Icy waterfall
South of Ketchikan 
Front Page Photo by HOLLY PAULSON

Alaska: Every life is valuable: Statewide Suicide Prevention Council releases annual report - While substantial efforts and $10 million have not reduced the suicide rate in Alaska over the last decade, the state has undergone a significant cultural shift to openly address the issue. That’s according to the fiscal year 2010 annual report from Alaska’s Statewide Suicide Prevention Council.

According to the report, between 2000 and 2009, there were 1,369 confirmed suicide deaths in Alaska, at least one suicide occurred in 176 Alaskan communities. In Ketchikan, 2.11% of all deaths between 2000 - 2008 were attributed to suicide. In Prince of Wales, outer Ketchikan, 3.77% of all deaths during this time period were attributed to suicide.

Suicide rates among Alaska Native peoples are higher than for any other ethnicity in the state, and are the highest of any ethnicity in the United States. However looking at the suicide rates according to ethnicity tells one side of the story. The actual numbers of suicides tell another. For example, in 2009, twice an many White or Caucasian Alaskans (89) committed suicide as Alaska Natives (44). Since 2001, 847 Caucasian alaskans have committed suicide and 411 Alaska Natives have committed suicide. The report says that what this tells us is that suicide is not confined to one ethnic group. Suicide is an Alaskan problem.

“The message that every life has value is being spread in communities all over our state,” said Council Chair William Martin.

Communities and organizations that were previously unwilling to acknowledge suicide are now sharing ideas with each other and incorporating national best practices.

“This improved communication is a crucial foundation for developing more effective strategies to reach the goal we’ve had for so long: fewer suicides,” said Kate Burkhart, executive director of the Council.

Report highlights:

• The Council hosted the first Suicide Prevention Summit in January 2010, addressing a longstanding disconnect between state, tribal and community prevention efforts.
• A new web portal, StopSuicideAlaska.org, further connects stakeholders statewide.
• Over the past decade, fewer, larger grants are being awarded, with more conditions.
• Suicide prevention funding has increased sharply in the last few years due to a major federal grant - More...
  Monday PM - January 10, 2011

Fish Factor: High crab prices lure pirates By LAINE WELCH - The Bering Sea snow crab fishery has been stalled so far by bad weather. Most of the catch is delivered to St. Paul, where the Trident Seafood plant was awaiting supplies to get going.  A Northland barge has been stuck in Dutch Harbor due to weather, delaying operations. 

“We’re hoping for a clearing in the weather so the barge can get up there and we can get the season underway,” said Jake Jacobson, director of the Inter-Cooperative Exchange (ICE), which represents vessels holding 70% of the Bering Sea king and snow crab catch shares.

When the fishery is underway, crabbers can plan on a nice payday. Most major buyers have agreed to an advance price almost a dollar higher than last season.

“It’s usually 90% of what our expectations are for a final price after sales. So we’re expecting an advance price of $2.12 per pound,” Jacobson said.    

So far 18 crab boats are registered for the fishery, which is a ‘typical’ season start said biologist Jeanette Alas at ADF&G in Dutch Harbor.

“A lot of boats will fish cod and when they are done they will trickle into the snow crab fishery,” Alas said.

The 2011 snow crab catch quota is just over 54 million pounds, a 13% increase from 2010.

Meanwhile, the red king crab fishery at Bristol Bay ended a few weeks ago amidst little fanfare. Dock prices did indeed set a record - crabbers were advanced $6.25/lb, compared to $4.76/lb last year.   

“It’s a very strong market due to a decrease in supplies, primarily from Russia, and a very strong exchange rate with Japan,” Jacobson explained. 

He said some sales prices are still being finalized, but “the final price we received that can be made public right now is $7.44/lb for red king crab.”

The portion of crab (13%) that is not locked in to certain processors and can be sold on the open market is fetching 37 cents over that, Jacobson said, bringing the final price to $7.81/lb.  The previous record price for red king crab was $6.27/lb set in 2002. 

Jacobson cautioned that the high crab prices are luring Russian pirates back to poaching millions of pounds of illegally caught, unreported king crab.   Bering Sea crabbers are launching an ‘ask for Alaska’ campaign so chefs, retailers and the public can be certain they are purchasing  crab that are caught legally from a well managed fishery. - More...
Monday PM - January 10, 2011

DAVE KIFFER: Bringing The World To Ketchikan - The holidays always afford me that rare pleasure, ten or fifteen minutes to read something slightly longer than a text message. Well, recently National Geographic posited that the world population will top 7 billion later this year (2011). Beyond the fact that the population has more than doubled since I was born (a mere 3 billion folks were around to celebrate my birth in 1959), I was also struck by another factoid in the magazine.

Someone at the magazine went to the trouble of “guestimating” how much space it would take to hold the entire earth’s population in one place if we were all standing together, elevator style (Otis Knows we would more than meet the maximium 2,500 pounds per car!).

Turns out that for everyone to get that 3 square feet of space, it would take something like 750 square miles to hold all 7 billion people (including you and me and George W. Bush and Osama Bin Laden).

Kinda surprising how little space is actually required for all those people. I’m gonna have to up my guestimates on the number of folks I’ve been crammed into subway cars with before.

But to bring into a context we all can understand, there would be ten times as many people as could fit – comfortably or not – on Gravina Island. Or even five times as many people that could fit on Annette Island.

But – and you knew where this was going – they would all fit (relatively) comfortably on Revillagigedo, and there would be another 300 miles to stretch their arms out a bit. Heck, if you decided to use all of the Ketchikan Gateway Borough (at 4,700 square miles, give or take). Everyone would have nearly enough space to lie down in (although not to roll over!).

Of course, that got me pondering – natch – what life would be like in the Ketchikan Gateway Borough would be like if we had 7 billion residents. - More...
Friday PM- January 07, 2011

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