Blog.HaulingGear.com Archive (8-2008 to 3-2014)

Image by Lisa Albers via Flickr PETERSBURG-AK (08/28/2009) As the salmon processing season winds down in Petersburg, visiting workers from the United States and around the world will prepare to head home. For some it’s a one-year experience. Others come back summer after summer. Some decide to settle here. Matt Lichtenstein recently ask some of the workers at the Trident Seafoods plant in Petersburg to tell their stories:............ Audio >>  http://krbd.org/modules/local_news/index.php?op=sideBlock&syndicated=true&ID=789

Image by Getty Images via Daylife Historic Victory Breaks a Half-Century Hammerlock of One-Party Rule By Blaine Harden Washington Post Foreign Service Sunday, August 30, 2009 10:59 AM TOKYO, Aug. 30 -- Breaking a half-century hammerlock of one-party rule in Japan , the opposition Democratic Party won a crushing election victory on Sunday with pledges to revive the country's stalled economy and steer a foreign-policy course less dependent on the United States. But it was pent-up voter anger, not campaign promises, that halted 54 years of near-continuous dominance by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). The party had become a profoundly unpopular, but deeply entrenched governing force which so feared that it would be swept from power that it had put off a national election for nearly three years. In a landslide on a rainy day, voters handed control of the government over to a slightly left-of-center opposition party formed by disaffected LDP veterans and led by Yukio Hatoyama, 62,

Image via Wikipedia Victoria Barber/The Arctic Sounder Published Saturday, August 29, 2009 EAGLE, Alaska - For the past 40 years or so, John Borg has stepped out of his home in Eagle at about seven in the morning to take the temperature. He's taken it in the summer heat, when it was minus 72 degrees in winter, he even took it when floods lapped his front lawn last spring. Whatever the conditions, Borg took note of the temperature. For Borg, it's a public service. "It's important to have continuity of temperature going back as we can and see what minor trends are taking place," Borg said. Borg is one of 230 volunteers throughout Alaska who take the temperature every day for the National Weather Service as part of....... http://newsminer.com/news/2009/aug/29/observers-stations-track-alaska-weather-history/

Image by Uri_Breitman via Flickr LAINE WELCH FISHERIES Published: August 29th, 2009 09:37 PM Last Modified: August 29th, 2009 09:37 PM ............."The reason we're tackling this whole thing is due to a lack of scientific information," Rice said. "It would be nice to verify what we're hearing from commercial fishermen -- they'll go into a bay and see evidence of otter predation all along the shore, and at the same time, they're not catching any crab in their pots." Hoyt added that they want to try to estimate the take of four commercially important species by sea otters -- Dungeness crab, geoduck clams, urchins and sea cucumbers. How fishermen and otters might co-exist remains a big question. Complicating the problem: the federal government lists sea otters as a protected species that cannot be harassed in any way................. http://www.adn.com/money/welch/story/915965.html

Imported components to be taxed at same rate By ASSOCIATED PRESS | Saturday, August 29, 2009 Effective Tuesday, all imported auto parts will be taxed at the same rate regardless of the percentage of foreign-made parts used to make a vehicle, according to a notice posted on the Web site of the National Development and Reform Commission........ http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/aug/29/china-revises-tariffs-on-auto-parts/

By Margaret Bauman Alaska Journal of Commerce  The Northern Fiber Optic Link would extend the 600-mile Kodiak Kenai Fiber Link system from Kodiak Island to the Aleutian Islands and Western Alaska, with landing points in King Cove, Unalaska/Dutch Harbor, Naknek/King Salmon, Dillingham, Bethel, Nome, Kotzebue, Barrow and Prudhoe Bay/Deadhorse........... http://www.alaskajournal.com/stories/082809/loc_4_001.shtml

Image via Wikipedia Friday, August 28, 2009 Story last updated at 8/28/2009 - 10:46 am New company a creation of Copper River Seafoods and Bristol Bay Economic Development Corp. By Mike Mason | The Bristol Bay Times BRISTOL BAY - A major high-end salmon processor has partnered with a small Bristol Bay community to create the newest company to join the wide array of fish processors that do business in Bristol Bay. Copper River Seafoods has put up $2 million and the Bristol Bay Economic Development Corp. has matched that $2 million to create a new company called Togiak Seafoods. BBEDC's share of the money was given to the Traditional Council of Togiak, which is one of its members. That makes the new company a 50-50 partnership between the council and Copper River Seafoods. The ultimate goal is to refurbish an existing building in the city of Togiak for use as a processing plant, but the facility was not ready this season. That's not stopping the new company fr

08/27/2009 PRNewswire -- RESTON, Va., Aug. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Mobile communications provider TerreStar Networks Inc. (TerreStar), a majority-owned subsidiary of TerreStar Corporation (Nasdaq: TSTR), announced today the successful completion of in-orbit testing (IOT) for TerreStar- 1, the world's largest, most advanced commercial communications satellite. "TerreStar-1 has met or exceeded all of its performance metrics," said Dennis Matheson, Chief Technology Officer for TerreStar. "Our partner, Space Systems/Loral has delivered a highly reliable spacecraft and we feel confident that we are on track to deliver resilient satellite - terrestrial mobile communications service to customers that need anytime, anywhere coverage." A significant factor in TerreStar's IOT success was validating that TerreStar-1's 18 meter 2GHz S Band reflector was performing as designed. It is this very large reflector that enables voice, data and video

Image via Wikipedia WRANGELL, ALASKA (2009-08-25) As Trident wraps up their first season in Wrangell , plans to transport their fish have shifted. Instead of its original plan of filling containers and barging them, Trident has now decided to employ the use of a 430-foot tramper that has recently been seen docked in front of their plant. This change has made the city-owned community cold storage more vital to Trident's operation. KSTK 's Lisa Phu reports. Audio >> http://krbd.org/modules/local_news/index.php?op=sideBlock&syndicated=true&ID=786

 By MARY PEMBERTON Associated Press Writer Published: August 26th, 2009 12:10 PM Last Modified: August 26th, 2009 12:11 PM Trout Unlimited is leading a coalition opposed to mining on federal land in the Bristol Bay watershed, home to the world's most productive salmon streams. The nearby Pebble Mine prospect is on state land... http://www.adn.com/news/environment/story/911977.html

August 25th, 2009   Posted by Dana Gardner @ 12:47 pm   Listen to the podcast . Find it on iTunes/iPod and Podcast.com . View a full transcript or download the transcript. T his week brought an excellent example of how cloud-based services can meet business goals better than traditional IT and process management approaches . In conjunction with GS1 Canada , HP announced a product recall process Monday that straddles many participants across global supply chains . The pressures in such multi-player process ecologies can mount past the breaking point for such change management nightmares as rapid food or product recalls . You may remember recent food recalls that hurt customers, sellers, suppliers and manufacturers — potentially irreparably. There have been similar issues with products or public health outbreaks. The only way to protect users is to identify the risks, warn the communities and public, and remove the hazards. It demands a tremendous amount of coordination and adjus

Kodiak... The 42-foot Hail Mary ran aground on the shore of the nation's largest Coast Guard base in Kodiak.... http://www.adn.com/2838/story/910992.html

Image via Wikipedia Aug 25 10:33 AM US/Eastern   In response to a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed by Whole Foods’ Chief Executive Officer John Mackey, activists, consumers and labor groups around the country have been organizing in opposition to his efforts to undermine meaningful health care reform............ http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=bw-20010714:20090825005791:1&show_article=1

Image via Wikipedia Randy Boswell, Canwest News Service  Published: Monday, August 24, 2009 Canadian officials are quietly exploring a possible moratorium on large-scale commercial fishing in the Beaufort Sea, a move that would match a decision announced last week by the U.S. government, Canwest News Service has learned. The temporary U.S. ban imposed on Thursday by Commerce Secretary Gary Locke followed months of speculation about the possible opening of new fisheries north of Alaska, where warming waters and melting sea ice are expected to encourage northward migrations or population spikes of some commercially valuable species of fish, shellfish and marine mammals. But lingering......... http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=1925427  

Written by Rebecca Luczycki September, 2009 Twenty years after the Exxon Valdez oil spill, the recovery of Prince William Sound is still the subject of debate. Prince William Sound is hiding a 20-year-old secret. Turn over a rock on a beach on northern Knight Island and you’ll see it. Count the migratory shorebirds, sea otters or orcas in the western sound and you’ll see its effects. Decades after the Exxon Valdez ran aground on Bligh Reef in the Valdez Narrows, oil is still present in Prince William Sound. Last spring marked the 20th anniversary of the spill, which happened just after midnight on March 24, 1989. Most people visiting the sound today would be hard-pressed to find any evidence of the oil spilled that night. The water is clear, and birds, fish and mammals appear plentiful and thriving. Even those people involved in monitoring the oil and its ecological effects agree that the sound appears, for the most part, healthy. “If you go out into the area today, you’ll see wha

  Monday, August 24, 2009 Image via Wikipedia Story last updated at 8/24/2009 - 10:22 am   Troopers allege Kookesh exceeded subsistence catch limit; trial set for Oct. 5 JUNEAU EMPIRE Sen. Albert Kookesh, D-Angoon, will fight a subsistence fishing violation citation in court. At an Aug. 12 hearing in Angoon, Kookesh with three other men pleaded not guilty to one count of exceeding the subsistence salmon limit, a non-criminal offense. A trial has been set for Oct. 5.... http://juneauempire.com/stories/082409/loc_485454269.shtml

Image via Wikipedia By Jeff Richardson Published Monday, August 24, 2009 FAIRBANKS — A University of Alaska Fairbanks researcher has confirmed what scientists have suspected for years — the state’s seas are becoming acidic at a faster rate than more temperate waters. The growing level of acidity could be a big problem for Alaska sea life, since shellfish — and the animals that eat them — might be damaged by the changing environment. “Ocean acidification is............ http://newsminer.com/news/2009/aug/24/Ocean-acidity-will-effect-Alaska-fisheries/

Image via Wikipedia By Andrew Breitbart | Monday, August 24, 2009 ANALYSIS/OPINION: John Mackey - the founder, CEO and marketing genius behind Whole Foods - finds himself in an organic, unsustainable mess with his carefully cultivated affluent, liberal customer base after penning an Op-Ed in the Wall Street Journal titled, "The Whole Foods Alternative to ObamaCare." For starters, Mr. Mackey opens with a line from known-liberal-allergen Margaret Thatcher that features the dreaded "S" word: "The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money." Then he goes on to provide eight sensible free-market solutions gleaned from his company's well-regarded employee health care program. Mr. Mackey, a free-market libertarian, is now at the mercy of an unforgiving grass-roots mob intent on destroying his company. More than 25,000 people have signed on to .............. ................Mrs. Pelosi and the Whole Foods b

Image via Wikipedia Friday, August 21, 2009 Since last December, lawyers for plaintiffs in the Exxon Valdez oil spill case have been gradually distributing $383 million collected thus far as punitive damages. Now they're preparing to........ http://deckboss.blogspot.com/2009/08/huge-round-of-exxon-valdez-payments.html

(Source: Richmond Times-Dispatch) By Richmond Times-Dispatch, Va. Image via Wikipedia Aug. 10--Wal-Mart, the company progressives love to hate the most, is trying to woo its critics. It has announced the creation of a Sustainable Products Index, the goal of which will be to give consumers a clear sense of how environmentally friendly a given item is. Wal-Mart will ask all of its 100,000-plus suppliers around the globe to answer a series of questions. Has the supplier measured its greenhouse gas emissions and reported them to the Carbon Disclosure Project? How............. http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewiStockNews/articleid/3403589

Image via Wikipedia Sunday, August 23, 2009 Story last updated at 8/23/2009 - 2:27 am By Pat Forgey | JUNEAU EMPIRE Pelican is a fishing town without a fish processor, and that means it is a town facing an uncertain future. Two operators of the Pelican Seafoods plant have failed to make a go of it in recent years. The plant, the biggest business enterprise in Pelican, is now closed with owner Ed Bahrt & Associates LLC apparently resigned to losing it through foreclosure. Once and future owner Kake Tribal Corp. says it expects to reacquire the plant through a foreclosure Sept. 15. It is no longer interested in trying to operate a seafood plant far from its Kake village roots. "We're going to have it up for sale again after the foreclosure," said Steve Malin, CEO of Kake Tribal. Kake bought the plant hoping to...... http://juneauempire.com/stories/082309/loc_485070908.shtml

Image via Wikipedia Article published on Friday, August 21st, 2009 STAFF REPORT   NOME — The U.S. Coast Guard, in cooperation with several scientific agencies and the International Ice Patrol, deployed an ocean-drifting buoy in the Arctic Ocean north of the Bering Sea for the very first time Wednesday. Ocean-drifting buoys have been used for research and data collection in the North Atlantic for years. The buoy was deployed from the back of a Coast Guard C-130 Hercules airplane from Air Station Kodiak with the help of personnel from the Coast Guard International Ice Patrol headquartered in New London, Conn. The effort coincides with the Coast Guard’s month-long operations on the North Slope and .......... http://www.kodiakdailymirror.com/?pid=19&id=7888 The buoy’s locations and data can be seen at the Drifter Buoy Center or the WMO-IOC Buoy Server .

Image by stevesheriw via Flickr OCEANS RESEARCH: Arctic seen as critical to new national plan. By ELIZABETH BLUEMINK ebluemink@adn.com Published: August 21st, 2009 10:38 PM Last Modified: August 21st, 2009 11:27 PM Four Obama administration officials who visited Alaska this week to work on a plan to better manage the nation's oceans ended up with an earful on seemingly every vexing topic involving the state's natural environment. At a packed meeting Friday in Anchorage, they sat listening to about 60 Alaskans tick down a list of major issues facing coastal communities. From offshore oil and gas drilling to this year's troubled salmon runs. From global warming to the increased ship traffic it already is bringing to the remote Arctic. From pollock trawlers unintentionally catching salmon to the controversial dividing of the crab catch among fishermen and processors. The Obama officials arrived earlier this week and made a beeline for one of the biggest sources of controve

Image via Wikipedia Anchorage Daily News / adn.com Published: August 18th, 2009 09:21 PM Last Modified: August 18th, 2009 11:36 PM PALMER -- A strong return of silver salmon to northern Cook Inlet has prompted biologists with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to boost the bag and ...... http://www.adn.com/outdoors/fishing/story/903186.html

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/21/duracell-announces-mygrid-wireless-charger-wildcharge-feels-a-l/

Image via Wikipedia By MARY PEMBERTON The Associated Press Published: August 20th, 2009 05:23 PM Last Modified: August 20th, 2009 05:24 PM ANCHORAGE - The nation's secretary of commerce has approved a plan that would prohibit an expansion of commercial fishing in the Arctic, at least until more is known about the area. Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke on Thursday approved the Arctic Fishery Management Plan, which was prompted by changes in the Arctic that have come with global warming and the loss of sea ice. Locke said the goal now is to come up with a sustainable fishing plan that will not harm the............. http://www.adn.com/money/industries/fishing/story/905861.html

SONAR: More fish got up river than thought, but situation still bleak. By KYLE HOPKINS khopkins@adn.com Published: August 19th, 2009 10:06 PM Last Modified: August 19th, 2009 10:52 PM The bad news first: Recent bans on king salmon fishing on the Yukon River have regional leaders predicting this winter will be even tougher than last, when some villagers reported they couldn't afford to buy both food and heating fuel. Plus, it turns out a sonar station used to count salmon -- a key source of cash and food along the river -- wasn't working correctly. More fish were making it upriver than estimated, meaning some of the restrictions may not have been necessary............ http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/interior/story/904674.html "We took............

Image by Getty Images via Daylife U.S. urged to lift restrictions By Valerie Richardson ( Contact ) Originally published 04:45 a.m., August 20, 2009, updated 07:27 a.m., August 20, 2009  Supporters of California agriculture called on the Obama administration and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday to lift water restrictions that were imposed to protect the endangered delta smelt, saying the fish is putting farmers out of business. The Pacific Legal Foundation presented a "Save Our Water" petition with 12,000 signatures at a Sacramento news conference, calling on Mr. Schwarzenegger, a Republican, to request that the Obama administration convene the federal Endangered Species Committee, also known as the "God Squad," to remove the water curbs. "California should be........... http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/aug/20/its-farmers-vs-fish-for-california-water/?source=newsletter_must-read-stories-today_headlines

By Tim Conneally | Published August 19, 2009, 12:48 PM As we saw earlier in the summer, Hybrid Satellite/Cell phones are almost here, and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is playing a major role in their advancement........... On the ground, the devices will work in the 700 MHz band, the chunk of wireless spectrum formerly occupied by analog UHF television signals which was freed for use in June following the DTV transition. When that signal is unavailable, the phones will switch to satellite mode............. http://www.betanews.com/article/Two-dualmode-satellitecell-phones-in-the-pipeline-for-SkyTerra/1250700533

By Jayashree Adkoli TMCnet Contributor August 19, 2009  With the recent successful completion of an end-to-end VoIP call over TerreStar ( News - Alert )-1 satellite, TerreStar Networks has now announced that it again selected BroadSoft ’s BroadWorks VoIP a-application offering to power its new mobile broadband network service, which is expected to launch later this year..... The TerreStar satellite Smartphone offers coverage throughout the Continental United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Hawaii and Alaska..... http://voip-phone-systems.tmcnet.com/topics/voip-phone-systems/articles/62436-terrestar-picks-broadsoft-power-new-mobile-broadband-network.htm

Joshua Saul alaskadispatch.com Nome -- The U.S. Coast Guard has a long history in this town and the surrounding villages dotting the Seward Peninsula, dating back to the late 1800s when the Cutter Bear patrolled this region, helping introduce Siberian reindeer to Alaskan Natives and rescuing stranded whalers who'd come north seeking their fortunes. Now a new mission is emerging for the Coast Guard, one that stretches thousands of miles, from Nome to Barrow and beyond. On Monday, the Coast Guard flew a C-130 packed with reporters to Nome as part of what's become an annual effort to explain how it's dealing with Alaska's melting Arctic. The junket comes this week as high-level U.S. officials visit the region to learn more about the Arctic and the changes taking place. A Coast Guard C-130 in Nome. "We have open water where we didn't use to have it," Adm. Thad Allen, commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, told reporters. "The real question is what kind of c

Image via Wikipedia August 18th, 2009 Posted by Larry Dignan @ 6:53 am IBM on Tuesday launched software that navigates data from sensors and triggers automated business responses. The software, dubbed WebSphere Sensor Events, aggregates data from sensors that monitor air quality, traffic, water flow, energy usage and other items via RFID tags...... ............to track shipping containers, track data center energy use and monitor food safety. http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=22840

Image via Wikipedia The Associated Press Published: August 17th, 2009 09:04 PM Last Modified: August 17th, 2009 09:44 PM BELUGA -- Salmon streams near a proposed coal mine on the west side of Cook Inlet would never fully recover from damage if the mine was.......... http://www.adn.com/money/industries/mining/story/901797.html

Image by Getty Images via Daylife ANOTHER BLOW: Eagle villagers need a break after devastating spring floods. The Associated Press Published: August 16th, 2009 10:38 PM Last Modified: August 17th, 2009 07:45 AM FAIRBANKS — The Yukon River fall chum salmon run has been below expectations, worrying subsistence fishermen who hoped they could catch chums to replace kings. As of Friday, only 150,000 fish had passed a sonar counter at Pilot Station, about 120 miles upstream from the mouth of the Yukon, the fewest fish recorded for that date since sonar counting began in 1995. In a normal year, more than........... http://www.adn.com/front/story/900670.html

By Lee Carter BBC News, Toronto A number of countries have competing claims for the Arctic Canada is launching a series of military exercises in the Arctic far-north region of the country. The so-called sovereignty operation is designed to show a visible presence in the resource-rich area, amid competing claims among other nations. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is expected to join in some of the exercises later in the week....... http://212.58.226.75./2/hi/americas/8204531.stm

Aug 16, 3:00 AM EDT By KIM ANDREE Juneau Empire JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) -- The local nonprofit corporation Storis Museum is working to bring a historic Coast Guard cutter back to Juneau to be used as a maritime museum by next year. "I think returning the Storis to Juneau would be a great addition to our waterfront," Mayor Bruce Botelho said of Senate Bill 1194, the Coast Guard Authorization Bill that would authorize the Coast Guard to turn the ship over to the Storis Museum, and bring it home from the U.S. Navy's "Mothball Fleet" in Suisun Bay, near San Francisco. "The ability to interpret a portion of Juneau's maritime history - the historic and continuing roll of the Coast Guard - is critically important to the............ http://www.kodiakdailymirror.com/?pid=18&path=A/AK_MARITIME_MUSEUM

Image by Getty Images via Daylife LAINE WELCH FISHERIES Published: August 15th, 2009 07:12 PM Last Modified: August 15th, 2009 07:12 PM KODIAK -- A project that aims to collect labor data on Alaska's deckhands will be on the agenda when state lawmakers convene in January.  An estimated 20,000 deckhands work on Alaska fishing boats, but as self-employed workers, they don't provide typical wage and employment data to the state. That's left a whole work force largely unaccounted for in terms of its economic input and importance. "The people who work as crew members on fishing boats are one of the only groups of laborers in Alaska that are not counted in some way by the state. It's high time this important sector of the industry gets credit for what they do," said Jan Conitz, director of the labor data project for the state Department of Fish and Game. "All we know is that someone buys a........... http://www.adn.com/money/welch/story/899889.html

SITKA, ALASKA (08/14/2009) State senator Albert Kookesh and three others have pleaded not guilty to a subsistence fishing violation, and will contest the charges. Kookesh appeared in district court in his home town of Angoon on Wednesday (8-12-09) to enter his plea. Audio >>> http://krbd.org/modules/local_news/index.php?op=sideBlock&syndicated=true&ID=767

Published: August 14th, 2009 04:28 PM Last Modified: August 14th, 2009 05:00 PM The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is allowing the Kensington Mine to move forward.... http://www.adn.com/money/industries/mining/story/898905.html

Image by alaskana via Flickr Friday, August 14, 2009 Story last updated at 8/14/2009 - 10:37 am By Pat Forgey | JUNEAU EMPIRE The Marine Transportation Advisory Board will seek millions in additional dollars for its vessel replacement fund, while Alaska Marine Highway System officials are increasingly being confronted with problems of broken down boats disrupting schedules. The fleet is predominately older vessels, some more than 40 years old facing increasing maintenance costs, but it is often its newest ships that are crippled with mechanical flaws, ferry managers said. The Fast Vehicle Ferry Fairweather has been plagued by engine breakdowns recently, and some ferry officials are expressing doubts about whether the technologically advanced but delicate fast ferries can be used in the future. "They're like trying to keep........... http://juneauempire.com/stories/081409/loc_481687437.shtml

Branding Experts Say CEOs Should Stay Quiet When It Comes to Politics By EMILY FRIEDMAN Aug. 14, 2009    Joshua has been taking the bus to his local Whole Foods in New York City every five days for the past two years. This week, he said he'll go elsewhere to fulfill his fresh vegetable and organic produce needs. Customers are threatening to boycott Whole Foods stores after the company's CEO, John Mackey, wrote an op-ed discussing his ideas for health care reform. (Getty Images) More Photos "I will never shop there again," vowed Joshua, a 45-year-old blogger, who asked that his last name not be published. Like many of his fellow health food fanatics , Joshua said he will no longer patronize the store after learning about Whole Foods Market Inc.'s CEO John Mackey's views on health care reform, which were made public this week in an op-ed piece he wrote for The Wall Street Journal. Michael Lent, another Whole Foods enthusiast in Long Beach, Cal

Image via Wikipedia The mysterious collapse of the B.C. sockeye run has dashed hopes raised just weeks ago of a good return this year MARK HUME VANCOUVER — From Thursday's Globe and Mail Last updated on Thursday, Aug. 13, 2009 10:10AM EDT T he Fraser River is experiencing one of the biggest salmon disasters in recent history with more than nine million sockeye vanishing. Aboriginal fish racks are empty, commercial boats worth millions of dollars are tied to the docks and sport anglers are being told to release any sockeye they catch while fishing for still healthy runs of chinook. Between 10.6 million and 13 million sockeye were expected to return to the Fraser this summer. But the official count is now just 1.7 million, according to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. Where the nine to 11 million missing fish went remains a mystery. "It's beyond a crisis with these latest numbers," said Ernie Crey, fisheries adviser to the Sto:lo tribes on the Fraser. "W

Image via Wikipedia Web posted Friday, August 7, 2009 By Margaret Bauman Alaska Journal of Commerce EGEGIK - On the moonlit waters of Bristol Bay, lush with millions of wild Alaska salmon, fishermen silhouetted against the sky began pulling in their nets, laden with a harvest of thousands of shimmering sockeyes. It was nearly midnight on July 4, and all over the vast Egegik district on the east side of Bristol Bay, the world's largest sockeye salmon run was homeward bound. Just being there, in the words of drift gillnet fisherman David Harsilla, a veteran of 30 years in the Bristol Bay sockeye fishery, "is an awesome experience. The sun is out day and night, and it never stops. You feel tired and you want to sleep, but you keep going. It's a short duration, high intensity, and it doesn't go on forever." For thousands of years in Southwest Alaska this cycle has repeated itself, with wave after wave of sockeye salmon swimming instinctively toward natal st

Image via Wikipedia WRANGELL (08/12/2009) The City of Angoon will be first in line to have their application for a preliminary permit to study and develop hydro power at Ruth Lake reviewed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The decision to give first priority to Angoon over Wrangell and Petersburg came down to a random drawing after the communities electronically filed their applications at the same time. Petersburg will be second, followed by Wrangell. According to FERC, the situation was unprecedented. KSTK's Tony Gorman has more on Wrangell's reactions to the results...Audio >>> http://krbd.org/modules/local_news/index.php?op=sideBlock&syndicated=true&ID=763

Image by lakerae via Flickr Ambitious Bid to Turn Algae Into Biofuel Taps Mother Nature AUGUST 12, 2009 By RUSSELL GOLD Every spring, fertilizer runoff from the U.S. Mississippi River floods into the Gulf of Mexico, causing a massive algae bloom that leads to a giant oxygen-deprived "dead zone" where fish can't survive. Now, this annual problem is getting new attention, not from marine scientists but from entrepreneurs looking for a new domestic source of fuel. And one start-up sees fish themselves being part of the process. The algae blooms are spawned each year as the farmland runoff from as far away as Montana flows into rivers, eventually reaching the Mississippi and flowing into Louisiana bayous and out into the Gulf of Mexico. These nutrients are a buffet for the......... http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125003834803724511.html

SITKA, ALASKA (08/10/2009) The Alaska Department of Fish and Game predicted 40 million pink salmon would show up in South East Alaskan seines, gillnets and even on troll gear this summer. With the extended dry spell in June and July, ADF&G biologists and commercial fishers alike have been concerned about the pink stocks, hoping that weekly escapements and forecasts will stay on target. With rain showers finally relieving some of those concerns, KCAW’s Chris Todd reports that the forecast remains basically intact. Audio >>> http://krbd.org/modules/local_news/index.php?op=sideBlock&syndicated=true&ID=760

Image via Wikipedia By Kimberly Kindy Washington Post Staff Writer Saturday, August 8, 2009  The U.S. Agriculture Department has ordered an audit of its National Organic Program, saying that external scrutiny is needed to improve the integrity, transparency and reliability of the seven-year-old food program. The audit will look at whether the program is using strict, internationally recognized standards for accrediting and overseeing its network of nearly 100 private certifiers, which have been granted authority to determine whether foods meet federal organic standards. The review is scheduled to begin in October and will be performed by the............ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/07/AR2009080703650_pf.html

WRANGELL, ALASKA (08/05/2009) After a few months of uncertainty, Wrangell officially became the newest home for Trident Seafoods in mid-April, bringing Trident's total number of plants in the state to 13. Trident took over the fish processing plant formerly owned by Wrangell Seafoods, Inc. Since then, Trident's been busy making upgrades to the plant and, as of the end of July, processing fish. KSTK's Lisa Phu spoke with the new plant manager of Trident in Wrangell, and files this report. Audio >> http://krbd.org/modules/local_news/index.php?op=sideBlock&syndicated=true&ID=758

Monday, August 03, 2009 Story last updated at 8/3/2009 - 9:58 am Gregg, owner of the F/V Sunrise and a fisherman since 1964, said. "Just like everything else we can feel the economic crunch in fishing... Maybe just like the big auto companies we could use a clunker program."...... http://juneauempire.com/stories/080309/loc_474154042.shtml

Defense bill would let Army sell old village site to tribal members Monday, August 03, 2009 Story last updated at 8/3/2009 - 9:59 am By Kate Golden | JUNEAU EMPIRE The Chilkoot Indian Association had to go to the Pentagon to pitch its case, but it may yet get its old village site back from the U.S. Army. The tribe hopes to develop the Haines-area site into a deep-water port for shipping ore from future Yukon mines. "The tribe feels that the recovery of this land and the development of a deep-sea port is the No. 1 economic driver for our community, and the way for us to truly get a path to self- determination," said Greg Stuckey, tribal administrator of the CIA. "This is our casino." The tribe has been trying to............ http://juneauempire.com/stories/080309/loc_474154676.shtml

Monday, August 03, 2009 Story last updated at 8/3/2009 - 9:59 am A pilot project to introduce canned herring into international food aid programs could provide critical protein to hungry people, as well as open markets to generate a much-needed boost to coastal Alaska communities, according to fisherman who developed the program............. http://juneauempire.com/stories/080309/sta_474154501.shtml

Aug 2, 4:17 PM EDT By MARY PEMBERTON Associated Press Writer ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- Yukon River smokehouses should be filled this summer with oil-rich strips of king salmon - long used by Alaska Natives as a high-energy food to get through the long Alaska winters. But they're mostly empty. The kings failed to show up, and not just in the Yukon. One Alaska river after another has been closed to king fishing this summer because significant numbers of fish failed to return to spawn. The dismally weak return follows weak runs last summer and poor runs in 2007, which also resulted in................... http://www.kodiakdailymirror.com/?pid=18&path=U/US_VANISHING_KING_SALMON

The Associated Press Published: August 1st, 2009 10:36 PM Last Modified: August 1st, 2009 10:37 PM The state Department of Natural Resources has been awarded a $700,000 federal grant to test for environmental contaminants in Alaska fish............... http://www.adn.com/news/environment/story/884947.html

LAINE WELCH FISHERIES Published: August 1st, 2009 08:32 PM Last Modified: August 1st, 2009 08:32 PM Kodiak is now home to one of the biggest boat lifts in the world -- and with it comes the promise of plenty of new jobs. The 600-ton, 54-foot-high hoist, built by Marine Travelift of Wisconsin, is one of just five in the U.S. and the only one in Alaska. It was shipped in 24 containers to Kodiak in June and assembled on the island. Since then workers have been building the site for the boat lift adjacent to Kodiak's larger harbor and preparing for the first test lifts next month. Kodiak hosts the state's largest and most diverse fishing fleet with roughly 700 boats, but big trawlers and crab boats have had to travel to Seward, Seattle or farther for repairs and maintenance. "Right now we can only lift boats up to 150 tons, and that's a stout 75-80-footer," said Kodiak harbormaster Marty Owen, who has been advocating for the new lift for 15 years. "We have lots o

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By TOM MILLER Ketchikan Daily News Staff Writer Concerns of commercial purse seiners regarding The Nature Conservancy's Harris River Restoration Project were somewhat allayed this week, or at least put on hold until more is known, following a discussion between agencies involved in the work. An aerial view shows stream enhancement work being done Wednesday in the Harris River on Prince of Wales Island by S&S General Contractors for The Nature Conservancy and U.S. Forest Service. Photo by Luke LeBeau The U.S. Forest Service and the conservation group are partners in the project to enhance fish habitat by re-establishing logjams and pools in the major salmon-producing stream on Prince of Wales Island's east side. Rob Bosworth, a spokesman for The Nature Conservancy, said the group has provided $274,000 for work being done this year by Sitka-based S & S General Contractors. The Nature Conservancy's Web site at www.nature.org states that worke

Image by laullon via Flickr Article published on Friday, July 31st, 2009 DAILY MIRROR STAFF To better serve the boating community, Coast Guard Sector Anchorage is scheduled to move its radio monitoring operations from Kodiak to the Sector Command Center in Anchorage today. The move is the first step in a process that will bring all marine communications under one location................ http://www.kodiakdailymirror.com/?pid=19&id=7825

July 29, 2009...9:59 amPatrice Kohl Redoubt Reporter While many Americans mark spring by dyeing chicken eggs, Bill Glick marks spring by dyeing sockeye salmon smolt. Each spring, Glick, an Alaska Department of Fish and Game fish biologist, captures a few thousand Kenai River sockeye smolt, dyes them gold and releases them back into the river. Kenai River smolt dyeing began in 2005 as part of a Fish and Game mark and recapture project to estimate out-migrating smolt abundance. In the future, however, the spring parade of gold smolt swimming down the Kenai River could come to an end if, as Fish and Game biologists hope, a genetic-based method of estimating smolt abundance can be used to replace the dye-based method. A genetic-based method would............ http://redoubtreporter.wordpress.com/2009/07/29/dyeing-to-count-%E2%80%94-fish-and-game-tests-new-way-to-estimate-smolt-numbers/