By Roger Maynard, on May 14th, 2012 HAINES–The Haines Planning Commission will host two town meetings to invite public comment on the draft Comprehensive Plan this week. The comprehensive plan is the “roadmap” for future borough decisions and is valid through 2025, and your public comment on this document is important in the implementation process.
The first meeting, in Haines, will be Wednesday May 16 from 6-8 p.m. in the Haines High School Commons.
The second meeting will be at the Mosquito Lake School, May 17, from 6-8 p.m.
The draft Comprehensive plan can be downloaded by going here. (Warning: 292 pages)
By Editor, on May 11th, 2012 AMHS Press Release
JUNEAU–The Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS) announced today that the M/V Matanuska continues to sail its scheduled service after the May 7 allision with the Ocean Beauty Seafoods dock in Petersburg, Alaska.
“We are particularly thankful that there were no injuries resulting from the accident,” said Michael Neussl, Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities Deputy Commissioner for Marine Operations. Read more->
By Editor, on January 25th, 2012 USCG Press Release
JUNEAU, Alaska — Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crews rescued 11 fishermen from two different vessels near Kodiak Wednesday morning. Read more->
By Editor, on January 25th, 2012  By Stephanie Joyce | KUCB
Rapidly advancing sea ice has left crabbers scrambling to get their gear out of the water or stuck in port, waiting for better weather.
Fish and Game area management biologist Heather Fitch says there are more than 8000 snow crab pots out on the fishing ground right now. They cost at least a thousand dollars each, so that’s more than $8 million worth of gear. And Fitch says almost all of the pots are north of 56.5 degrees. The ice was already at that latitude east of the Pribilof islands today and it’s forecast to move in quickly to the west.
Kathleen Cole is an ice forecaster for the National Weather Service in Anchorage. She says that’s unusual.
Read full story at KUCB.org:
http://www.kucb.org/post/ice-puts-snow-crab-season-hold
By Editor, on January 10th, 2012 By Charlie Bermant | PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
PORT TOWNSEND, WA—An explosion aboard a 56-foot commercial fishing vessel docked in Boat Haven on Monday morning shook local windows and rattled walls but caused no injuries or damages to the adjacent boats— which included the Coast Guard cutter Osprey.
Read full story in the Peninsula Daily News.
By Editor, on December 30th, 2011 By: Travel World News Editor
SITKA–Alaskan Dream Cruises, one of the newest small-ship cruise lines sailing in Southeast Alaska, is announcing three new itineraries, additional ports of call and ship renovations. Alaskan Dream Cruises is owned and operated by an Alaska Native family in Sitka, Alaska. The company will operate its second season from May through September 2012.
The 42-passenger Alaskan Dream will sail on three new itineraries in 2012: an eight-day trip that focuses on many less-explored destinations, including Hobart Bay and Kasaan, and two more comprehensive 11- and 13-day trips through the Inside Passage. The three itineraries also include new ports of call for the cruise line: Ketchikan, Skagway, Haines, Thorne Bay, Kasaan, Wrangell and Gustavus.
Read the full story in the Travel World News.
Visit Alaska Dream Cruises website.
By Editor, on December 29th, 2011 By Kimberly Nicoletti | SUMMIT DAILY NEWS
While some participants on reality shows accuse producers of cutting and slicing minute pieces in such a cutthroat way as to make the final cut overly dramatic, the Andersons say TLC didn’t have to do that: Their life is that dramatic.
Thursday, TLC premieres the Breckenridge family’s real-life commercial fishing business in Alaska, and the family admits TLC didn’t have to manipulate its “characters” to deliver a compelling seven-week series that depicts the extreme highs and lows of commercial fishing in Alaska — and some of the tense family dynamics accompanying the Anderson’s family business.
Read full article in the Summit Daily News.
By Editor, on December 20th, 2011 Jill Burke | ALASKA DISPATCH
It’s nearly guaranteed to be a monumental showdown, the kind Alaska seems to spawn regularly. On Wednesday, a handful of lawyers will volley before a federal judge over whether the U.S. government properly chose to shut down cod and mackerel fisheries in Southwest Alaska, giving the well being of an endangered marine mammal preference over the livelihood of scores of fisherman.
Read the full article in the Alaska Dispatch.
By Editor, on November 22nd, 2011 Alex DeMarban | ALASKA DISPATCH
A federal judge upheld the three-year-old endangered listing for the biologically distinct Cook Inlet beluga whale today, rejecting all state arguments and noting that the state’s beluga conservation programs are ineffective and underfunded.
Read full article in the Alaska Dispatch.
By Editor, on October 19th, 2011 By Andrew Halcro
October 19, 2011: After the ballots had been counted Monday evening, and it appeared voters of the Lake and Peninsula Borough had narrowly approved a controversial anti-mining initiative, the look on Bob Gillam’s lawyers face said it all; they had their lunch eaten.
Even though the measure passed, and even though Gillam appeared to be rewarded for his half million dollar campaign investment, the narrow 34 vote win represented a huge loss for Gillam and his anti-mining crusade and a huge win for the Pebble Partnership.
Read full opinion in AndrewHalcro.com.
By Editor, on October 2nd, 2011  USCG Cutter Munro with illegal fishing vessel Bangun Perkasa USCG press release
Acting on vessel sighting information provided by a maritime patrol airplane from the Fisheries Agency of Japan, Sept. 7, the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Munro launched its MH-65 Dolphin helicopter and crew and located the fishing vessel Bangun Perkasa with 22 fishermen aboard, approximately 2,600 miles southwest of Kodiak, Alaska.
The Bangun Perkasa’s crew reportedly abandoned their fishing nets and attempted to leave the area once they spotted the helicopter flying above them. The vessel was determined to be operating without valid flag state registration, and seized as a stateless vessel for violations of U.S. law. A Munro boarding team determined the vessel had more than 10 miles of drift net, 30 tons of squid and approximately 30 shark carcasses aboard. They retrieved the abandoned net and began the lengthy escort toward Dutch Harbor, Alaska.
Read the whole story at the USCG News website.
By Editor, on September 21st, 2011 USCG Press Release
JUNEAU, Alaska — Members of Coast Guard Air Station Sitka, Sector Juneau and the Alaska Department of Public Safety recognized three Alaska residents for their role in the 1950 rescue of a fisherman stranded off Chichagof Island during an awards ceremony, Sept. 13, 2011.
Marie Laws, a resident of Sitka, received a Coast Guard Meritorious Public Service Award for her role in the rescue of Helvig Christensen from the wreckage of the fishing vessel Dixie near Chichagof Island on Nov. 18, 1950. She accepted the award on behalf of her sister and cousin, Betty Mork and Tom Allain, who assisted with the rescue. Laws is the only living member of the rescue party.
Read the full story at USCGnews.com.
By Roger Maynard, on September 15th, 2011  Google Earth rendition of the Chilkoot Valley, looking north from Chilkoot Lake, showing Connelly Lake. Notes by Roger Maynard HAINES has an energy crisis. A little town in the middle of coastal Alaska with high mountain lakes and running water everywhere, we should be rolling in surplus hydroelectric power, but we’re not. Instead, we periodically burn diesel to smoke up our valley at a premium cost to consumers. Even without the diesel surcharge, electrical (IPEC) business customers in the upper Chilkat Valley are getting soaked up to $0.61 per kilowatt hour. Read more->
By Roger Maynard, on September 6th, 2011  HAINES–Republican state Rep. Bill Thomas of Haines greeted a small group of friends and supporters at the American Bald Eagle Foundation in Haines last Friday evening, to announce the kick-off of his 2012 reelection campaign.
Thomas explained that he is starting earlier this year, since the campaign will be complicated by redistricting that significantly changed the makeup of his district. Read more->
By Editor, on September 3rd, 2011 Alan Bailey | PETROLEUM NEWS
ANCHORAGE–Much has been said and written about the causes and consequences of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, and about the scramble to respond to an oil spill that no one appeared adequately prepared to deal with. However, the U.S. Coast Guard’s incident report, known as the Incident Specific Preparedness Review, or ISPR, provides some fascinating insights into lessons learned from how the response was conducted, and how those lessons might be applied to planning for some future oil spill contingency.
Read more in the Petroleum News.
By Editor, on September 2nd, 2011 By Dan Joling | ASSOCIATED PRESS
Federal fisheries managers should weigh the economic impact before approving a Pacific halibut allocation plan that could reduce the number of fish caught by sport anglers on charter boats, an Alaska lawmaker said Thursday.
Read the full story in the Anchorage Daily News.
By Roger Maynard, on August 31st, 2011  A seiner makes a set in Peril Strait HAINES–Gilnetters in Haines have been complaining recently about low catch numbers, and are blaming ADF&G for allowing the southeast region northern seine fleet to intercept fish before they have a chance to enter Lynn Canal.
According to ADF&G’s 2011 Preliminary Alaska Commercial Salmon Catch “Blue Sheet,” updated on August 26, 2011, the northern southeast seine fleet harvested nearly 45 million pinks and 226,000 sockeye. Read more->
By Roger Maynard, on August 31st, 2011  HAINES–The Olerud family’s side-by-side Alaska Sport Shop and Olerud’s Market Center present an attractive welcome to visitors arriving in Haines by highway. The new facelift on the Market Center adds a tasteful appearance to Main Street, as well as practical amenities such as covered porches and handicap access for customers. Read more->
By Roger Maynard, on August 31st, 2011
HAINES–On Thursday, August 25, Delta Western, Inc. and Southeast Alaska Petroleum Resource Organization (SEAPRO) conducted a joint training exercise in the Haines small boat harbor. Read more->
By Editor, on August 22nd, 2011 By Beth Bragg | ADN
A 26-pound, 11-ounce coho, caught in the Pacific Ocean by a California man earlier this week shattered one of the state’s oldest sport-fishing records. According to KINY Radio in Juneau, Steve Atkinson of Huntington Beach was fishing near Icy Strait when he hooked the record-breaker.
Read more in the Anchorage Daily News.
By Editor, on August 14th, 2011 Craig Medred | ALASKA DISPATCH
HOMER — A packed room of angry and worried small businessmen fearful the federal government is about to bankrupt them got some simple advice Friday night on how to deal with the Washington, D.C. bureaucracy: “Send a letter.”
That was the best Glenn Merrill, assistant regional administrator for the National Marine Fisheries Service, could offer charter boat skippers facing imposition of what is being called a “halibut catch sharing” plan.
Read full article in the Alaska Dispatch.
By Editor, on July 12th, 2011  The burned out hull of the 58-foot fishing vessel Legend sits grounded at Bostwick Point eight miles south of Ketchikan July 11, 2011 JUNEAU–The Coast Guard is responding to the grounding and a subsequent fire aboard the 58-foot fishing vessel Legend at Bostwick Point about eight miles south of Ketchikan Monday.
A Coast Guard Station Ketchikan small boat crew with Marine Safety Detachment Ketchikan pollution investigators aboard assessed the Legend Monday morning and reported the approximately 700 gallons of diesel and a catch of 2,000 pounds of salmon aboard were consumed by the fire. Read more->
By Editor, on July 7th, 2011  An R&R Diving crew assesses the sunken 36-foot fishing vessel Ice Maiden off Rocky Point in Prince William Sound USCG Press Release:
VALDEZ–Personnel from Coast Guard Marine Safety Unit Valdez responded to the capsizing and sinking of the fishing vessel Ice Maiden near Rocky Point in Prince William Sound Sunday and continue to monitor the response.
The 36-foot Ice Maiden capsized at approximately 1 p.m. Sunday while retrieving a net full of salmon. All four of the crewmembers were able to evacuate to the vessel’s seine skiff prior to the capsizing. The good Samaritan fishing vessels New Venture and Aquanator were fishing in the area and provided assistance, including transportation to Cordova, for the crew of the Seward-based Ice Maiden. Read more->
By Editor, on July 6th, 2011 by Ed Ronco | KCAW
SITKA, ALASKA (2011-07-05) The Chichagof Island city of Pelican has long prided itself on being “closest to the fish.” Its placement in Lisianski Inlet made it an ideal spot for fishermen to drop off their catch and quickly head back out to the fishing grounds. That’s how Pelican started in 1938, when Charlie Raatikainen, aboard the fishing vessel “Pelican,” established a cold storage facility here. But that complex is now closed, and as a result, the local economy has suffered.
Three-part story:
Read Part I, “Pelican struggles with absent fish economy,” at KCAW.org.
Read Part II, “Pelican residents persevere” at KCAW.org.
Read Part III, “Ice, hydro power shape Pelican’s future” at KCAW.org.
By Editor, on June 30th, 2011 USCG Press release
JUNEAU, Alaska – Coast Guard Sector Juneau will hold a change of command ceremony on the dock at Coast Guard Station Juneau where Capt. Scott Bornemann will relieve Capt. Melissa Bert as Sector Juneau commanding officer during a formal ceremony Friday at 10:30 a.m., with Rear Adm. Thomas Ostebo, the 17th Coast Guard District commander, presiding. Read more->
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| Nate Beeler
The Columbus Dispatch
May 16, 2012
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Lynn Canal Map & Marine Traffic (refresh for current ship positions)
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Haines, Alaska 99827
Editor:
Roger L. Maynard
P.O. Box 784
Haines, Alaska 99827
editor@hainesnews.net
The Haines Alaska News is a public information service of the Alaska Alliance for Commerce, Inc., a grassroots movement organized to advocate for small business and a free market economy in Alaska.
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