Tackle the task — Fishing representatives mull changes to prevent repeat of poor 2012 season

By Jenny Neyman

File photos. Sockeye salmon wait to be picked from a set net in one of the few openings for east-side, Kenai-area Cook Inlet commercial set-net fishermen last summer.

Redoubt Reporter

There was no lack of data, analysis, statistical models, facts, figures and hypotheses presented at the second meeting of the Upper Cook Inlet Task Force on Jan. 14 at the Challenger Learning Center of Alaska in Kenai.

But for the six hours of answers and information, the main question driving the creation and effort of the task force remains unanswered: If the 2013 Kenai River king and sockeye runs shape up similarly to the 2012 returns, how can the disastrous fishing season that unfolded last year be avoided in the coming one?

While nothing has been settled yet, an answer is coming closer. Work this meeting was advanced by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s recent release of its new late-run Kenai River king salmon escapement goal, recommending 15,000 to 30,000 fish be spared from hooks and nets to get upriver to spawn.

The report still is in a draft form undergoing peer review and the revision process, and it’s only an interim figure to be used until the goal comes up for review and revision to the Alaska Board of Game in 2014, in accordance with its regular three-year cycle.

But it represents progress, especially in times of low abundance of kings, as has been the trend in recent years, said Robert Clark, chief fisheries scientist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, who gave a presentation on the updated escapement recommendation.

“We need to manage carefully because runs are going to be small in the near term — they just are, it’s a certainly. But this analysis is a breakthrough from our old assessment. Now I think we have a way forward,” he said.

The new goal was developed using king count estimates generated with DIDSON sonar technology, seen as far more accurate than the previously used target-strength estimates produced by split-beam sonar technology. Split beam has been shown to confuse smaller kings with sockeyes, especially when both fish are mixed together in the river. The previous goal range of 17,500 to 35,000 fish was developed using the old sonar estimates. The department switched to using DIDSON technology exclusively at the king sonar site at mile 8.6 last year, but was still using the old escapement goal. Now a DIDSON-based escapement will be tracked with DIDSON sonar.

Keeping better count of the fish is only part of the battle. Deciding how to manage fisheries is the other.

“This 15,000 is our best guess that balances the risk of the fisheries — keeping fisheries viable and going — and balancing that against the risk to the stock in terms of overfishing,” Clark said.

That balancing act was particularly difficult under a perfect storm of factors contributing to the maelstrom that became the 2012 Kenai River fishing season. A low early run of Kenai kings in June and poor returns of kings elsewhere in the state raised a red flag that the Kenai late run of kings might also be low. Further supporting that concern was a late arrival of the late run. Meanwhile, a robust return of sockeyes streamed into the river while kings were merely trickling in.

The result was restrictions in the sport and personal-use fisheries on retention of kings, then an all-out in-river closure on king fishing. That triggered a closure of the area’s commercial set-net fishery for sockeye, in order to prevent kings from getting caught in the commercial nets. When it became clear that kings were late more than nonexistent, governing management didn’t allow for creative solutions to address the unusual situation. Save for a few, mostly unproductive openings, the set-netters lost their season, sport fishermen lost much of their Kenai king fishing season and more sockeye than were desired made it upriver, all to protect kings that ended up making escapement.

“The problem with last year really wasn’t abundance, it was how the run showed up, and a lot of it showed up late. In those situations you try to do as a good a job as you can projecting those kinds of problems,” Clark said.

Aussie Alaskan — K-Beach teacher brings Down Under experiences back north to Alaska

By Joseph Robertia

Photos courtesy of Jason Daniels. Jason Daniels, a teacher at Kalifornsky Beach Elementary School, visits the Sydney Opera House during his yearlong exchange program in Australia.

Redoubt Reporter

For many Alaskans, Australia is a world away, best referenced through the “Crocodile Dundee” movies, or Steve Irwin’s “Crocodile Hunter” fame. But for Kalifornsky Beach Elementary School teacher Jason Daniels, Australia is as real a place as Alaska, not just seen through a TV screen. Daniels recently returned from spending more than a year Down Under as part of a teacher exchange program, and said it was the trip of a lifetime.

“My wife, Heather, and I so enjoyed the Australian people, culture and landscapes. Any amazing thing you’ve read about Australia is probably true. It’s truly an inspiring place,” he said.

Daniels worked at Wodonga South Primary School, an open design/pod school, a little more than a year old. He said that it was staffed with some of the kindest people he’s met anywhere.

“From day one they took me under their wings and made sure that if I fell, someone was there to pick me up. I was always met with a smile and a kind word — usually a question about what it’s like back home,” he said.

Just as Alaskans may hold stereotypes about Australia, so, too, did the Australian imagery of the 49th state revolve around what had been seen on TV or in movies.

“Many of the Aussies thought we are part of Canada. I am glad I was there to correct them. Some of the kids thought we lived in snow all year and we have polar bears around town and we drive sled dogs to work. They only have TV and movies to go on,” Daniels said. “I did find it amazing, however, that Heather and I watched many shows on Alaska. I think Aussies have a fascination with Alaska. Many people we met had either been or are going. Most want to go someday.”

Bills begin the queue — Legislative work progressing in Juneau, D.C.

By Naomi Klouda

Homer Tribune

Alaska disaster funding stripped

U.S. Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, announced that the House of Representatives stripped funding for the federal- and state-declared chinook fishery disaster and tsunami debris cleanup in Alaska from the natural-disaster funding bill that passed the House last week.

“Needless to say, I am extremely disappointed in this action,” he wrote.

Begich believes the Senate will most likely vote on the House version of the Hurricane Sandy disaster relief bill this week.

“Though the House may have forgotten natural disaster victims in Alaska, I have no plans to hold up funding for the victims of Hurricane Sandy when the bill comes back before the Senate. I assure you that I am fighting for disaster funding and plan to seek funding for the chinook fishery disaster and tsunami debris clean up in the next available legislative vehicle,” he wrote.

Micciche assigned to eight committees

No time was wasted assigning freshman Alaska Sen. Peter Micciche to eight committees as soon as he was sworn into office Jan. 15. Perhaps the biggest assignment is on the Trans Alaska Pipeline Service TAPS Throughput Decline Committee, as co-chair with Sen. Mike Dunleavy.

He is now a member of the standing committees of Health and Social Services, Resources, Community and Regional Affairs and Labor and Commerce.

Micciche also was assigned to the joint committees of World Trade and will vice chair the Legislative Council. He also is on the Senate Special Committee on In-State Energy. This committee and TAPS were both created this session.

Seaton lands 9 assignments

The southern Kenai Peninsula’s House District 30 Rep. Paul Seaton is sitting on Resources, Health and Human Services and Education committees this year. He is chair of the Fisheries Special Committee.  Seaton also has been assigned to three Finance subcommittees — Environmental Conservation, Fish and Game, and Transportation and Public Facilities.

Alaskans Ambush Las Vegas — Women’s hockey takes ice skills to the desert

By Joseph Robertia

Photos by Jenny Neyman, Redoubt Reporter. Alaska Ambush coaches Shannon Murray, right, and Heidi Hanson jostle for the puck during a practice scrimmage last year.

Redoubt Reporter

Vegas, baby! That’s where 12 local ladies are heading this week. But not for gambling or a wild trip with the girls — at least not in the usual sense. The women, all members of the Alaska Ambush hockey team, are headed to take part in the sold-out 2013 Las Vegas Women’s Hockey Classic.

“And we’re going to win,” said Heidi Hanson, who doubles as both a player and coach for the team.
Having attended multiple Vegas tournaments over the years, Hanson remembers just a few years ago when the Kenai-Soldotna based team nearly took it all in the nine-bracket, 42-team, 71-game, three-day event.

“When we went in ’05 we were very competitive. We went into double overtime in the final game and lost by one point, and we didn’t have a team like now,” she said.

This year’s team headed to Vegas is made up of Hanson, Jenica Rose, Vicki VinZant, Dawn Lesterson, Brooke Ames, Shonia Werner, Julie Powell Tree, Lacey Wisniewski, Marcy True, Karen Martinelli, Brandi Urban and Beth Selinger. And, while there are two other teams going from Alaska, Hanson said that she has high hopes it will be the Ambush bringing home the cup.

“This year’s team is very competitive. We have a lot of strengths. So I’d be pretty surprised if we didn’t end up in the championships,” she said.

Almanac: Highway construction heats up — Early Kenai Peninsula road crew battled blaze, other challenges

Editor’s Note: This is the second of a three-part story concerning the life and accomplishments of Ralph Soberg, a foreman for the Alaska Road Commission who was in charge of building the Sterling Highway from its junction with the Seward Highway near Tern Lake to its terminus in Homer. Part one, last week, introduced Soberg and provided an overview of some early stages in the highway construction. Part two, this week, discusses Soberg’s early personal history and the continuation of the highway project.

Correction: In the caption for a pair of photographs for part one of the Ralph Soberg story last week, the Redoubt Reporter reported incorrectly that the dedication for the Sterling Highway was held in Soldotna in 1949. Actually, the ceremony took place on Sept. 6, 1950.

By Clark Fair

Photos courtesy of Hardscratch Press. Ralph Soberg prepares to dive in Juneau in 1934 at his first bridge-building job.

Redoubt Reporter

From 1933 to 1963, the federal government ran a prison on Alcatraz Island near San Francisco. Known as “The Rock,” it was foreboding and grim, a difficult place to be stuck for any period of time. In 1947, directly in the heart of this period, a construction crew from the Alaska Road Commission attempting to build the Sterling Highway was blasting its way through a high rock bluff between Hidden and Skilak lakes. During the previous winter, members of the slashing crew that had camped there to clear the trees had dubbed the area “Alcatraz” because they feared they’d never get out.

According to construction foreman Ralph Soberg, the slashing crew had worked in temperatures that sometimes dipped to minus 30 or minus 40.

“They used to tell about the hotcakes they cooked that were frozen by the time they got them on the table,” Soberg wrote in his memoir, “Bridging Alaska.” “The poor fellows finally just quit and went back over to Moose Pass and got on the train for Anchorage.”

(For a time, nearby Rock Lake was also known as Alcatraz Lake.)

Neither clearing a path nor blasting the rock was the biggest obstacle facing the ARC in the summer of 1947, however. That honor went to the forest fire christened the Kenai Burn, which began in early June near the ARC’s Hidden Creek camp and eventually scorched more than 300,000 acres of the central Kenai Peninsula.

“We dodged that thing off and on all summer,” Soberg wrote. “At first we were pretty well protected at Hidden Creek, but four or five days after the fire started, it all at once made a switch and raced up toward the camp. We had about a thousand boxes of dynamite in the middle of our clearing and a supply of fuses and detonator caps about 400 feet away in a smaller clearing. The fire came boiling through so fast that before we could even think, it was crossing the road just below us.”

Hunting, Fishing and Other Grounds for Divorce: Small stuff

By Jacki Michels, for the Redoubt Reporter

Living in a small town is a lot like hanging out on Facebook — everyone seems to know your business. If you happen to have a Facebook account and live in a small town, it can get a little weird.

Take, for instance, last month. I posted regarding several events, namely my graduation and the sad news of my very best fur friend’s passing. Then, unsuspectingly, I went about my business. On several occasions I was congratulated, on several more I was offered sincere condolences. After a few awkward encounters, I finally I got the courage to ask, “For what?”

Apparently people who weren’t even on my “friends” list saw their friend’s post regarding their comments on my posts, and like a grapevine on steroids, news apparently travels at Wi-Fi speed. This strikes me as super funny because we live in Soldotna, which our family affectionately calls “S-L-O-W-dot-na.” More than once I have felt the need to point out to visiting friends that, seriously, there are only a few short stretches of road where one can actually drive 55. This gets exponentially annoying when someone is going even s-l-o-w-e-r than the posted speed because it is say, rainy and icy, but you are late!

Coach’s Corner: First climb up, next glide down

By Alan Boraas, for the Redoubt Reporter

Uphill and downhill technique between classic and skate, or freestyle, cross-country skiing is much the same in some respects. Gravity is gravity, and exertion is needed to overcome it. But the devil, and differences, is in the details.

Uphill

Skate skiing technique for skiing uphill is modulated depending on the angle of the hill. The steeper the hill, the quicker the tempo, the shorter the arm swing and the shorter the glide.

Soldotna High School skiers crouch into different degrees of tucks to get down a hill during the Homer Invitational ski meet on Dec. 16.

The same, step-glide technique holds true for uphills as it does for flats — step up the hill, then glide on the opposite ski. The pattern is just sped up into a quicker tempo with shorter steps and glides to maintain speed

.

Step wider and squat lower to get more leg power, and bend at the ankles to create a forward lean into the hill to compensate for steepness.

The steeper the hill, the more you should repeat this mantra: “lower, shorter, quicker.”

Science of the Seasons: Ring around the ice floes — Arctic ringed seals a study in adaptation

By Dr. David Wartinbee, for the Redoubt Reporter

In March and April, the northern sea coasts of Alaska are covered with ice. The sea ice that is bound to the coastline is called fast ice, while that portion of the ice that breaks away and drifts about is known as pack ice.

Leads of open water between these two ice masses are used as swimming channels for whales, walrus, seals and, of course, travel by humans.

The abundant and relatively small ringed seals use their long and powerful claws to form a series of breathing holes in pack ice and some areas of fast ice. Between foraging for food in the ocean, they return to one of the holes about every 15 minutes. They prefer being farther away from the shoreline and will usually end up on pack ice as it drifts away from the shoreline in the springtime. Choosing to stay on pack ice separates them from many of the potential land-based predators.

In April or early May, female ringed seals carve out an ice and snow cave near a breathing hole. Completely covered within this ice lair, females can give birth to their single pup. When first born, the young seal has a thick, wooly coat called “lanugo” to keep it warm, since they do not arrive with a layer of blubber. The two-month nursing period takes place within the hidden chamber.

Plugged In: Odds, ends, meaning in the eye of beholder

Bu Joe Kashi, for the Redoubt Reporter

This week’s photography column consists of essentially unrelated bits and pieces that I found of interest but that did not fit into any of our more thematically focused articles. With no further ado, we’ll get on with it.

• Post-Christmas sales currently offer some excellent bargains. B&H Photo has an unbeatable sale price on Sigma prime lenses for Sony’s NEX compact-system cameras and Olympus/Panasonic Micro Four-Thirds cameras. For $200 plus about $16 in shipping, B&H is offering a kit of two highly regarded Sigma f/2.8 prime lenses, a 19-mm wide-angle and a 30-mm standard lens.

Although currently back ordered, B&H is accepting orders that lock in this 50 percent off sale price. Here’s the link for Micro Four-Thirds mount lenses  as of January 20:  http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/913512-REG/Sigma__19mm_f_2_8_DN_f_OLYMPS_PAN.html.  The Sony NEX mount two lens kit can be found at http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/913513-REG/sigma_19mm_f_2_8_ex_dn.html.

There’s another lingering good deal: Pentax’s K-01 mirrorless camera. The K-01 never really caught on with mainstream purchasers due to its unusual body design that was basically a digital SLR camera in which the mirror and prism hump were removed and a dash of industrial design added. If you find the body design to your liking, then you can’t go wrong with the image quality.