called inaccurate. That assertion was made by PIA board president Derek Lopez in an interview with KFSK in November.
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Heightened concern over underage drinking in Petersburg drew an unusually large audience to what would otherwise have been a routine court hearing last week. As part of a deal with prosecutors, the defendant had planned on pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge of providing alcohol to minors. In return, he would have received a suspended jail sentence. However, the on-going problem of teen alcohol abuse has been the talk of the town in recent months. The group of local residents at Wednesdays court hearing wanted to send a message – that adults who provide alcohol to kids should not get off easy.
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