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Sunday
July 10, 2016
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Curious Deer
These two young Sitka-black Tailed deer were a little wary but decided to get a closer look at this eagle sitting on a log.
Front Page Feature Photo By CINDY BALZER ©2016
FISH FACTOR: Alaska Fisheries in Full Swing By LAINE WELCH - Salmon takes center stage each summer but many other fisheries also are in full swing from Ketchikan to Kotzebue.
For salmon, total catches by July 8 were nearing 28 million fish, of which 10 million were sockeyes, primarily from Bristol Bay. Last week marked the catch of the two billionth sockeye from the Bay since the fishery began in 1884.
Other salmon highlights: [Correction] Southeast trollers wrapped up their first Chinook opener in just five days on July 5, with the preliminary catch estimated at around 80,000 fish. Fish tickets are still being counted but it appears ‘very likely’ that the fleet will get another opener in August to tap the target of 122,000 treaty kings. [End Correction]
Sockeye catches at the North Peninsula were so strong, the fleet was put on limits by Peter Pan Seafoods, the lone processor in the region. The harvest there topped 1.3 million reds last week.
It’s been slowing going around Kodiak Island where the catch was approaching 700,000 fish, mostly sockeyes. The pace was picking up at Cook Inlet with a catch nearing 400,000 of primarily reds. At Prince William Sound, the harvest of chums, pinks and sockeyes topped 7.6 million fish.
Copper River Seafoods saved the day for Kotzebue fishermen who originally were beached due to no salmon buyers. They will be out on the water this week tapping on a chum catch projected at 300,000 – 500,000 pounds, depending on air freight capacity.
Chum catches also were adding up at the Lower Yukon, totaling 334,000 fish so far.
Overall, Alaska’s 2016 salmon harvest is pegged at 161 million fish, down 40 percent due to an expected shortfall of pinks.
In other fisheries: Southeast’s summer Dungeness crab fishery is going strong and fishermen are averaging $3.05 a pound, up slightly from last year. The fishery will run through mid-August with a fall opener set for October. The combined dungy fisheries are expected to yield just under 3 million pounds.
Norton Sound’s small boat, summer red king crab fishery opened on June 27 with a harvest limit of 440,137 pounds.
The golden king crab fishery along the Aleutians opens August 1 with a catch of about six million pounds.
Alaska longliners have taken 55 percent of their 17 million pound halibut catch, with Kodiak and Homer nearly tied for landings. Halibut is still fetching between $6-$7 a pound at major ports. Sablefish catches also are at 55 percent of that fishery’s 20.3 million pound quota.
Increasingly popular lingcod fishing kicked off July 1 at Cook Inlet for jig and hand trollers with a catch of 202,000 pounds. At Prince William Sound, the lingcod catch limit is nearly 37,000 pounds. Lingcod can grow to five feet long and weigh up to 80 pounds. The average price to fishermen last year was $1.35 a pound.
Trawlers are targeting Pacific Ocean Perch and two types of rockfish in the Western Gulf and around Yakutat. Rockfish prices for a dozen species can range from a low of $.16 a pound for red stripes to $1.21 for yellow eye (red snapper).
Vessels also are targeting pollock, cod and flatfish in the Bering Sea. The Gulf reopens to pollock fishing on August 25th. - More...
Sunday PM - July 10, 2016
Alaska: Federal “Compromise” Bill on Labeling Genetically Modified Foods Questioned By MARY KAUFFMAN - The U.S. Senate passed legislation Thursday that would create a mandatory national system for disclosing genetically modified ingredients in food products. The bill passed by a vote of 63-30.
U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) spoke on the Senate floor prior to the final vote on the Biotechnology Labeling Solutions Act. The legislation would allow the Agriculture Department to determine which foods qualify as genetically modified and let companies choose the method of disclosing genetically modified organism (GMO) ingredients to consumers. |
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On the Senate floor, Murkowski voiced her opposition to the bill because it does not mandate clear, unequivocal labels on genetically engineered (GE) salmon, while also preempting Alaska’s labeling law.
In speaking on the Senate floor, Murkowski said,
“What we’ve been told is that if these genetically engineered salmon are out on the market, those who are marketing these salmon can voluntarily label them. Well let me ask you, who do you think is really going to voluntarily place a label on something that says, ‘This is not the real thing. This is not your wild Alaska salmon. This is a genetically engineered species?’ The reality is we will not see the labeling that I, as an Alaskan, who is putting fish on the dinner table for my family would require and would want. My opposition here is to anything that would mistakenly allow genetically engineered salmon into anyone’s home and have it be mislabeled as salmon. I am here today to push for consideration of what I believe are truly sensible, truly reasonable fixes. Alaskans will not accept that GE salmon, or this Frankenfish, be sold to us without clear labeling. And again, I for one am not going to feed my boys this fish.”
Alaska House Representative Geran Tarr (D-Anchorage) has also been a vocal advocate for a strong labeling system in Alaska. She is concerned the federal legislation would limit the ability for individual states to implement stricter labeling requirements than the proposed national system.
“I stand with the eighty percent of Americans who support mandatory labeling and applaud the goal to allow consumers to learn whether or not the food they are buying and consuming contains genetically modified ingredients,” said Rep. Tarr. “However, limiting the ability for states like Alaska to implement stricter labeling standards smacks of the federal overreach we hear so much about.”
Alaska has had a law on the books since 2006 requiring genetically modified fish to be labeled on products sold in Alaska. The law has not yet been needed, but that could soon change because last year the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the sale of the first genetically modified salmon as food for humans. The Alaska Legislature is on record opposing the creation and sale of a genetically engineered salmon, which many have dubbed “Frankenfish.” In 2013, the Legislature passed a resolution, sponsored by Rep. Tarr, urging the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to require labeling for genetically modified salmon. - More...
Sunday PM - July 10, 2016 |
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Ketchikan: Routine Traffic Stop Leads to Drug Search - Alaska State Troopers, with the assistance SDEU and K-9 Lutri, seized a red Nissan Pick-up truck after a routine traffic stop Friday evening. A search warrant was later granted on the truck with the search locating methamphetamine and drug related paraphernalia inside the vehicle.
Alaska State Trooper K9 Lutri
Ketchikan, Alaska
Alaska State Troopers in Ketchikan conducted the routine traffic stop on the red Nissan Pick-up truck driven by Leask for an equipment violation at mile 6 of the North Tongass Highway. - More...
Sunday PM - July 10, 2016
Alaska: Bipartisan Bill to Enhance Funding for Fish and Wildlife Introduced - U.S. Representatives Don Young (R-AK) and Debbie Dingell (D-MI) introduced the bipartisan Recovering America’s Wildlife Act of 2016 last Wednesday to help promote and enhance our nation’s conservation efforts and ensure the long-term health of fish and wildlife throughout the country. The legislation, based on a recommendation from a panel of conservation and business leaders, would dedicate $1.3 billion annually in existing revenue from oil and gas royalties to the Wildlife Conservation Restoration Program. The funding would provide states with new critically needed financial resources to effectively implement State Wildlife Action Plans to conserve 12,000 species in greatest need of conservation while providing the public with more access to open spaces.
“As a strong supporter of conservation and sportsmen alike, I’m proud to take the lead on an important discussion regarding fish and wildlife conservation across the country,” said Congressman Don Young. “While we’ve seen many great successes in management and conservation projects in the past, this legislation takes a unique approach to allow states to make responsible management decisions at home. As someone who proudly supports the management of fish and game for all Americans – for sportsmen, subsistence purposes, and for future generations – I believe this legislation is a responsible first step in developing a path forward.”
“It has been proven over the decades that incredible gains in species conservation have been made with dedicated sources of funding,” Rep. Dingell said. “The Recovering America’s Wildlife Act builds off the successes of previous efforts including Pittman-Robertson, Dingell-Johnson, and the Land and Water Conservation Fund by giving state fish and wildlife agencies additional resources they need to proactively manage at-risk wildlife species. I am proud to introduce this legislation with my Republican colleague from Alaska, Mr. Young. We both love the outdoors and know we must work hard to protect our natural resources. To some we may seem the odd couple but together we believe we can get something done that will help bring conservation into the 21st Century and complement the other successful programs that are currently in place.”
“America’s hunters, anglers, recreational shooters, and boaters have been the primary funders of state-based conservation efforts to this day,” said Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation President Jeff Crane. “This recommendation simply uses funding for conservation from other sectors that use our natural resources.” - More...
Sunday PM - July 10, 2016
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Columns - Commentary
LEON KOLANKIEWICZ: Neither Hillary Nor Trump Deserves My Vote - Neither Hillary Clinton nor Donald Trump will get my vote come November. While each espouses certain positions I share, both score epic fails on my personal litmus tests.
Instead of penalizing or deporting 10 or 20 million illegal aliens (or more) who scoffed at U.S. sovereignty, Hillary intends to reward them with another "shamnesty." And Hillary doesn't just want to open the gates wider, she wants to delete the border altogether and allow tens of millions more undocumented Democrats to stampede across.
Corrupt Clinton ---- like virtually every other demagogic Democrat ---- is deaf, dumb and blind to the very real, long-term civilizational threat posed by jihadist terrorism, and more generally, the infiltration of intolerant, anti-Western, homophobic, misogynistic, anti-science sharia law into well-meaning, but guilt-ridden, gullible and clueless Western societies.
Like Bush and Obama before her, Hillary continues bleating the vacuous slogan that Islam means peace, when, in reality, it means submission to the will of Allah. "Muslims are peaceful and tolerant people and have nothing whatsoever to do with terrorism," Hillary told the Council on Foreign Relations. Like Obama, she blamed the recent Orlando massacre on guns more than rampant homophobia among many Muslims. - More...
Sunday PM - July 10, 2016
DANNY TYREE: Recreational Walking: The Good, The Bad And The Ugly - I started walking the day I turned eight months old, and now it seems I've started my second childhood.
I've been sidelined from my physically demanding day job for the past six weeks because of a compression fracture. (My days involved a lot of fast walking, running, jumping and climbing and STILL my boss always managed to find me!)
I've been doing some recreational walking, to keep in shape AND to offer moral support to my wife as she walks for her physical fitness.
I've sort of been inspired by the 1988 song that goes "But I would walk five hundred miles/And I would walk five hundred more/Just to be the man who walked a thousand miles/To fall down at your door." Although, in retrospect, The Proclaimers could also have sung about getting an Amazon drone to deliver a morale-boosting "World's Greatest Wife" coffee mug. - More...
Sunday PM - JUly 10, 2016 |
Editorial Cartoon: All Lives Matter
By Steve Sack ©2016, The Minneapolis Star Tribune
Distributed to subscribers for publication by Cagle Cartoons, Inc.
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 An Open Letter to Our Community By Ken Tonjes - We all know that living in a small town is wonderful, but it comes with its own set of perils. Sometimes it is nice that news travels fast, but on the flip side, so does misinformation. Just a few well-meant but not entirely accurate conversations around the campfire and before we know it, misinformation is being spread around town. Most recently, the grapevine is saying that Ketchikan Medical Center is no longer performing elective surgeries because we don’t have anesthesiologists. - More...
Thursday PM - July 07, 2016
Part 13: “OIL COMPANY” WALKER, “OIL CAN” ORTIZ, AND OIL COMPANY SOCIALISM By David G Hanger - On the editorial page of the June 25 weekend edition of the KETCHIKAN DAILY NEWS in an unattributed editorial blurb the DAILY NEWS harshly criticized numerous members of the state house of representatives for resisting “Oil Company” Walker’s effort to take Alaskans’ Permanent Fund Dividend. This cavalier willingness to deprive so many others of so much displays fundamentally the willful ignorance the DAILY NEWS and its staff has about the financial crisis, i.e. the “Coghill Abomination,” that faces this state today; and it also gives us a very clear idea of the type of decisions Bob Sivertsen would make, i.e. to sell us all down the river at the earliest possible opportunity. - More...
Thursday PM - July 07, 2016
AST K9 Lutri By A.M. Johnson - Did not the local enforcement dispose of the drug dog on reason that having marijuana legal the dog was not worth the cost? Seems logical that a dog such as the one in this story would be a deterrent IF used daily at the ferry terminal, airport, and incoming mail (Postal office). FedEx, and UPS. - More...
Monday AM - July 04, 2016
No Aircraft for Iran By Donald Moskowitz - Boeing Co. recently cut a deal with Iran Air to sell it 100 Boeing 737s and 777s worth about $25 billion, which is a nice contract for Boeing and its employees. - More...
Monday AM - July 04, 2016
WISH Situation is Dire By Diane Gubatayao - By now it is well known that since September 2015, Women In Safe Homes (WISH) has been on probation with the Council on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault (CDVSA), the State agency responsible for funding and administrative oversight of 18 shelters throughout Alaska. The original probation document cited nine systemic issues involving staff, participants and community partners. I do not believe it is productive at this time to debate the merits of the probation. I trust that a State agency comprised of a Commissioner and assistant State Attorney General, among others, has done due diligence before imposing such a serious sanction. To their credit, many associated with WISH have made the effort to meet the requirements outlined by CDVSA. However, we have learned recently that the situation is dire with the exit of five Board members and some staff, and continued problems with WISH management and leadership highlighted by CDVSA. - More...
Wednesday PM - June 29, 2016
GOVERNOR, THE NEXT CUP OF COFFEE IS ON ME By Richard Peterson - Earlier this month, I wrote a commentary on whether or not the 2014 “Unity Team” would keep its promise to steer away from litigation against Alaska tribes and instead work towards improving tribal relations. Today’s commentary is a follow-up to express my gratitude to the Walker Administration for not appealing the recent Alaska Supreme Court decision in State of Alaska v. Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska. This important court ruling affirms that Alaska tribal courts, some of whom already handle custody, adoption, and paternity for tribal children, can also decide child support. - More...
Wednesday PM - June 29, 2016
PART 12: “OIL COMPANY” WALKER, “OIL CAN” ORTIZ AND OIL COMPANY SOCIALISM By David G Hanger - Voting for Bob Sivertsen for state representative in the upcoming election is the equivalent of pouring gasoline on a fire that is already out of control. I have nothing personal against Bob Sivertsen. I hear he is a moderate conservative “who hasn’t run into a local social program he hasn’t enthusiastically supported.” But what Bob calls ‘leadership’ I call sheepishness, and that limitation is a disaster in the making because these folks up north who call themselves Republicans are anything but, yet Bob Sivertsen will still follow that bunch wherever they go. - More...
Wednesday PM - June 29, 2016
Local radio dropping RUSH By A.M.Johnson - The following is written as a public service. Recently KTKN radio station announced that effective July 1st, the station with locations in Ketchikan, Sitka, and Juneau have or are dropping the Rush Limbaugh program from their schedule. Inquiry as to the reason was given the fiscal disappointment of revenue. When asked if there was a political venue related to the action, I was assured that there was and is no such pressure. When the question of what is anticipated to replace the Rush programming that will result in equal or additional revenue during the three hour period, there was no response other than Drop by the station sometime by the general manager. - More...
Wednesday PM - June 29, 2016
RE: Public restrooms on docks closed too early By Douglas J. Thompson - Regarding the letter from Mr. Phil Borngraeber published recently in Sitnews: We have ten harbor employees and probably more with their 'summer help'. They are costing Ketchikan's taxpayer between ninety and one hundred forty thousand dollars per year each. We pay for a multitude of vehicles for them and all expenses. The department is supposedly run by Corporan under Amylon. Somewhere along the way as I have pointed out before they have decided they no longer need to work to collect their salary. Case in point is Mr. Borngraeber letter showing they once again "contract out" the most simple menial tasks that they themselves should be doing. It is ridiculous that cleaning Harbor Department bathrooms is approved for contracting out. With the overstaffing it should easily be handled and could even be done with 1/3 of the employees currently employed to no discernible benefit in that bloated department. - More...
Monday AM - June 27, 2016
Gov Walker's 5th Special Session By Marvin Seibert - We are now in the grips of Governor Walker's calling for a 5th special session. Special sessions were not instituted till the governor of a state gets his way. Taxes being considered will have a devastating effect on the people who can afford it the least. - More...
Wednesday PM - June 22, 2016
Public restrooms on docks closed too early By Phil L. Borngraeber - Just in the last two weeks I have been among the many local folks riding, walking, taking the kids or dogs out for relaxation and exercise. But wait, no matter how great the weather is, don't plan on using the restrooms at dock 4 or 2 after the ships have left. - More...
Wednesday PM - June 22, 2016
Please abide by leash laws By Mishele Rhein - In light of summer and the added outdoor activities at the local beaches, I would like to encourage the locals and our numerous summer guests to abide by the leash laws. Don’t get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoy watching my dogs run, play and dig with abandon on the sandy beaches as well, but doing so on a leash. Being a dog owner, I understand the need to get out and exercise man’s best friend, but to be honest, I am growing weary of being assaulted by “friendly” dogs when the owner is truly no where to be seen. I am not sure what’s worse, missing dog owners or oblivious dog owners. The latter being the friendly passers by greeting you a wonderful afternoon while their dog is running circles around you and your now distracted leashed dog. Everyone tends to think their dog is “amiable enough” and “its no problem.” Even though my exuberant animals feel the need to greet everyone, everyone does not feel the need to greet them. Just tonight I went for a walk and was greeted (whether I wanted to be or not) by no less than three dogs before I even got to the beach. One of which had a leash trailing but no person holding the other end and the fourth dog came to investigate upon exit and felt the need to walk us part way home. - More...
Wednesday PM - June 22, 2016
The 1967 Fairbanks' Flood By John Calhoun - I was living in the Northward building at the time of the 1967 Fairbanks' flood. We were able to get power from a building across the street by a long cord hooked up to an electrical panel to provide emergency lighting in the halls and stairwells. - More...
Wednesday PM - June 22, 2016
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