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Petersburg seafood catch ranks 26th in 2008

Petersburg ranked 26th among U.S. ports for both the volume and value of its commercial seafood catch last year.
Fishing fleets landed over 34 million pounds of fish and shellfish in Petersburg in 2008. The catch was worth just under $27 million. It’s a big drop from the year before that saw Petersburg ranked 18th in volume of catch and 16th in dollar value.
As recently as 2004, Petersburg’s fleet caught part of the region’s record setting salmon runs and ranked as high as 12th in the nation with a catch topping 102 million pounds. The biggest annual harvest in the past two decades in Petersburg came in 1994, when the fleet caught 126 million pounds.
The top port in the nation last year was Dutch Harbor and Unalaska, totaling 612 million pounds of fish and shellfish. It’s the 20th year in a row for Dutch Harbor to earn that title
The port with the highest value catch was New Bedford, Massachusetts, with a harvest worth over 241 million dollars. It was the ninth year in a row for New Bedford to top the nation’s ports for value.
Nationwide, landings dropped a billion pounds from the year before but the value of the nation’s catch actually increased by 200 million dollars.

Kayak visitor has logged thousands of man-powered miles

Southeast Alaska sees nearly a million visitors each year. A small fraction paddle their way through the Panhandle under their own power but not many have logged as many human powered miles as one man who’s making his way through the region this summer.
Forty-nine-year-old Bill Nedderman of Iowa is kayaking from Olympia Washington to Skagway. He’s been on the go since he was 21 years old, biking 63,000 miles on three different continents, canoeing and kayaking another 21,000 in North America and Europe and hiking 33,000 miles on four different continents. He has three times completed what’s known in the long distance hiking community as the triple crown, hiking the Appalachian Trail from Maine to Georgia, the Continental Divide Trail from Montana to New Mexico and the Pacific Crest Trail from Washington to California. Nedderman stopped by the studios of KFSK in Petersburg this month and spoke with reporter Joe Viechnicki about his adventures.

Community foundation awards first grants

The Petersburg Community Foundation has awarded five thousand dollars in grants to a wide variety of community organizations.

City hires Prunella as interim manager

The Petersburg City Council has hired former Wrangell manager Bob Prunella as interim manager here. The council Tuesday approved a contract for Prunella, negotiated by mayor Al Dwyer and city clerk Kathy O’Rear. It will pay Prunella $450 a day for a five day work week. That equates to about $9,000 a month. He’ll also be paid $450 a month for living expenses for the first three months and a $100 dollar a month car allowance. The agreement could have Prunella as the interim manager for up to six months and the city would have to renegotiate with him beyond that if needed. Prunella, who started work Wednesday, told the council he is ready to hit the pavement running.

City issues one recall petition

Supporters of a recall of several members of Petersburg’s city council have the green light to start collecting signatures for one recall petition. The city attorney this week said the application for recall of city councilor Lee Corrao met state standards on two of the three allegations.