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Ketchikan: A "New" Museum for Ketchikan - Built to commemorate the centennial of the 1867 purchase of Alaska, Ketchikan's Centennial Building has been home to the Tongass Historical Museum for almost 50 years. With last week's approval to move forward on the renovation of the main floor of the Museum, the Ketchikan City Council invested in another 50 years dedicated to sharing Ketchikan's unique history and heritage.

Ketchikan's Centennial Building
Photo courtesy City of Ketchikan

The Centennial Building has housed and safeguarded Ketchikan’s treasured history in the form of artifacts, photographs, archives, and other important historical items. $1,256,950 in funding allows the renovation of the main floor of the Museum to move forward that will also showcase Ketchikan’s vibrant history through exhibits and public programs, and will provide Ketchikan and her visitors with accessible restrooms and an updated, welcoming facility. The funds, a combination of Public Works Sales Tax funds and Commercial Passenger Vessel funds from both the City and the Ketchikan Borough, open the doors to a bright new era for the Ketchikan Museums. - More...
Monday PM - August 08, 2016

Alaska: New USF&W Service Rule Opposed; Preempts State's Wildlife Management Ability - U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) on Friday condemned the recent rule from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) that would fundamentally alter wildlife management on Alaska’s 77 million acres of national wildlife refuge land.

Sullivan says this rule targets the State of Alaska’s proven, science-based wildlife management strategies that have been subject to rigorous public review and participation. Instead, the Fish and Wildlife Service rule preempts the State’s management authority, a principle that was enshrined in the Alaska Statehood Act, and further protected in the National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act and the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA).

“The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s rule severely restricts the State of Alaska’s efforts to sustainably manage wildlife and minimizes the participation of Alaskans in future decisions affecting the use of its refuges,” said Senator Sullivan. “Even more alarming, the FWS ignores the intent of federal law and promises made to Alaska at statehood. Plain and simple—this rule reflects a callous attitude toward Alaska’s culture and conservation ethic and threatens the careful balance currently employed to sustainably manage wildlife populations to protect subsistence and recreational opportunities.”

U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) also slammed the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) for finalizing this new rule.

“The Fish and Wildlife Service has once again decided that it knows what is best for us, and is trampling Alaska’s long-standing right to manage wildlife in refuges,” Murkowski said. “What we know, from experience, is that this will not end well for anything but predator populations. I find it shocking that this administration’s policies are pointing to a future where we can fill our freezers with genetically engineered salmon, but not the moose and other game we have traditionally harvested in a sustainable manner from our refuges.”

Among other fatal flaws listed by Murkowski, the FWS rule fails to recognize that the State of Alaska, not the federal government, has clear primacy over wildlife management under legal authority provided by the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, the Refuge Improvement Act, and the Alaska Constitution. The implications of the FWS rule are also far-reaching, as Alaska has 76.8 million acres of refuges, and it will likely serve as a model for similar takeovers in the Lower 48.

The State of Alaska is also strongly opposed to new regulations by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that the state says erodes fish and wildlife management authority on Alaska's national wildlife refuges. Scheduled for publication on Friday, August 5, the new regulations will override the state's sovereign authority to manage fish and resident wildlife in Alaska's 16 national wildlife refuges.

"This is continued erosion of the state's authority to manage fish and wildlife for the benefit of Alaskans," said Bruce Dale, Director of the Division of Wildlife Conservation. "We are proud of our science-based, constitutionally mandated programs to sustainably manage habitats, predators, and prey to feed Alaskans".

"Although the Service itself conducts predator control on refuges, it just does not approve of state efforts to increase the number of ungulates available for food in Alaska," said Dale. "Moose, caribou, deer are important sources of natural food and food security for many Alaskans and cornerstones of the subsistence way of life."

The new regulations require that fish and wildlife be managed for natural fluctuations, superseding the state's ability to manage stable wildlife populations for subsistence and other consumptive uses under the sustained yield concept. Dale said the regulations, which affect national wildlife refuge landholdings of nearly 77 million acres statewide, will have significant impacts on Alaskans, especially those who rely on wildlife for food.

According to the Alaska Department of Fish & Game, the regulations also contradict the State of Alaska's role under agreements made in the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act to manage fish and wildlife on all lands in Alaska. The regulations also limit public input for discretionary closures of activities on refuges and create a confusing third tier of regulations for resource users. - More...
Monday PM - August 08, 2016

Fish Factor: Sockeye salmon catch tops 50 million By LAINE WELCH - Two big fish stories have been spawned so far by the 2016 Alaska salmon season: 1) sockeyes save the day; and 2) colossal pinks.

A larger than expected sockeye salmon catch that has topped 50 million will salvage a summer that has seen lackluster catches of other salmon species, notably, those hard to predict pinks.

“I think if you’re a Bristol Bay fisherman, you’re probably pretty happy, and if you fished anywhere else in the state, it probably hasn’t been a great season for you,” said Forrest Bowers, deputy director of commercial fisheries at the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

The Alaska salmon catch so far of 88 million fish is little more than half way to the preseason forecast of 161 million salmon, down 40 percent from the 2015 harvest.

Pink salmon, the “bread and butter” fish for the fleet, were projected to come up short this year, and so they have in the big three producing areas: Southeast, Prince William Sound and Kodiak.

“We really haven’t been any bright spots in terms of pink salmon across the state,” Bowers said.

The Panhandle fleet has taken less than 10 million pink salmon so far on a forecast of 34 million.

“Right now it doesn’t seem likely that we’ll hit that number,” he said “We would’ve expected to see more catch at this point. We still have half the run to come in, so it should be well over 20 million.”

The story’s the same at Prince William Sound where pink catches were at nine million on a forecast of 32 million.

“We are below average in terms of run timing so it’s unlikely we’ll hit the forecast there,” Bowers said.

Kodiak’s pink salmon fishery is being called the slowest since the 1970s, with only 1.5 million humpies taken so far.

“The catch and the escapement is currently running at about a quarter the strength it should be at this time of the season,” said James Jackson, regional manager at Kodiak.

What’s running big is the size of the fish, which usually weigh about four pounds on average.

“I’ve had a 14 pound pink on my scale,” said Tyler O’Brien, a Kodiak salmon tender operator. “And lots of 10 pounders.”

Jackson concurred that a parade of porky pinks has come through his office.

“The larger size is an indication of no competition for food out in the ocean, and that usually means you have a weak run. It’s not always true, but yeah, big pinks,” he said.

(The world record pink salmon weighed 14.49 pounds and was caught in 2001 in the Skykomish River, WA, according to landbigfish.com.)

So far the total Alaska pink salmon catch is at 25 million; the forecast called for 90 million. Perhaps the puny catch will help push up disappointing prices for pinks, which were in the 20 cent range at the Alaska docks.

The opposite is true for Alaska’s sockeye salmon fishery which has yielded larger than expected catches already topping 51 million fish. The bulk of the “big money” fish, of course, came from Bristol Bay where a catch of 38 million was far larger than expected.

“Historically, the 2016 season will probably be the largest sockeye harvest at Bristol Bay since 1995,” Bowers said. - More...
Monday PM - August 08, 2016