Alaska Wildlife Troopers cited several Sitkans for wildlife violations yesterday (1-18-16).
Sitka Salmon Alaska Holdings, which does business as Sitka Salmon Shares, failed to submit tickets within seven days and to imprint a permit card on fish tickets. The violations stemmed from commercial troll caught king salmon, bought by the company in December 2015. Arraignment is set in the District Court at Sitka on February 9th.
Aaron Frenzel, Sergeant with the Alaska Wildlife Troopers, stressed the importance of turning in those tickets within the seven day window. On the phone with KCAW, he said, “Fish and game relies on the information off these fish tickets – for number of fish, crab, etc. – reported to them so that they can stay within the guidelines of the fishery’s management.”
The Sitka Post also cited Todd Smith, age 45, after an investigation discovered he was commercial salmon trolling with more than six power troll gurdies on the F/V Ocean Roar. Gurdies are the hydraulic reels used to hold the troll lines. The additional gurdies were not in use at the time of the violation.
Troopers also cited Kelly Durgan, age 54, for retaining a king salmon less than 28 inches in length. They contacted Durgan during an offload of commercial kings from the F/V Satellite.
