Alaska

Alaska abalone population, important to Indigenous traditions, gets new attention

Published

2 years ago

July 27, 2022

Alaska abalone population, important to Indigenous traditions, gets new attention

A pinto abalone rests on the rocky seafloor of Southeast Alaska. Of all abalone species discovered alongside North America’s west coast, the pinto abalone is the one one in Alaska waters. A multiagency venture is inspecting methods to spice up the depleted inhabitants. (Picture by Ashley Bolwerk/Alaska Sea Grant)

There is just one species of abalone native to Alaska waters, and a brand new venture is underway to attempt discover methods to spice up its depleted numbers.

An Alaska Abalone Restoration Working Group is brainstorming concepts for strengthening the state’s susceptible inhabitants of pinto abalones, also referred to as Northern abalones or, to the Indigenous peoples of the area, Gunxaa and Gúlaa. The working group consists of representatives from state and federal businesses, tribal governments and others, together with assist from Alaska Sea Grant, a program based mostly on the College of Alaska Fairbanks that gives marine schooling, analysis and know-how.

That has began with surveys of individuals in Southeast Alaska the place pinto abalones are a part of Indigenous custom.

The reception to date has been enthusiastic, stated Ashely Bolwerk, the Alaska Sea Grant fellow main the group engagement side of the venture.

“Everyone I speak to is admittedly enthusiastic about abalone, so it makes it a extremely enjoyable subject to concentrate on,” stated Bolwerk, who lives in Sitka and is engaged on a fellowship with the Nationwide Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Pinto abalones are discovered as far south as Baja California and as far north as Southeast Alaska, however all through the vary, numbers have been sparse and uneven, based on NOAA Fisheries. That inconsistency extends to the Alaska populations. For instance, the Sitka Sound inhabitants appears to be rising, whereas abalones round Prince of Wales Island are arduous to seek out, Bolwerk stated.

In Lingít, Haida and Tsimshian traditions, pinto abalones are valued for his or her meat — and extra. They had been historically used for commerce, and their shells are materials built-in in art work.

However scarcities have left some gaps in conventional practices and information, Bolwerk stated.

A pinto abalone shows its oval shell. The multicolored shells, with patterns that adjust, shield the abalones from predators. Pinto abalone populations have declined all through the species vary, which extends from Baja California to Southeast Alaska. (Picture offered by NOAA Fisheries)

She was launched to the topic as an offshoot of her analysis work as a graduate scholar engaged on an enormous venture learning sea otter reintroduction off British Columbia. That led to work at Prince of Wales Island and a relationship with the tribal authorities in Hydaburg, the place group members instructed her in regards to the extreme declines of their cherished useful resource.

“There are people in Hydaburg who don’t harvest abalone anymore as a result of they don’t see sufficient at their websites and are type of self-managing,” she stated. Some say they haven’t harvested in so lengthy that they’re forgotten find out how to course of the meat, she stated. Moreover, “There’s an entire technology of children who can acknowledge abalone shells in regalia and issues like that however do not know the place the animal lives or what it appears like when it’s alive.”

Pinto abalones dwell for 15 to twenty years and reproduce slowly and in irregular patterns, making them inherently in danger for depletion, based on NOAA. The species is assessed as endangered in British Columbia and Washington state, although NOAA Fisheries in 2014 rejected petitions to grant range-wide Endangered Species Act protections.

Overharvesting by folks has gotten a lot of the blame for the latest declines throughout the vary. Industrial harvests have been closed in numerous areas, together with in Alaska in 1996, although some very small-scale subsistence and personal-use harvests proceed in components of Southeast.

Persons are not the one abalone eaters. Sea otters have additionally gotten a few of the blame for abalone declines. Nonetheless, sea otters have an vital place within the ecosystem, too, in consuming creatures like sea urchins that would in any other case mow down kelp forests.

For the Alaska Abalone Restoration Working Group, the plan is for the survey ingredient of the venture to be accomplished in August, Bolwerk stated. Outcomes are anticipated to be introduced to communities over the winter, she stated. From there, the working group will take into account potential rebuilding actions.

Potential responses embody mariculture — both farming pinto abalones all the best way to maturity or a extra restricted venture that might assist restore wild populations, Bolwerk stated.

Additionally potential are habitat enhancements or adjustments to administration of species that work together with pinto abalones. In British Columbia, for instance, there may be an effort to extend harvesting of sea urchins, which compete with abalones for kelp and seaweed, Bolwerk stated.

One other thought is an academic marketing campaign to boost the general public profile of the multi-colored sea snails that crawl alongside the rocky seafloor. “Perhaps some added emphasis on how vital it’s to native cultures and communities may assist deliver in additional funding and create extra consciousness of the work that must be executed,” Bolwerk stated.

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Alaska

Horror on Alaska fishing boat as young crewmember is swept up by net and plunged into ocean

Published

7 hours ago

July 8, 2024

Press Room

Horror on Alaska fishing boat as young crewmember is swept up by net and plunged into ocean

A 21-year-old fisherman died after his gear dragged him into the water in Southwest Alaska, officials said.

Commercial fishing crewmember Corwin Wheeler fell from the boat in Kvichak Bay Friday, while fishing salmon.

A mayday call reported him overboard at 12:31 pm, spurring a rescue operation.

The bay has some of the highest tides in the world, and the operation was ultimately unsuccessful.

Officials said Wheeler first became tangled in his fishing gear, before being pulled overboard and into the water. Tributes have since poured in for the young angler, headed by his father.

Commercial salmon fisher Corwin Wheeler, 21, fell from a boat in Kvichak Bay Friday while fishing salmon, officials said

‘On 07/05/2024 at approximately 1231 hours, DPS Patrol Vessel Stimson received a MAYDAY call from a commercial salmon fisherman in Kvichak Bay stating he lost a crewman over the side of his vessel,’ the Alaska Department of Public Safety said in a statement.

‘AWT [Alaska Wildlife Troops] responded to the area with two patrol skiffs and arrived just as the reporting vessel had located and retrieved their unconscious crewmember out of the water.

‘AWT performed lifesaving measures for approximately one hour prior to pronouncing the crewman deceased.

‘Investigation revealed [he] had become entangled in fishing gear and was pulled overboard and underwater.

‘Next of kin has been notified.’

The boy’s father posted to Facebook a day later, revealing how Corwin had been an only child.

‘I loved him more than anything else in the world,’ Jeff Rowe, of Illinois, wrote Saturday.

‘I pray he knows that, and I hope he has found peace. More info will be posted when it’s available.’

A subsequent rescue proved unsuccessful. Corwin lived in Madison and was born in Salem, his social media shows. He was an only child

Photos show him happily working the Bering Sea, as a salmon fishermen for Alaskan Leader Fisheries

The bay has some of the highest tides in the world, which proved fatal for the young fisherman. It is located about 435 miles southwest of Anchorage

According to his social media, Corwin lived in Madison, and was born in Salem.

Photos show him happily working the Bering Sea, as a salmon fishermen for Alaskan Leader Fisheries.

The company is one of the largest fishing companies in Alaska, and own four super long-liners that operate year-round, according to its website.

It bill itself as one of ‘the most progressive, innovative and vertically integrated “Hook & Line“ fishing compan[ies] in Alaska,’ meaning fisherman fish by means of a series of baited hooks.

Corwin worked on one of three fishing vessels, the F/V Alaskan Leader, F/V Bristol Leader and the F/V Bering Leader.

DailyMail.com has reached out to the company for comment, as investigators confirm Corwin accidentally became entangled in his gear.

A caller then told troopers the deckhand went over the side of the commercial fishing vessel before being sucked underneath, upon which he inhaled a fatal amount of water.

Corwin – seen here gripping a grouper – worked on one of three fishing vessels, the F/V Alaskan Leader, F/V Bristol Leader and the F/V Bering Leader

The bay where Corwin has been working was also particularly well known for its inherent dangers. It can be found on the upper reaches of the bay, which is one of the most dangerous regions in the world for large vessels

The dangers of working the Bering Sea are well known – with trawlers by and large painting it as one of the coldest and most dangerous seas across the globe.

It is one of the most dangerous places to fish in the world. Decorated commercial fisherman Corey Arnold has called the sea ‘a continuous storm.’

The bay where Corwin has been working was also particularly well known for its inherent dangers.

It can be found on the northeast side of Bristol Bay, near King Salmon.

More specifically, it can be found on the upper reaches of the bay, which experience some of the highest tides in the world.

In some parts, tidal extremes in excess of 30 feet have been measured, the eighth highest in the world.

Coupled with an outsized amount of shoals, unseen sandbars, and shallows, this makes navigation troublesome, especially amid frequently strong winds.

It is also the shallowest part of the Bering Sea, making it one of the most dangerous regions for large vessels.

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Alaska

Alaskan mother, who lost son to Fentanyl, reacts to SCOTUS rejecting controversial Purdue Pharma settlement

Published

14 hours ago

July 8, 2024

Press Room

Alaskan mother, who lost son to Fentanyl, reacts to SCOTUS rejecting controversial Purdue Pharma settlement

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – Just weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a nationwide opioid settlement involving Purdue Pharma, in a narrow vote of 5 to 4, an Alaskan mother is speaking out about the decision. Sandy Snodgrass lost her 22-year-old son, Bruce Snodgrass, to fentanyl poisoning in October 2021. Since then, she has been fighting Alaska’s opioid crisis and hoping to bring awareness on impacts of taking the illicit drugs.

In late June, Supreme Court justices ruled against a bankruptcy settlement for Purdue Pharma, valued at roughly 6 billion dollars, which manufactures the painkiller OxyContin. Others involved in the court case include roughly 60,000 family members who lost loved ones to opioids, particularly OxyContin, who sued Purdue Pharma.

Snodgrass was happy with the Supreme Court’s ruling, as she believes the settlement would have shielded Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family.

“It got watered down over the years that it ended up to become only 6 billion and the shield that would protect them forever from any future litigation,” Snodgrass said. “So the families were not supportive of that lawsuit any longer and we’re very, very grateful and pleased that the lawsuit was rejected from the Supreme Court.”

She believes in the beginning the lawsuit was good, but became less powerful the years which caused her to lose support for it.

“The $6 billion on the surface, sounds like a lot of money, it is a lot of money,” Snodgrass said. “But when we look at the devastation that millions and millions of people were effected by OxyContin, $6 billion is nothing.”

Snodgrass says her son Bruce was prescribed OxyContin, when he got his wisdom teeth out at 17 years old, which she believes led him to becoming involved with drugs and eventually led to his death. She holds the Sackler family culpable for the fentanyl crisis the nation is in today.

“I administered those pills to my son,” Snodgrass said. “I believe that started the train wreck of his life and my life and his ultimate poisoning by fentanyl, because of that OxyContin.”

Snodgrass feels the amount of money is insulting, especially from a large company like Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family. She knows some families were ready to receive money from the settlement, but for her it was not enough.

Snodgrass says she and other families who have lost loved ones want to see the Sackler family members involved with Purdue Pharma and OxyContin go to prison. If that doesn’t happen, she emphasized there will likely be lawsuits coming forward, where Purdue Pharma will be paying much more than the $6 billion.

“If the DOJ or the Department of Justice does not imprison the Sacklers, we want every single dime that they ever made to go towards the families and go towards prevention and go towards treatment,” Snodgrass said.

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Alaska

Nascar Legend rockets around the track for the Great Alaska Dirt Shootout

Published

21 hours ago

July 7, 2024

Press Room

Nascar Legend rockets around the track for the Great Alaska Dirt Shootout

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (KTVF) -Dirt track racing… Some will say it’s the last true form of grass roots racings.

Cars built and worked on by those who drive them, and this past weekend was the 11th Annual Great Alaska Dirt Shootout.

The two day event brings in talent from all over Alaska, and even a Nascar legend. We spoke with this year’s special guest on the fun of coming up to the most northern dirt track in America.

“I mean, it’s dirt track racing, and Montee Pearson gave me a good car to drive and just come up here and do something I’ve never done before, and that’s racing in Alaska.

The “Rocket Man’’ Ryan Newman, known for his qualifying ability and spending his career on the asphalt, held his own against some of Alaska’s best on dirt, even with the extremely limited seat time. “I have never driven one of these cars until yesterday before, so had no practice, no qualifying straight to a first heat race, and we finished worse than third. So I know we’re getting beat, but we’re getting beat by guys with a lot of time around here and lots of laps, and in these kinds of cars, so I’m just trying to gain some experience and have fun as I go.”

Newman would do exactly that on the weekend, while having fun as he goes. He would see three third place finishes and two second place finishes, to end up second overall in points on the weekend.

Although he was impressed with the racing, what impressed him the most was all the family in attendance. “I was impressed yesterday with the amount of families that were here. Meeting the number of kids that were here with the parents, and now it’s a great opportunity that’s racing in general, Nascar as well, but racing in general is a great family sport. Great opportunity to bring your kids out for a reasonably priced good time and entertainment, so that’s what I would say is come out with your family and enjoy a good time.”

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