Matt Lichtenstein

An industry representative says Southeast geoduck clam divers have not been affected by China’s recent ban on West Coast shellfish import since they haven’t been fishing recently.

Alaska fishermen want to broaden the experimental use of cameras and other monitoring devices in the federal government’s fishery observer program.

The federal government has finalized new guidelines on the use of sea otters by Alaska Natives. The change is aimed at better-defining a requirement that hides must be “significantly altered” in order to be considered authentic native handicrafts or clothing that can be sold to non-natives.Download Audio

Southeast Alaska and the state as a whole has seen an apparent upswing in sea otter hunting in recent years. That’s according to numbers compiled by the US Fish and Wildlife Service which says this year will yield the biggest reported harvest on record for the marine mammals, which can only be hunted by Alaska Natives from coastal communities.Download Audio

A national magazine has named the Southeast Alaska fishing community ofPetersburg as its best yachting town for 2013. Yachting Magazine’s readers originally nominated Alaska’s Little Norway for the title during the publication’s 3rd annual “50 best towns” competition. Editors narrowed the nominees down to a list of ten this summer and readers then voted for their favorite in an online poll.

More than 120 of the top choir and band students from high schools around the Alaska panhandle convened on Petersburg this week. The community is hosting the Southeast Honors Music Festival. After more than two days and evenings of intense practice as a group, the event culminates with a public concert tonight.Download Audio

Options for health insurance coverage can be pretty limited in Alaska for small businesses and the self-employed. That includes commercial fishermen, who make up a major segment of the economy. Some in the industry say the cost and lack of access to comprehensive health insurance is a barrier to new fishermen and an ongoing concern for those already in the business.Download Audio

Another company out of Washington just won permission to study the potential development of a new hydro-electric plant at a mountaintop lake within the Petersburg Borough.

Marine mammal responders have wrapped-up efforts to try and disentangle a southeast humpback whale after removing more gillnet from the animal this week.

A Petersburg fisherman has recovered more than half of the hand-carved cedar paddles that were lost by the One People Canoe Society late last month.Download Audio