Author: kfskadmin

The commercial dungeness crab fleet will no longer be able to drop their pots during the summertime in one area of southern Southeast. The state’s Board of Fish this month reversed a 2009 decision that opened the summer fishery in portions of district two around southern Prince of Wales Island.

Some of Alaska’s small-boat fishermen may have to carry an onboard observer in the near future. The federal government is restructuring its fishery observer program to better monitor bycatch on larger vessels but the proposed rules would also include boats under 60 feet for the first time. Fishermen in Southeast are concerned about the cost as well as the practicalities of hosting an observer on vessels that are often short on space as it is.

The Friends of Petersburg’s Libraries are marking the centennial of the city of Petersburg with a program called Read Across Petersburg, encouraging everyone to read, or re-read the book “The Cheechakoes.” The collection of stories was published in 1964 by local author Wayne Short. Born in 1926, in Arizona, Short came to Alaska in 1946 after serving in Pacific in the U.S. Navy and seeing action at Iwo Jima and Okinawa. The author says he thought about writing while he was in the war and got his start writing short stories for men's magazines before his agent convinced him to write a book about some of his experiences in Alaska. One story that helped kick-start his writing career was of an exciting bear encounter with his brother Duke, near Murder Cove on southern Admiralty Island. Short sat down recently with Friends of the Library’s Sue Paulsen and KFSK's Joe Viechnicki and told about the bear encounter and his first forays into writing.

Federal officials will not reconsider their decision to give Angoon an exclusive permit for hydro-power exploration at a mountaintop lake near Petersburg. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last week denied Petersburg’s request for a rehearing of the issue. Petersburg, Wrangell, Angoon, and a private company had all applied for the three-year permit. It basically puts Angoon first in line to apply for a construction license at Ruth Lake in Thomas Bay.

Halibut researchers saw some improvements in their survey catch rates last year which could be a positive sign for the future of the fishery in Southeast Alaska. Over the past half decade, the International Pacific Halibut Commission has cut the southeast area 2C commercial quota by roughly 60 percent. That drop was due to a decline in abundance as well as changes in research methodology and the way the commission apportions the catch limits for each regulatory area along the Pacific coast.
As the commercial season got underway in early March, IPHC director Bruce Leaman was in Petersburg to talk with fishermen. He also spoke with reporter Matt Lichtenstein about the Southeast stocks, the charter halibut issue, and bycatch.