Casey Kelly, KTOO – Juneau
Juneau’s annual Blessing of the Fleet was held Saturday at the Alaska Commercial Fishermen’s Memorial on the downtown waterfront, near Taku Smokeries. This is the year the blessing has been held at the spot – and it could be one of the last. In the next few years, the memorial and blessing will be moved to make room for a planned $63 million expansion of Juneau’s cruise ship docks.
Bruce Weyhrauch with the memorial’s board of directors says the new floating berths won’t allow fishing boats to get close enough to shore to participate in the blessing.
Weyhrauch says the board is working with the city to find a new spot for the memorial. The preferred location is still downtown, near Marine Park. He admits moving it is a sensitive issue.
Moving the memorial is expected to cost $2 million. Funding is already included in the city’s spending plan for the new cruise ship docks.
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