InsidePassageNews.com

I am a user of your publications. I thought you might like to know about a potentially big impact in the works for potentially all anchorages in Southeast Alaska.

The Alaska Dept of Natural Resources recently proposed giving tidelands leases to a number of individuals for geoduck farms in Southeast Alaska. All of the applicants have proposed, or implied that they will use, plastic 1/2 inch mesh netting (Vexar, Durethene) on the bottom to help with geoduck predator control. This netting most certainly will be an anchoring hazard, as it will both limit the ability of the anchor to dig in, as well as snag on the anchor making retrieval difficult. Not to mention that if you do retrieve your anchor, you would in all liklihood be ripping the netting, potentially setting a portion of it free to ensnare other marine organisms.

The applicants propose to mark the area with either one, two, three, or four buoys, depending on the applicant. My opinion is that this will be completely inadequate warning for mariners, as these buoys will look like normal crab pot buoys. And even if adequate warning were posted, it probably won't last long due to a) inclement weather; b) fishermen upset that their anchorages are being taken away.

There are approximately 125 sites proposed (118 by one person! from California!!). 80 of the sites are in wilderness areas!! The wilderness areas affected are: South Etolin Island wilderness - 53 sites; Coronation Island wilderness - 8 sites; Warren Island wilderness - 5 sites; and South Prince of Wales wilderness - 14 sites.

To access the documents containing a list of all the sites, go to: www.dnr.state.ak.us/mlw/aquatic/index.htm Near the top of the page, click on '2005 Preliminary Decisions' for a list of the applications (sort of grouped by region) and their associated sites. Located under the 'Preliminary Decision Documents' choice you can click on 'General Location Map' to get an idea of where these are being proposed, although each of the Decision Documents contains topo maps at the end which have the sites shown on there.

The public notice says that the public comment period ends November 3, but we just got word that it is being extended to Dec 5.

Editor's Note: If you want a copy of the public notice via email, including the mailing address and email address to send in comments, contact Dick Farnell at dickfarnell@hotmail.com.