Ketchikan: 2014: Alaska, Ketchikan declare their ‘independence’ By DAVE KIFFER - 2014 was a year of political independency both statewide and locally in 2014.

Governor-elect Bill Walker was sworn in as Alaska's 13th Governor at Centennial Hall in Juneau, Monday, December 1, 2014. With Walker is Lt. Governor Byron Mallott.
Photo by Merrick Pierce, courtesy of the Office of the Governor

Statewide, Bill Walker ran as an independent for governor and won and locally, former Ketchikan High School teacher Dan Ortiz ran as an independent for state representative and won, edging out Chere Klein who was an aide to retiring District 36 representative, Peggy Wilson of Wrangell. Both Ortiz and Klein were Ketchikan residents, meaning the First City was guaranteed to have a local as its elected official again.

The other big local news story was the keel laying in December for the two new Alaska-class state ferries that will be built at the Vigor Ketchikan Shipyard over the next four years. The two ships – day ferries that will make runs between Juneau and Haines and Skagway and elsewhere around the state – will cost around $100 million. When those ferries are completed in 2018, the state is expected to make two more Alaska-class ferries. The shipyard estimates that the Alaska class project will add more than 100 year round jobs to the community.

Another story that could have a significant future fiscal impact to the community was the Borough’s lawsuit against the state of Alaska over the method for funding education. Superior Court Judge William Carey ruled in the borough’s favor in November, but the state is considering whether to appeal his decision. At stake is the more than $4 million the borough spends each year funding local schools. It is the Borough’s contention that all the funding should come from the state, but the state says that meeting that requirement would add more than $250 million to the state budget.

The year began with a downtown house fire that destroyed three homes on historic Edmonds Street.

Former councilmember Dick Coose was appointed to fill a seat on the City Council. Tom and Mary Schultz were named citizens of the year by the Greater Ketchikan Chamber of Commerce and two Good Samaritans were credited with helping rescue a man who fell off the dock while talking on his cell phone.

In February, Governor Sean Parnell visited Ketchikan and issued a not so veiled threat, tying state capital funding to the education funding lawsuit which had been filed in January. Parnell later said he was not “threatening” the community and that his remarks were misinterpreted. No local projects were vetoed by the Governor and he later held one of his four statewide Governor’s picnics in Ketchikan. - More...
Saturday PM - January 03, 2015

Fish Factor: 2014 Retrospective, Fishing Notables, Fish Picks and Pans By LAINE WELCH - Alaska still has its share of naysayers who will quibble about the seafood industry’s importance to our great state. They dismiss the fact that fishing was Alaska’s first industry and was fish that spawned the push to statehood.

"The canned salmon plants started in the 1870s and by the early 20th century, canned salmon was the largest industry and generated 80% of the territorial tax revenues. It had a position in the state economy that oil enjoys today," said fisheries historian Bob King.

The fisheries that Alaska inherited from the federal government at statehood in 1959 were in bad shape. That year the salmon catch of 25 million fish was the worst since the turn of the century, and total seafood production was just 324 million pounds. In contrast, salmon catches today often top 200 million fish, and more than five billion pounds of seafood cross the Alaska docks each year.

Here are fishing notables from 2014, in no particular order, followed by my annual ‘fish picks and pans’:

Alaska claimed the nation’s top three fishing ports for seafood catches last year: Dutch Harbor, Kodiak and Akutan.

The 2014 salmon harvest totaled 157 million fish with a dockside value of nearly $577 million. That’s 116 million fewer salmon than last year, and a $113 million drop in value.

Prince William Sound squeaked by the Panhandle to claim the year’s highest salmon catch at 49.35 million fish – topping Southeast’s landings by just 103,000 salmon.

Bristol Bay’s sockeye catch of 28.8 million was 61% higher than expected and rang in at nearly $193 million at the docks. Fish forecasters said in 2015 Bristol Bay can expect the largest red run in two decades - 54 million with a harvest of 38 million.

Norton Sound fishermen also saw a nice salmon payday from one of the best chum harvests in 25 years, plus the fourth best for silvers and the highest price in the state at $1.60/lb. Chums from the AYK regions fetched some of the highest prices at $.55 - $.60/lb.

Salmon permits in many fisheries tripled in value since 2002. By mid-year Bristol Bay driftnet permits were listed by brokers at $150,000 to $170,000, compared to $90,000 in January. Southeast Alaska seine permits were the priciest in the state topping $300,000.

Scientists discovered that crabs can hear through a small sac at the base of their antennae. Even more exciting, they found clues to determining crabs’ ages - parts of the crab stomach and eye stalks remain after molts and show bands similar to rings in a tree. It means that for the first time managers will soon know for sure how fast crabs grow, a key factor in stock assessments.

Shrimp remained as America’s top seafood favorite, but salmon bumped canned tuna to take over the second spot. Each American ate 2.7 pounds of salmon, a 34% increase in one year.

The pollock biomass in the Bering Sea more than doubled its ten year average to top 20 billion pounds, and the stock is healthy and growing. (The allowed catch is around 3 billion pounds.)

A first lawsuit challenged a new law designed to clamp down on hired skippers fishing the halibut and sablefish quota shares owned by others. The rule took effect December 1; it bans using a hired skipper to harvest any quota acquired after Feb. 12, 2010.

A massive tailings dam breach at the Mt. Polley gold/copper mine fouled lands and waters for miles in neighboring British Columbia. That began an uproar downstream at Southeast Alaska, where five huge mines are planned near watersheds that feed into some of the region’s most productive salmon rivers. Canadian officials rejected calls from Southeast and Alaska Senators for more thorough environmental reviews. - More...
Saturday PM - January 03, 2015