Author: kfskadmin

A new crop of home-made sea-themed go-carts raced down PFI hill to glory on Saturday for the 14th annual Humpy-500. Sponsored by Icicle Seafoods and other local businesses, the family event has become a fall tradition in town. The contest emphasizes creativity over speed these days with the biggest prizes going to best go- cart design and costumes. As race day approached, Matt Lichtenstein spoke with Jeff Randrup, a local dad whose family has been involved in the race for a decade.

Banking officials in Alaska say their institutions are sound. Despite the national economic crisis, there have no recent failures among Alaska banks. Industry representatives say, that’s because their companies have largely stayed away from the risky practices that have caused huge problems elsewhere in the country.

Longliners on the inside waters of southeast Alaska encountered some unusual and unwelcome fishing partners this summer. A couple of sperm whales followed at least two different boats in Chatham Strait, pulling black cod off their gear. Normally, sperm whales stay on the outside coast. Their appearance in Chatham adds more urgency to the concerns of some fishermen and scientists, who worry that increased interactions could be bad for both the whales and the industry.

Workers this fall are finishing up a nearly six million dollar paving project on Mitkof Highway, about 18 miles south of Petersburg. A private company has completed paving roughly seven miles of what used to be a rough dirt roadway, along with the access road and parking lot at the site of the South Mitkof ferry terminal.

A team of researchers captured some very unusual footage of humpback whales this summer. It shows cooperative bubble-net feeding and other behavior from a whale calf’s point of view. The Alaska Whale Foundation’s Doctor Fred Sharpe has been studying humpback whale behavior and vocalizations in southeast Alaska for decades. Based out of Five-Finger Lighthouse in northern Frederick Sound this summer, Sharpe and his colleagues captured the rare video using a national geographic “critter-cam” which they suction-cupped to the back of a whale calf.
The underwater scenes are exceptionally clear of a mother-whale nursing her calf and a large group of whales creating a bubble-net to catch herring. What’s more, the video was obtained without a boat or divers in sight.
Along with the National Geographic Society, Sharpe credits the Petersburg Marine Mammal Center and the Juneau Lighthouse Association for their support in the research. Sharpe stopped by to talk with KFSK’s Matt Lichtenstein about some of these humpback sights and sounds he’s gathered: