Alaska Fish Factor

Is Holland America leaving? - page 3 Meet the candidates - page 4 Serving Haines and Klukwan, Alaska since 1966 Chilkat Valley News Volume XLVIV, Issue 37 Thursday, September 19, 2019 $1.25 CIA applies with state to change Seduction Point to Tlingint ‘Ayiklutu’ By Kyle Clayton band and other seal hunters.” The Chilkoot Indian Association Henry reviewed ship’s logs and has applied with the Alaska His- interviewed Joe Hotch, a Tlingit torical Commission to change the elder, who said the story of the as- name of Seduction Point, the south- sault was passed down through the ern tip of the Chilkat Peninsula, in generations. Hotch told the CVN an effort to expose and change the that multiple women were raped. landmark that hides a dark history. “When I was fishing with my dad “In brief, a Kaagwaantaan wom- ,we drifted by there and he showed an was raped at this spot by Brit- me the (spot) that the women were ish sailors under the command of raped,” Hotch told the CVN this Joseph Whidbey,” Chilkoot Indian week. “They’re doing a good job Association’s Ryan Barber wrote in changing (the name.) The history in his application letter. “The name will never change.” is meant to imply that she seduced The Geographic Names Informa- the sailors.” tion Systems entry for Seduction Barber sourced Dan Henry’s Point states Vancouver named the book “Across the Shaman’s River,” place Seduction Point because of a narrative detailing Tlingit and the “designing nature of the Indians Native history in the Chilkat Valley. whom Lieutenant Joseph Whid- Henry writes that in 1794, when bey encountered there on July 16, Captain George Vancouver’s ships 1794,” according to a U.S. Geo- sailed the length of the Chilkat In- logic Survey document. let, one of the boats approached the Those seeking the name change tip of the peninsula. have proposed its original Tlingt “Smoke from a cooking fire name, “Ayiklutu,” a word that near the peninsula’s point spurred translates to “small point of a larger HOME MEET: Haines’ Avery Williamson, center, bolts past Juneau-Douglas’ Jasmin Holst, left, as they near the sailors to investigate,” Henry point.” the finish line during their cross country meet on Saturday, Sept. 14, 2019. Williams was the first Haines wrote. “They found a lone Tlingit runner to finish and was ninth overall with a run time of 22:04. Cindy Schultz photo. woman tending camp for her hus- See AYIKLUTU page 8 ‘Race Trail’ Ship cancels Chilkat Inlet sailing after fishermen protest By Kyle Clayton A cruise ship sailing north up the closed to Chilkat Inlet last Tuesday roiled fishermen as about 25 gillnetters were forced to pull their nets and the public get out of the way of the oncoming vessel. While the ship had planned By Jenna Kunze to sail again this Tuesday to the The race trail off Young Road that same area, the outcry from fishermen weaves up the steep face of Mount discouraged the return trip. Ripinsky is closed to the public, “They heard the fisherman and posted with ‘private property’ and they talked with their main office ‘no trespassing’ signs last week by and they’re trying to find a different property owner Roger Schnabel. scenario,” said Haines port agent for The trail has been in public use Cruise Line of Alaska Leslie Ross. for at least 50 years, locals estimate. “It was insanity,” F/V Lookout There has been an Independence Day captain Karl Johnson told the CVN race on the trail for at least 45 years. of last week’s kerfuffle. “The pilot Schnabel, who purchased the 65- had the opportunity to turn away and The Norwegian Joy sailed into Chilkat Inlet as gillnetters scrambled to get out of the way last Tuesday, Sept. acre swath of land encompassing the she chose not to and instead chose 10. Photo Courtesty of Judy Hall Jacobson. race trail trailhead up to the parking to bully her way through the fleet.” lot of the Ripinsky trailhead on Johnson said after the Norwegian glaciers so passengers could have a Tuesday they were there. Nobody about them apples,” Johnson said. Skyline Road in the 1970s, said it Joy’s pilot Joan Sizemore informed sightseeing opportunity. She said she really knew it was going to happen.” “Will wonders never cease?” had become a liability to keep the fishermen of her intent to travel up was also surprised to see so many Steve Fossman was one of the Sizemore said the company applied trail in public use. the inlet, she was answered by three fishing vessels. “I talked to one of dozens of fishermen who had to for permits to go to Glacier Bay, Last Wednesday, a group of hikers vessel operators including Johnson the tenders and asked what the fishing pull his net. He was working on where it will soon take its passengers. were bluff charged by a bear on who said that the area was crowded situation is,” Sizemore said on her deck and didn’t hear the cruise ship “It’s not going to be a routine thing. It the Skyline Trail while ascending with actively fishing gillnetters, way up Lynn Canal. “They said ‘Oh informing fishermen of its route on was just a stop gap. The Davidson and Mount Ripinsky. One sustained a and that it would be unsafe to travel it’s a desert out there.’ I took that to his radio. He said the Rainbow minor injury from falling when she through the area. mean there weren’t many boats.” he hopes the ship’s Well how about them (glaciers) are moved off the trail to escape the “She informed us that she would The fleet later received an email travel doesn’t set a “apples. Will the wonders really not bear. The incident caused the Alaska slow down to ten knots,” Johnson from United Southeast Alaska precedent. much to look Department of Fish and Game to post wrote in a letter to multiple local and Gillnetters executive director Max “The fact that never cease? at. They just bear alert signs on the Skyline Road state agencies, and to cruise industry Worhatch who informed them that one was coming -Karl Johnson ” didn’t have trailhead, and also on Schnabel’s representatives. “Fortunately, no another ship was scheduled to take in there, in general, was a surprise,” another place to go. That’s a problem property. collisions occurred during the transit, the same route Tuesday, Sept. 17. Fossman said. “I feel like a working that we’re going to see with more Schnabel said the bear incident has but at one time a gillnetter had to turn Worhatch told the CVN that the relationship would be if there’s a cruise ships coming up, we’re created a liability for him. “I took loose of the end of his net when the ship was scheduled to view glaciers commercial fishery in the Chilkat running out of destinations.” the bear alert sign down and put up ship came within twenty feet of his near Holcomb Bay, but in the fading Inlet that they don’t go through there. According to U.S Coast Guard a no trespassing sign,” Schnabel said. twenty-eight foot long boat.” September light, it’s getting too dark It displaces us. It’s a very tight area, regulations, large vessels have the “That took care of the bear issue.” Johnson said fishermen lost time to leave the fjord to accommodate its but it’s a historical fishing area.” right-of-way. “The fleet has to get Though Schnabel said he hasn’t and income as a result of the cruise schedule. “They decided to go into On Tuesday morning, Johnson out of the way is the bottom line,” had an issue with public use on ship’s passage. Chilkat Inlet…instead,” Worhatch was unaware that the ship wouldn’t said Alaska Department of Fish and his property before, he posted a no Sizemore said she was running the said. “It was decided on Monday be returning to the Chilkat Inlet until Game area commercial fisheries trespassing sign about 20 years ago. ship toward Davidson and Rainbow morning, is what I was told. By the CVN informed him. “Well how biologist Nicole Zeiser. As a result, “somebody moved the trailhead 50 feet to the west,” he said. Local trail runners called the decision sad, but said they were Candidates outline positions during first of three forums unaware the trail was private By Jenna Kunze more revenue?” property. Five assembly candidates twice responded to questions on their ideas of Thomas and Gaffney both suggested a seasonal sales tax to maximize “I use (the race trail) regularly and the Haines Borough’s most pressing problems, ways to generate revenue, benefits from tourists. To compensate for disproportionately affecting locals, I love it, it’s one of the few quick thoughts on resource extraction and policing, and how they would maintain Thomas offered giving locals a break on heating fuel or a lower sales tax easy summits right in town,” Sierra balance if elected to the Haines Borough Assembly. in the winter. Jimenez said. “I didn’t realize it was On Sept. 11, 25 people gathered at the first candidate forum hosted at Gaffney said that, while he’s been a proponent of the seasonal sales tax, private property and I’m certainly the Mosquito Lake Community Center. Later that week, about 40 residents he hadn’t vetted the idea with community members, and could see how it bummed out. I hope he’s willing to listened to nine questions prepared by the Haines Chamber of Commerce might negatively impact summertime home builders.

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