Fairbanks Daily News Miner (Newspaper) - February 19, 2005, Fairbanks, Alaska Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, Saturday, February 19, 2ojo ALASKA/NATION & & & A5King fishing on Taku, Stikine rivers opened By DAN JOLING Associated Press Writer ANCHORAGE—Southeast & & & Alaska king salmon fishermen could see a nearly IO percent boost in their catch this year. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game said Friday that for the first time since the mid-1970s, fisheries for king salmon will be opened at the Stikine and Taku rivers. The decision will mean expanded opportunities for both cc snmer-cial and sport fishermen. Both rivers flow from Canada and cross the U.S. border. The expanded fisheries are made possible by an agreement reached with Canada officials at the Pacific Salmon Commission, meeting this week in Portland, Ore. King salmon fishing had been banned or limited in the rivers since the mid-1970s following damage to stocks, mostly by overfishing, said Scott Kelley, the state’s commercial fishery Southeast regional supervisor. In 1999, the United States and Canada under the Pacific Salmon Treaty Agreement agreed not to develop new fisheries on trans-boundarv waters without the consent of both countries and without putting in place “abundance-based” management. Following healthy returns in recent years, representatives of the Pacific Salmon Commission agreed to allow the fisheries to begin as soon as this year. “With the opening of these fisheries, Alaskans are reaping the reward of a long-term conservation program,” said David Bedford, a Fish and Game Depart ment assistant commissioner. The conservation measures meant gillnet commercial fishing, targeted at sockeye salmon, started in mid-dune for the rivers. Kings were taken incidentally but the larger fish mostly moved through earlier, Kelley said. The agreement means commercial fishing could open a month earlier with fishermen targeting kings. “I would anticipate early May openings,” Kelley said. The Alaska Board of Fisheries, anticipating an agreement with Canada, adopted regulations for the Taku River in 2003. The board will take up regulations for the Stikine and possibly adjust rules for the Taku in March during meetings in Anchorage. The terminal run is the number of salmon that return to the river or are harvested in salt water as they approach the mouth of the river. Preseason forecasts estimate the number of terminal kings in the Taku at about 96,000 fish. Alaska’s share of the harvest would be 20,500 fish split by sport fishermen and commercial fishermen using nets or lines. Canada’s share, taken inriver, mostly by drift gillnets, would be just more than 14,000, Kelley said. For the Stikine River, the preseason forecast of the terminal run is 80,300 fish and the combined sport and commercial harvest in Alaska would be about 27,300 fish. Canada’s share would be 17,800, Kelley said. The preseason numbers are fluid and subject to change when in-season projections of salmon returns begin, Kelley said. Each country will determine how the king salmon will be allocated between sport fishing and various gear groups of commercial fishermen. Southeast fishermen took a record 507,000 kings last year, including 484,000 by commercial fishermen. The agreement with Canada also provides for U.S. subsistence fisheries for king and coho salmon on the Stikine River. The fisheries will be subject to federal oversight. The Stikme River flows northwest and south more than 300 miles through British Columbia to Eastern Passage two miles south of Wrangell. The Taku flows from British Columbia 54 miles west to Taku Inlet 18 miles northeast of Juneau.Seafood group has new mission The Associated Press JUNEAU—The Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute has a new mission. The ASMI board has drafted a new mission statement that will make consumer advertising a bigger part of its effort. The revised mission follows radical restructuring last year of the quasi-governmental agency. The old ASMI board had 25 representatives. The Legislature last year cut it to seven. Executive director Ray Riutta said the old mission was to increase the quantity of Alaska’s seafood consumed globally. ASMI’s new mission is to increase the value of Alaska’s seafood products. The board voted to approve a new $3 million media advertising campaign and the new mission statement at a two-day meeting that ended Wednesday. ASMI also foresees a reduction in its marketing in the food service and retail industry. It will focus more time and money on long-term planning and advertising, such as the $3 million campaign that will hawk Alaska seafood in magazines, radio and billboards.NationSitka cleanup James Poulson/Daily Sitka Sentinel Sitka Tribe of Alaska dive crew Jim Nielson, left, Jeromey Campbell, center, and Steve Johnson lift a World War ll-era lead communication cable onto their boat next to Clam Island near Sitka on Thursday. The Sitka Tribe of Alaska is working with the federal government to remove the decomposing cables from traditional subsistence food harvesting areas. Exxon Mobil value rises Oil giant tops GE as nation s largest corporation The Associated Press DALLAS—Buoyed by rising profits from lofty oil prices, Exxon Mobil Corp. passed General Electric Co. Friday to become the largest U.S. corporation by stock market value. The two Goliaths traded places after Exxon Mobil shares gained more than 2 percent—having surged 43 percent from a year ago—while GE’s stock slipped. That vaulted Exxon Mobil ahead of GE in market capitalization, topping $383 billion compared with about $379 billion for GE. A spokesman for Exxon Mobil, which just set a record for quarterly operating profits by a U.S. corporation, said the Irving, Texas-based company wasn’t counting. “We kinda leave that to other folks,” said Tom Gingham). “Our goal is to be the most efficient and profitable company. If the outcome of that is that we become the largest company, that’s just icing on the cake.” Exxon Mobil was already far ahead of GE in sales and profits. David Frail, a spokesman for GE, a conglomerate with industrial, financial and media hold ings including the NBC television network, said the company preferred to focus on returning to double-digit growth in earnings. “We’re focusing on growing our earnings and growing our market cap, in that order,” Frail said. “We’re not as concerned with rankings as we are with growing the businesses we’ve got.” Mark Baxter, director of an energy’ institute at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, said the long run-up in Exxon Mobil stock reflected investor confidence in the company’s management and a desire to cash in on rising oil and gas prices. “It came their way, but you still have to manage the company,” Baxter said. “They’ve always done that well.” Baxter said that for Exxon Mobil, the honor of being No. I carried risks. He said the company wished to avoid the limelight because of the public’s negative perception of big oil. In trading Friday afternoon on the New York Stock Exchange, Exxon Mobil shares rose $1.28, to close at $59.41, while GE shares fell 15 cents, to $35.88. That was enough of a swing to put Exxon Mobil ahead in market capitalization— price multiplied by the number of outstanding shares. GE shares have gained 9 percent in the past year. Last month, Exxon Mobil announced it earned $25.3 billion in 2004, believed to be a record for U.S. companies after excluding windfalls from selling assets. Revenues were $298 billion, topping the previous leader, Wal-Mart Stores Inc., at $288 billion. Profits at Fairfield, Connecticut-based GE have grown more slowly in the last few years, hitting $16.6 billion (712.7 billion) on sales of $152 billion (7116.6 billion) last year. The two Goliaths maintained a comfortable lead in stock market value over the next three largest U.S. companies by market cap, Microsoft Corp., Citigroup Inc., and Wal-Mart. Exxon Mobil gave another indication Friday that it could stay among the leaders for a long time. It reported that for the lith straight year it added enough new energy reserves to fully replace all the oil and natural gas it produced in 2004. The company has proved reserves of 22.2 billion barrels, enough oil and gas to last 14 years at current production rates. IN BRIEF Judge wins $2.1 million libel case against newspaper The Associated Press Family arrested in identity theft probe VANCOUVER, Wash.—Four people accused of buying millions of dollars worth of real estate and cars in an identity theft scam that victimized Jehovah’s Witnesses and the elderly have been jailed in California, authorities say. Mildreada Andrews, 45; her daughter, Melanie Marie Andrews, 22; her son, Michael Lee Andrews, 24; and her daughter-in-law, Isis Andrews, 19, were arrested in the past week, 18 months after they fled Clark County, said Bill Hanley, a Palm Springs, Calif., police detective. Family members used their intelligence, charm and religious connections to defraud hundreds of people through complex schemes in Washington and other states over a period of years, said Vancouver police Detective Edward L. Hewitt. It’s hard to estimate the amount of money stolen, he said. Homes worth $3.4 million were involved in the metropolitan area of Vancouver and Portland, Ore., he said. Cars worth $90,000 were recovered in Vancouver, he said. California, Hearst Corp. close historic land deal SAN FRANCISCO—One of the largest land conservation deals in California history became final Friday when the state and two conservation groups closed escrow on a $95 million agreement to preserve Hearst Ranch, the nearly pristine stretch of coastal rangeland that surrounds Hearst Castle. Under terms of the sale, nearly all the 82,000-acre ranch about 200 miles north of Los Angeles will remain undeveloped, while 13 miles of coastline that has been privately held for generations will transfer to the state for public access, according to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s office. Besides opening miles of rugged beaches along Highway I in San Luis Obispo County, the accord brokered by the trust and the American Land Conservancy provides the state with an easement through the ranch that will be .used to complete an 18-mile segment of the California Coastal Trail. WWII veteran gets medal 60 years late ST. PAUL—It only took 60 years to get the paperwork straightened out. A World War II veteran who fought in the Aleutian Islands off Alaska’s western coast finally got his Bronze Star Friday at the Minnesota Capitol. Sgt. Alex Frost was awarded the Bronze Star on paper in 1945 when he was honorably discharged after he helped maintain airfields the United States needed to fight the Japanese and retake the islands of Attu and Kiska. But he never got the medal. On Friday, Maj. Gen. Larry Shellito, division commander for the Minnesota Army National Guard, pinned the five-pointed star on Frost’s jacket. The Japanese had occupied part of the Aleutian islands—a potential route to attack the mainland United States and Canada—when Frost was sent there in 1942. His task was to keep the airfields operating despite heavy bombing by the enemy. The cold was bitter. The Associated Press BOSTON—A jury Friday ordered the Boston Herald to pay $2.1 million for libeling a Superior Court judge, saying it misquoted him as telling lawyers that a 14-year-old rape victim should “get over it.” In a case closely watched by the media and legal communities, a jury deliberated for more than 20 hours over five days before finding that the newspaper and reporter David Wedge libeled Superior Court Judge Ernest B. Murphy in articles that portrayed him as lenient toward defendants. Another reporter, Jules Crittenden, was cleared. Murphy claimed Wedge misquoted him as telling lawyers involved in the case about the teenage rape victim: “Tell her to get over it.” The quote was included in a February 2002 series of Herald articles that said Murphy had been criticized by prosecutors for lenient sentences, including eight years’ probation for a 17-year-old convicted of two rapes and an armed robbery. Murphy, 61, was bombarded with hate mail, death threats and calls for his removal from the bench. He sued the Herald and its writers, claiming his comments about the 14-year-old, made in a closed-door meeting with lawyers, were misquoted and taken out of context. “I’m feeling obviously very elated and very gratified about what’s happened so far,” Murphy said as he left court after the verdict was read. Outside the courtroom, he hugged his lawyers and raised their fists triumphantly as friends and family applauded. Later, Murphy said he hoped the verdict would be a warning to journalists around the country that innocent people get hurt if they don’t do their jobs properly. The newspaper continued to stand by its reporting, saying it will appeal and that it will not change how it covers the news. “We believe the First Amendment allows news organizations to provide uninhibited coverage of government and public figures, and we will continue to cover them vigorously,” said Patrick J. Purcell, the newspaper’s president and publisher. The jury awarded damages on 22 of 61 statements Murphy claimed were libelous, including $1,375 million for ll separate occasions in which the “Tell her to get over it” quote was reported in some form in the paper, or repeated on a TV appearance by Wedge. “Monetary compensation may not ever get back his reputation, but we tried to be as fair as we could,” said juror Colleen E. Barber, 22. Wedge, the lead reporter on the story, has stood by the quote, including during an appearance on Fox News’ “The O’Reilly Factor” about three weeks after his first story ran. When host Bill O’Reilly asked Wedge if he was sure Murphy said that the rape victim should “get over it,” Wedge replied, “Yes. He made this comment to three lawyers. He knows he said it, and everybody else that knows this judge knows that he said it.” Wedge, however, later said in a deposition that only one of the lawyers heard the comment firsthand and the other two just repeated it to Wedge. The prosecutor who claims to have heard the comment, David Crowley, said in his deposition that he recalled Murphy saying the words “get over it,” but couldn’t remember the judge’s exact quote. Murphy’s lawyer, Howard M. Cooper, argued his client said, “She’s got to get over it,” which indicated sympathy. Cooper said Murphy had expressed concern for the rape victim and asked court personnel and the defendant’s lawyer about making counseling available to her. The Herald’s articles were picked up by media outlets across the country. Murphy was excoriated on talk radio shows, and the outrage shook Murphy’s family. In an Internet chat room, someone suggested that Murphy’s own teenage daughters should be raped. 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