Tag Archives: Kenai Peninsula
As salmon season kicks off, some Alaska fishermen fear for their futures
On a brilliant spring morning, Buck Laukitis, a longtime fisherman from this Kenai Peninsula town, stood at the city dock watching his catch come ashore. Crew members aboard Laukitis’ boat, the Oracle, filled bags with dozens of halibut — some of the fatter ones worth $200 or more — which a crane would lift up to the dock. There, processing workers on a small slime line weighed the fish, tossed crushed ice into the gills and slid them into boxes for shipment to Canada. Harvest, unload, sell, repeat — exactly how the iconic Alaska commercial fishing industry is supposed to work. Until you ask Laukitis about the Oracle’s sister vessel, the Halcyon. Instead of fishing for another species, black cod, like it’s built for, the Halcyon is tied up at the dock. For Laukitis to make money, processing companies would need to pay $2.50 for each pound of black cod delivered to a plant. But right now, buyers aren’t paying much more than $1.50, he said. With Laukitis on the dock last month were his young grandkids and adult daughters — fishermen who run a popular brand called the Salmon Sisters. Photos, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 12:40
Board of Fisheries passes new Kenai king salmon plan
New management policies for Kenai River king salmon mean that sockeye bag limits in the river are up, and commercial setnet fishing is likely to be closed for the foreseeable future. Kenai River late run king salmon are now officially designated a stock of concern, which means a host of changes in the management plan. The Alaska Board of Fisheries finalized the designation at its meeting in Anchorage on March 1, and as part of it, revised the management plan for the fishery to help conserve more of the fish. At its October 2023 meeting, the board reviewed the Stock of Concern designation for the late run, which covers July and August in the Kenai River. At its March meeting, the board decided how to change the management plan to help rebuild the run over time. more, >>click to read<< 14:50
Kenai Peninsula fisherman Snooks Moore retires from lifelong participation in Alaska commercial fisheries
Homer’s Snooks Moore has spent her life in Alaska commercial fisheries. After 38 years in the salmon drift fishery, the 79-year-old Kenai Peninsula woman will, for the first time, not be heading to Bristol Bay with the F/V Razor’s Edge. “She wanted to keep fishing, but Grandpa wanted to go travel and enjoy life. It’s been about four years that he’s been pushing for it and she finally agreed,” her grandson Justin Arnold, said. The Moore family has been in the Cook Inlet area for many generations and Moore originally started fishing in setnet operations in the Kasilof region. She also participated in the Cook Inlet drift fisheries and then False Pass for several years before heading to summers in Bristol Bay. “My folks had setnet sites on Kalifornsky Beach, where I spent all my childhood, that they bought from my uncle Jack in 1939. They also had some sites closer to the Kenai River,” Snooks Moore said in a conversation on June 7. >click to read< 16:23
The end of an era for Alaska fishing may already be here
The historic Long Island fishing town of Amagansett is about 100 miles from New York City — roughly the distance from Ninilchik to Anchorage. Remarkably, a remnant commercial fishery continued on eastern Long Island into the 1980s, despite mounting pressure from urban growth, pollution and rival sport fishermen. This summer, Kenai Peninsula beaches from Ninilchik to Kenai will be empty of setnets and buoys. Family-run commerial fishing businesses, a major economic force in the Cook Inlet region since territorial days, have been shut down and may not be coming back. Exceptional sockeye runs of the 1980s, when setnetters on east-side beaches recorded a few million-dollar seasons, helped set the stage for Cook Inlet’s modern fish wars. Sportfishermen saw too many prize king salmon in fish totes headed to processors. As more permit-holders migrated to the east-side beaches, new efforts were launched to avoid Kenai River kings. >click to read< 15:40
Former ‘Deadliest Catch’ captain admits to dealing heroin, court documents say
An Alaska crab boat captain formerly on the reality TV show “Deadliest Catch” has admitted to dealing heroin on the Kenai Peninsula. Elliott Neese, 39, has agreed to plead guilty to one count of possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute. That’s according to a plea agreement Neese signed and filed in federal court Monday, shortly after prosecutors charged him. >click to read< 14:49
The Kenai Peninsula’s economy – Most of the employment is in commercial fishing
The Kenai Peninsula’s economy depends even more on the ocean and rivers than is apparent on paper. Some are obvious: fishing, shipping and marine fishing guiding all depend on the ocean directly. However, others — such as processing, oil and gas support services and fishing gear retailers — only “touch” the water and may not be counted on a cursory glance. When added together, about 3,400 people on the peninsula work in a maritime-related profession, the most of any sector in the region, according to the 2016 Situations and Prospects report from the Kenai Peninsula Economic Development District. The annual report, which provides data and forward-looking estimates on the economy for the Kenai Peninsula, details a growing maritime sector that paid approximately $177 million in wages in 2014, the most of any industry in the region. Read the rest here 08:32
Kenai Kontencious. Kenai keeps 2011 salmon habitat law on the books
KENAI, Alaska — It boiled down to science vs. emotion and personal property rights vs. government encroachment as scores spoke about the future of salmon habitat regulation on the Kenai Peninsula; one man, a Russian immigrant, warned of eventual gulags. Following 315 minutes of commentary made by nearly 100 citizens, the most any sitting assembly member can remember, the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly voted 6-3 to keep the current salmon habitat protection law on the books. Largely favored revisions to the law are expected to pass a July 2 vote. [email protected]
New research: All fisheries important to food security on Kenai Peninsula
HomerNews – The Kenai River Sportfishing Association has used elements of a recently released study about food security on the Kenai Peninsula to assert that commercial fishing should be curtailed in favor of sport and personal-use fishing. Not so fast, according to the one of the authors of the study, Philip Loring. continued
