20 years ago

Nine southern Kenai Peninsula youths placed in the 2004 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Duck Stamp Competition. They were selected from nearly 1,000 entries from across Alaska. The Best of Show selection, drawn by 17-year-old Aurora Firth, of Anchor Point, was chosen from the pool of 12 first-place winners. She also was the best of show winner in 2001 and 2003. The contest began as a pilot program in 1990 in Florida. The national winner will be reproduced as a collector’s stamp to generate funds for environmental education and scholarships for youth. Alaska’s winners will be acknowledged at a banquet Saturday in Fairbanks in conjunction with the Migratory Bird Day celebration.

— From the issue of April 29, 2004

30 years ago

Homer commercial fisherman Joe Wallis says he’s never seen so many Dungeness crab in upper Kachemak Bay. He can’t understand why the Alaska Department of Fish and Game won’t let commercial fishermen take some of the bounty. For the last three years, the crab fishery has been closed and that’s cost the Homer economy the value of well over a million pounds of crab, Wallis and 58 other commercial, sport and personal use fishermen wrote in a paid full-page ad in last week’s Homer News. Al Kimker, regional biologist for Fish and Game in Homer, drew much of the criticism aired in the advertisement. Kimker said the problem is that one major age-group accounts for nearly all the crab in the upper bay that are big enough for commercial harvest. There’s no evidence of any big group of young crab coming to take its place.

— From the issue of April 28, 1994