Month: February 2009

Fish Board adopts proposal for Sitka Sound Sac Roe Herring

The State Board of fish has made some changes to the way the sitka sound sac roe herring fishery is managed. The guideline harvest level for the commercial harvest will be based on a rate of 12 to 20 percent, depending on the size of the biomass. That’s instead of a range of 10 to 20 percent. Also, the spawning population of herring now has to be forecast at 25,000 tons or more in order to have a commercial harvest. That’s five thousand tons higher than the old threshold.

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Eight black cod a year for guided anglers

The Board of Fisheries has established a bag limit for sport-caught black cod for the first time. Proposal 137 quickly became a point of contention during last week’s (Thu 2-27) board meeting in Sitka, and it was the last issue the Board dealt with before wrapping up the ten day meeting Thursday night.

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Airport makeover enters public arena

Planning for the expansion of Sitka’s Rocky Gutierrez Airport has entered a new phase, and the public is being encouraged to participate. The assembly heard an intitial report on Tuesday (2-24-09).

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Hames Center forces lease showdown

The future of the Hames Athletic & Wellness center will come down to an assembly vote next month. The Sitka assembly last night (Tue 2-24-09) decided to give Pacific Tower Properties until the 10th of March to present acceptable terms on a lease for the former Sheldon Jackson PE center, or close down the facility.

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Herring fishery debated before Board of Fish

Herring may be one of the most heated issues before the Alaska Board of Fisheries as meetings continue this week. Sitka Tribe of Alaska has three proposals that would limit the commercial harvest and increase subsistence thresholds for the sitka sound sac roe herring. Another proposal from the Ketchikan Herring Association seeks to close commercial herring in certain areas in Southeast.

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Murkowski brightens (a little) on stimulus bill

Senator Lisa Murkowski says she's trying to become more optimistic about the economic stimulus package. The Alaska Republican delivered a sharp rebuttal to President Obama's weekend radio address (2-14-09). But the following Wednesday, she told the Sitka Chamber of Commerce that she was trying to cheer up:

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Ben Gordon's Inauguration Journal

When most of us were twelve years old, we spent our Saturday afternoons doing what twelve-year-olds do: hanging out or doing chores. But one seventh-grader in Sitka, inspired by Barack Obama’s clinching the democratic nomination last summer, decided to use his free time to volunteer for the future president’s campaign. Ben Gordon didn’t stuff envelopes, and he was too young to drive voters to the polls. Instead, he canvassed door-to-door for Obama and other democratic candidates. His last stop was the door of the US Capitol, one month ago today (2-20-09). KCAW asked him to record some of his experiences in Washington DC: This is Ben Gordon’s Inauguration journal.

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Huge crowd gives testimony before the State Fish Board

Fisheries are a huge part of SE Alaska’s economy, and here as in other areas around the country people are more concerned than ever about their livelihood. That’s been the prevailing message this week in Sitka as more than 200 people supplied testimony to the Board of Fish, on over 160 proposals related to managing Sport, Charter, Commercial, and Subsistence fisheries.

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"Alaska's Fisheries, Fifty Years of Statehood"

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game released a new book on the history of Alaska's fisheries at this week's Board of fisheries meeting in Sitka. The book, called Sustaining Alaska's Fisheries: Fifty Years of Statehood, was written by Historian Bob King, who is now working as legislative assistant to Senator Mark Begich in Washington DC.

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Sitkan fights internet "spoof" with education

FBI statistics show that Alaskans are no more or less vulnerable to certain kinds of internet scams than Americans in more populated areas of the country. Virtual criminals make no distinction about where their victims live, whether it’s an apartment in Manhattan, or an island in Southeast Alaska. But one Sitka resident has decided that a good offense is the best defense against online identity theft. She’s decided to go public in the hope that others can take a lesson from her story.

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