Kid’s Fishing Day
Dear Editor: The Sitka Rotary Club, Alaska Department of Fish and Game, and U.S. Forest Service would like to extend thanks to the attendees and sponsors of the 81st Annual Swan Lake Kid’s Fishing Day. The event took place on June 11 from 9 a.m. to noon. Sixty-eight kids, ages 4-12, registered to fish and 89 fish were weighed and measured. Prizes were awarded for first fish in each category, then random hidden weight prizes throughout the event. The day started out with a Sitka downpour but got nice after about the first hour of fishing.
Prizes for first fish were awarded to Faith Feldpausch, Thomas Vinson, Calysta Eddy, Marty Vinson, Luca Twitchell and Wyatt Kirkness. Hidden weight prizes were awarded to Navy Nye, Lucy Hodges, Aurora Armor, Frances Haag, Solaris Nevers, Sage Rowe, Coen Kitka, Ryder Plank, Caleb Gray, Trigve Ystad, Cephas Sachsenmaier, Ezra Routon, Desmond Young, Matthew Kisaka, Nico Tabachnik, Jeremiah Plank, Tanner Ystad, Braylon Doyle, Elliott Bagley, Jacob Kisaka, Lucas Kisaka, Gage Peters (Gage caught the largest fish of the entire day; a 15.8-inch rainbow trout), Karver Bezezekof, Jacob Roy, Gemma Tabachnik, Macee Urias, Elizabeta Tabachnik, Neveah Urias, Jake Peterson, Ficher Stewart, Jebow Nebula, Ricky Urias and JD Keith.
Thanks go to Sitka Sound Seafood for lending the ADFG fish totes for gear and fish transport and to LFS for donating various prizes.
A very special thanks goes to the U.S. Coast Guard for their time and expertise. On the afternoon of May 23, the USCG flew 300 lively rainbow trout, captured by ADFG and USFS, from Sukoi Lake, on Kruzof Island, to Sitka.
Sitka Rotary Club, Alaska Department of Fish & Game, U.S. Forest Service
SNEP Archive
Dear Editor: I am an AmeriCorps member serving with the Sitka AmeriCorps Program. I serve with Sitka Tribe of Alaska. Back in September, I couldn’t even walk through the door of the storage unit that was to become SNEP’s cultural archive. It was packed from floor to ceiling with boxes all the way to the entrance. The vast majority of the composition of these boxes was garbage: files, books and knick-knacks that were placed in storage so they wouldn’t take up space in the other tribal buildings. I spent months creating policies and cataloging these boxes. After multiple rounds of combing and organization, I whittled the original 138 boxes down to just 18.
Throughout this experience, I gained a wealth of local knowledge. It was a huge privilege to spend time with many of the objects in the archive. I saw pictures and read books created from 50 years of Native education in Sitka. I became well acquainted with important figures in Sitka’s rich history. (One day while sifting through a box of cords, I came across one of Charlie Joseph’s drums.) There are over 150 VHS tapes showing interviews from prominent elders, dances, cultural events, and so much more.
These past few months I’ve been starting to digitize and preserve the collection so it can be dispersed and used by future generations. There is so much knowledge that has been sitting for years in that storage unit. I love being able to unearth it and bring it to fresh eyes. I’ve also been preparing the archive for when I leave. I believe that I’ve shown that the tribe could use a full-time archivist because there is so much more left to do and so much knowledge to spread. It has been amazing seeing how much support there is in the tribe for this work. Digitizing and sharing just the photographs brought so many stories out of so many people. It will be interesting to keep in touch and see where this project goes from here.
Benjamin Kinzer, Sitka AmeriCorps Program
NPFMC Reception
Dear Editor: On June 9, the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association and co-sponsors hosted a seafood reception for the North Pacific Fishery Management Council and the 200 attendees in Sitka for the council’s June meeting. The event was held at the Halibut Point Recreation site where attendees enjoyed a delicious dinner of king salmon, prawns, sablefish tips, side dishes and delectable cupcakes catered by Beth Short-Rhoads of Fireweed Dinner Service. The weather cooperated and everyone left with a deeper love for Sitka seafood, community, and environment.
We would like to thank our sponsors for their generous monetary and in-kind donations. Thank you to Alaskans Own Seafood, Seafood Producers Cooperative, Sitka Salmon Shares and Sitka Sound Seafoods for donating seafood for the event and offering additional volunteer support. Thank you to Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers, Halibut Coalition, Hames Corporation, Harbor Mountain Brewing, House of Liquor, Ocean Conservancy, Petersburg Vessel Owners Association, Salmon State, Southeast Alaska Fishermen’s Alliance, and Silver Bay Seafoods for monetary support. We thank our board members, staff, and friends for volunteering their time to host the event.
Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association
