Investing beyond short-term CDs
Many people depend on certificates of deposit (CDs) to provide extra income. Yet CD rates have been fairly low for a while. In recent months, in fact, one-year CDs were paying about 0.5 percent, two-year CDs topped out at around 1%, and five-year CDs paid in the 2 percent to 2. 3 percent range. Those rates are scanty enough, but they can seem even lower in an economic environment marked by rising food and gas prices.
Occasionally even the tide book makes mistakes
Tides rule the day for most mariners, who plan their work days based on its ebb and flow.
“A tide book is like a Bible to a fishermen. It is constantly referenced – they lay their nets down by the tide, they launch by the tide – all their activity is centered around that every day,” said Jerry Thompson of Soldotna, publisher of the Alaska Tide Book for 23 years.
Humpies top projections; kings – keep fingers crossed
by Laine Welch Alaska’s 2011 salmon season officially gets underway in two weeks. While trollers in Southeast Alaska provide Chinook salmon to markets nearly year round (their spring fishery got under way April 25), it is the runs of reds and kings to the famous Copper River that mark the official start of Alaska’s salmon [...]
Ocean zoning comes at huge US Budget costs
Alaska Sen. Mark Begich is quick to name the issue that’s giving him the biggest earful so far in his new post as Chairman of the Commerce Subcommittee on Oceans, Fisheries, and Coast Guard: “marine spatial planning.”
Herring fishery begins
Alaska’s most lucrative roe herring fishery is set to get underway any day at Sitka Sound, starting a circuit that each year swims its way all the way to Nome. The herring are valued for their eggs, and harvesters get paid according to the amount of roe in the fish.
The Sitka Sound harvest could approach 19,500 thousand tons for the fishery’s 50 permit holders. Last year after price adjustments they got $690 per ton for their catches, making the fishery worth over $12 million at the docks, far more than halibut or black cod.
The Bristol Bay roe herring fishery at Togiak was worth about $4 million to seiners and setnetters in 2010, and over $2 million at Kodiak.
Safety programs canceled due to slashed budget
The nation’s most dangerous job could soon become more deadly. As Congress struggles to balance current and future budgets, fishing safety programs are on the cutting room floor.
The president’s FY2012 budget eliminates funding ($23 million) for all agriculture, forestry and fishing research (AgFF) done by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health , and it is likely to be trimmed from the FY11 budget being debated now.
Alaska fishermen’s wives get own reality show
A casting call is out for Alaska women to star in an Animal Planet reality show.
“The name of the show we are casting is Alaska Fishermen’s Wives,” said Annette Ivy, casting producer with Shed Media US in Los Angeles. “We are looking for a kind of flip side of Deadliest Catch, and that would be the fishermen’s wives and their lifestyle. We’re interested in the stresses and challenges they go through when their husbands are out at sea and they’re left holding down the fort.”
Berring snow crab fishermen hope for patrols
The Bering Sea snow crab fishery has been stalled so far by bad weather. Most of the catch is delivered to St. Paul, where the Trident Seafood plant was awaiting supplies to get going. A Northland barge has been stuck in Dutch Harbor due to weather, delaying operations.
A 2010 fisheries recap shows profits, losses
Alaska’s seafood industry worked hard this year to ramp up its message to policy makers, especially those from rail belt regions who tend to overlook the industry’s economic significance.
How important is the seafood industry to Alaska and the nation? At a glance: 62 percent of all U.S. seafood landings come from Alaska … 96 percent of all wild- caught salmon come from Alaska … Seafood is by far Alaska’s #1 export, valued at nearly $2 billion (next in line: zinc and lead at $785 million) … Alaska ranks 9th in the world in terms of global seafood production.
Sea yields unique products for technology
During the season of gift-giving, don’t overlook the gifts from the sea.
Sponge Bob, for example, is set to be the next rage in fiber optics. Researchers at Bell Labs have found that the sponge euplectella grows glass fiber networks that are far more advanced than any found in today’s telecommunications industry.
