Five fishermen indicted

A federal grand jury in Alaska has returned an indictment charging five commercial fishermen with conspiring to illegally harvest halibut, federal prosecutors announced today.

Here's a press release with more details.

The 18-page indictment indicates the government is seeking forfeiture of two fishing vessels, the 40-foot Bad Intentions and the 26-foot New Era.

Four fishy items in the new state budget

Gov. Sean Parnell today signed off on a new state budget, and it contains several capital items of interest to the commercial fishing community.

Here are four that Deckboss found especially interesting. Click on each to read a project snapshot.

Yakutat Regional Aquaculture Association, $100,000

ASMI canned salmon, herring and protein powder project, $300,000

Kaltag Traditional Council fish processing plant, $447,308

CDQ fleet homeport project, $10 million

More on the Yakutat tragedy

Deckboss asked the Alaska State Troopers whether the three salmon fishermen involved in the Dangerous River capsizing that left two dead Monday were wearing life preservers.

Here's the reply from AST spokeswoman Megan Peters:

Two of the three had PFDs (personal flotation devices). After the boat was swamped and capsized, they were able to crawl up on the vessel and sit out of the water. They were there for about four hours. They were pretty cold and shivering. After sitting for so long, the two with PFDs decided to make a swim for the shore since it was 'so close' (maybe a few hundred yards). As they swam, hypothermia likely set in very quickly. They drowned while attempting to get to shore. The one without the PFD stayed with the boat. A plane spotted him sometime after. A helo was sent out, but the man was too exhausted to pull himself up into the helo or onto the skids. It was a small two-seater without floats so it couldn't land. Skiffs from a nearby community set out and collected him. The bodies of the two deceased were spotted by a fixed-wing flying overhead. They had washed up on the shoreline by then. One a half mile away, the other about two miles away.

2 die, 1 survives after skiff capsizes in commercial fishing accident on Dangerous River at Yakutat

From the Alaska State Troopers:

Location: Dangerous River near Yakutat
Type: Boating accident, two fatalities
On 6/20/11 at 1730 hours the Alaska Wildlife Troopers in Yakutat responded to a report of an overturned boat at the mouth of Dangerous River in Yakutat. Jonathan Pavlik, 30, Wayne Gray, 29, and Rex Newlun, 18, all of Yakutat, were commercial fishing on the river when their skiff started filling with water and overturned. Gray and Newlun drowned in the water and Pavlik was able to climb on top of the skiff. A passing aircraft spotted Pavlik on top of the skiff later in the afternoon. Pavlik was recovered by local residents who took a boat out to retrieve him. Gray and Newlun were located and brought to the Yakutat clinic where they were pronounced deceased. Next of kin has been notified.