Tag Archives: Kachemak Bay

1 dead, 2 rescued after boat capsizes near China Poot Bay

One person is dead and another two were rescued Wednesday from the waters of Kachemak Bay by commercial fishermen and a surfer when their boat capsized near the mouth of China Poot Bay.,, The crew of the Casino took two males on board, including the one being given CPR by Tillion. The Casino is faster and was able to get them back to the harbor more quickly, Hollis said. “Everybody responded very well,” Hollis said of Tillion, Linegar and his deckhand. Crew from the F/V Captain Cook, captained by Malcom Milne, brought the third person back to the harbor. >click to read< 09:23

Too many pink salmon in Kachemak Bay?

Tucked into a narrow fjord on the south side of Kachemak Bay is a small lagoon, 700 feet wide, and only a couple thousand feet long. At low tide, a salty trickle connects it to the ocean. At high tide, at the height of the summer, treble hooks fly between a flurry of skiffs as salmon snaggers circle the net pens in the center of the lagoon. Seines scoop up tens of thousands of fish in an attempt to pay for the hatchery, as hatchery operators collect eggs from the fish that swarm the creek. A few weeks later, carcasses rot, eggs incubate and Tutka Lagoon fades back into relative obscurity. Until this year, that is, when a wave of controversy spilled out through that narrow channel like the 100 million pink salmon they hope to release, flooding across Kachemak Bay State Park to Homer, up Cook Inlet, and down to Juneau, prompting the governor to send a fleet of commissioners to brace against the wave. click here to read the story 09:03

Commercial cod fishermen get more space in Kachemak Bay

whales stealing fish from long lines alaskaCommercial groundfish fishermen in Kachemak Bay will get more space to operate after the Board of Fisheries redefined the closed waters in the area. In Lower Cook Inlet, commercial fishermen are allowed to use pots to fish for Pacific cod and have been allowed inside Kachemak Bay west of the Homer Spit and along the southern shore of the bay near Seldovia. However, the main section and a swath extending westward in the center of the bay have been closed by regulation because of concerns for the Tanner crab population, which has dropped off significantly in Kachemak Bay in the last two decades or so. The fishery is mostly small boats, and because the fishery takes place in the fall on the edges of Kachemak Bay, they run the risk of bad weather, so to avoid the poor weather, they have limited area, said AlRay Carroll, the proposer, during his public comments during the Board of Fisheries’ meeting in Homer on Wednesday. Read the article here 10:28

A battle between oil and fishing – How an oil industry fiasco saved Kachemak Bay 40 years ago

Clem%20Tillion%2002_0The trouble in Homer in 1976 brought world attention to oil politics in the Alaska Legislature and vindicated fishermen who had been fighting oil drilling for three years politically and in court. On Sunday, I visited Clem Tillion at his home here on the south side of the bay, to recall those events. When he was a state senator, the George Ferris fiasco gave him the support he needed to pass a bill that had seemed to have little hope — buying back the leases and declaring Kachemak Bay a critical habitat area to be protected evermore. The issue also helped elect Jay Hammond as our only conservation-oriented governor — and he became the father of the Permanent Fund. And it set Homer on the path to be the eco-tourism center it is today rather than an oil town. Read the story here 09:30

Upping their groundfish game

pollock sieningDespite more than thirty years of fishing around Alaska, Kasilof fisherman Rob Nelson had never let out a net hoping to catch pollock before December. But the long-time seiner has been learning how to catch the groundfish in Kachemak Bay as part of an experimental fishery this winter. In most of Alaska, pollock are caught by trawlers. But Nelson and other fishermen are hoping that seines could provide a way to safely catch the fish, without worrying about bycatch. Read the rest here 08:39