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Tag: Hunting and fishing

  • New England’s shrimp fishery to shut down for long haul

    Regulators voted Thursday to extend a shutdown preventing New England fishermen from catching shrimp, a historic industry that has recently fallen victim to warming oceans.

    New England fishermen, especially those from Maine, used to catch millions of pounds of the small pink Gulf of Maine northern shrimp, Pandalus borealis, the only locally harvested shrimp in the winter.

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    Staff and Wire Reports

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  • Lobster population falls off New England, leading regulators to declare overfishing

    PORTLAND, Maine — A new report says America’s lobsters, which have been in decline since 2018, are now being overfished off New England.

    The stock has declined by 34% since that year in its most important fishing grounds, the regulatory Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission said Thursday. The commission said it now considers overfishing of the species to be occurring, and that could bring new management measures that restrict fishermen from catching them in the future.

    Lobsters are among America’s most lucrative seafood species, and they were worth more than $700 million at the docks last year. The industry caught record high numbers of the crustaceans in the 2010s.

    But the lobster population has shown “rapid declines in abundance in recent years,” the commission said in a statement.

    The assessment said the decline and overfishing were taking place in fishing areas off Maine and Massachusetts where most lobster fishing takes place. The assessment also considered the southern New England lobster stock, which it said has been depleted for years and remains so.

    Regulators have attempted to enforce new rules on lobster fishermen to try to stem the decline in recent years, but they have been met with resistance. They had planned to increase the minimal harvest size for lobsters in key fishing grounds this summer. That would have required fishermen to throw back lobsters that previously could have been sold.

    The commission backed off the rules earlier this year after months of protest from lobster fishermen who found the new rules unnecessary and threatening to their livelihoods. Fishermen in the industry are also contending with challenges from potential new rules to protect rare whales, warming oceans and volatile trade markets.

    “Even as the resource adjusts from record highs, lobstermen remain deeply committed to stewardship, sustainable practices, and to protecting the fishery that sustains thousands of Maine families,” said Patrice McCarron, executive director of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association.

    The American lobster fishery is based mostly in Maine. Carl Wilson, commissioner of the Maine Department of Marine Resources, said the state “will continue to engage industry in discussions about the stock assessment and the future of the fishery” and he is “confident in the commitment of this industry to conservation of this resource.”

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  • Ancient spear-throwing tool brings fun and history to Vermont competition

    ADDISON, Vt. — Celine Thouin learned a lot as a student at Franklin Pierce University, and one of the skills she has held onto the longest is how to use an ancient spear-throwing tool.

    She got to share that skill with fellow Vermonters on Saturday. Thouin, 38 and a veteran of the Franklin Pierce atlatl team, was one of a few dozen participants in the Northeast Open Atlatl Championship in Addison, Vermont.

    Humans invented the atlatl thousands of years ago for use as a spear-throwing hunting tool. They were used to hunt massive animals such as woolly mammoths in the days long before recorded history.

    Now, they are the passion of a group of hobbyists and anthropology lovers who see the atlatl as a way to learn about history and have fun.

    “I think it’s just a low-pressure sport. Really, really fun,” said Thouin, who won the 2020 competition and whose children are also atlatl enthusiasts. “It’s also experimental archaeology, which is incredibly fun. We get to use the same weapons that were used 15,000 years ago all over the world.”

    The competition took place at Chimney Point State Historic Site in Addison, near Lake Champlain and the New York state border. It was the thirtieth annual event and a part of Vermont’s Archaeology Month, organizers said.

    The contest was open to all ages and allowed participants to shoot for accuracy and distance. Throws of more than 800 feet (244 meters) have been recorded, though even a much shorter throw than that takes a good degree of skill.

    For Douglas Bassett, a past president of the World Atlatl Association and another participant in Saturday’s event, the history of the atlatl is as interesting as its use. He described it as “a stick by which you can throw another stick,” and he said it was used all over the ancient world.

    Bassett confessed to having no idea how to pronounce the name of the tool. Most sources say it is aht-LAHT-l, but the exact pronunciation might be lost to the mists of time, he said.

    “The language is gone as the people are gone, so I don’t know much about the pronunciations,” Bassett said. “But all kinds of languages, all around the world. It may pretty much have been on every continent. Even when Antarctica melts, maybe we’ll find evidence of people throwing spears there, too, with the atlatl.”

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  • New Hampshire boy, 13, reels in 177-pound halibut while deep-sea fishing that may be a world record

    HAMPTON, N.H. — A New Hampshire teenager on a deep-sea fishing trip this week hauled in a 177-pound (80 kilogram) Atlantic halibut, a fish so big that it weighed more than him and could be a world record.

    Jackson Denio, a 13-year-old from Hampton, New Hampshire, was fishing about 100 miles (161 kilometers) off the New England Coast on Cashes Ledge Monday morning when he caught the fish.

    “I think I screamed, honestly,” said Denio, who weighs around 120 pounds and is 5-foot-9-inches. “I don’t know exactly what happened, but I was very excited.”

    Denio had set out on Sunday with about 30 others on an overnight charter trip with Al Gauron’s Deep Sea Fishing and Whale Watching. After everyone had caught plenty of pollock and other fish, Denio told the crew he wanted to catch a shark. They told him to fish at the bottom.

    Minutes after he dropped his hook with pollock on it, Denio got a hit and knew he had something big.

    Denio fought the fish for about 30 minutes, bringing it near the boat only to have it dive back down. He was eventually able to get the fish to the surface, guided by the crew and cheered on by fellow passengers who uttered plenty of oohs and ahhs spiced with profanity as the size of the fish became clear. One person even yelled out “Jackson, you are an angel of a man.”

    “I’m standing there watching him. Then all of a sudden the fish took off it, bit it and started pounding away,” said Jim Walsh, the captain of the vessel that Denio was on. “I looked at him and I said, were you on the bottom? And he goes, yes. And I said, you don’t have a shark.”

    Walsh said he was most impressed with Denio’s composure.

    “He did not let go once. He never let anybody else touch the rod. And he worked him, worked him. Then eventually, the fish starts to tire out,” Walsh said. “Even though he’s that big, they go to tire. Then he got it up to the surface. That’s when we looked and went Oh my God. We were all ecstatic.”

    Before the fish was carved up, Denio officially got it weighed and took photos and video of the fish, and he has provided other information about his fishing gear that will go into an application for a world record with the International Game Fish Association. The family plans to file an application under the junior record for Atlantic halibut and one under line class that includes all fish.

    The association didn’t respond to a request for more information. Its website lists as vacant the record for Atlantic halibut under the junior male class.

    And while he is relishing all the attention, Denio is itching get back out on the water again — and catch something even bigger.

    “It makes me want to keep fishing even more and try and beat the record if I can,” he said.

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  • 2 men were arrested on public road within Oprah’s Hawaii ranch. They’re suspected of illegal hunting

    2 men were arrested on public road within Oprah’s Hawaii ranch. They’re suspected of illegal hunting

    KULA, Hawaii — Two men arrested last month on a public road within Oprah Winfrey ‘s property on the Hawaiian island of Maui are suspected of illegal night hunting, state officials said Monday.

    The two Maui men, both 19, were arrested just before midnight on June 21 after officers found them using a hunting spotlight on a public road that runs through Winfrey’s ranch in Kula, the state Department of Land and Natural Resources said in a news release.

    While they were not caught actively hunting, officers found a loaded shotgun and a loaded rifle in the pair’s truck, and Winfrey’s ranch surrounds the road where they were stopped, the state said.

    The men were arrested on suspicion of hunting on private lands without permission, not having a hunting license and other violations. One of them was also arrested for an unregistered semi-automatic rifle.

    Invasive axis deer run rampant on Maui and other islands of Hawaii.

    Maui County prosecutors will review the case and determine if there will be charges. Records show the men were released pending investigation, county officials said.

    “Last month, DLNR reached out to Upcountry ranchers regarding their efforts to prevent illegal poaching throughout the area and we agreed to cooperate. The arrests did not happen on the property,” Winfrey’s production company, Harpo, said Monday in an emailed statement.

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  • ‘Monster hunters’ wanted in new search for the mythical Loch Ness beast

    ‘Monster hunters’ wanted in new search for the mythical Loch Ness beast

    The Loch Ness Centre in Scotland is calling for “budding monster hunters” and volunteers to join in what it dubs the largest search for the Loch Ness Monster since the 1970s

    FILE – This undated file photo shows a shadowy shape that some people say is a the Loch Ness monster in Scotland, later debunked as a hoax. The Loch Ness Centre in Scotland is calling for “budding monster hunters” and volunteers to join in what it dubs the largest search for the Loch Ness Monster since the 1970s. The visitor attraction said Thursday, Aug. 3, 2023, that modern technology such as drones that produces thermal images of the lake will “search the waters in a way that has never been done before.” (AP Photo/File)

    The Associated Press

    LONDON — The Loch Ness Centre in Scotland is calling for “budding monster hunters” and volunteers to join in what it dubs the largest search for the Loch Ness Monster since the 1970s.

    The visitor attraction said this week that modern technology such as drones that produces thermal images of the lake will “search the waters in a way that has never been done before.”

    The new surface water search for the fabled “Nessie,” planned for the weekend of Aug. 26 and 27, is billed as the largest of its kind since the Loch Ness Investigation Bureau studied the loch for signs of the mythical beast in 1972.

    The Loch Ness Centre is located at the old Drumnadrochit Hotel, where in 1933 manager Aldie Mackay reported spotting a “water beast” in the loch, the largest body of freshwater by volume in the United Kingdom and one of its deepest.

    The story kicked off an enduring worldwide fascination with finding the elusive monster, spawning hoaxes and hundreds of eyewitness accounts. Numerous theories or explanations have been put forward over the years, including that the creature may have been a plesiosaur, a prehistoric marine reptile, giant eels or even swimming circus elephants.

    The Loch Ness Centre said its team will deploy drones equipped with infrared cameras so they can produce thermal images of the water from the air. A hydrophone will also be used to detect acoustic signals under the water.

    Volunteers will be asked to keep an eye out for any breaks or other movements in the water, with guidance from experts on what to look out for and how to record findings.

    “It’s our hope to inspire a new generation of Loch Ness enthusiasts,” said Alan McKenna, of Loch Ness Exploration, a voluntary research team taking part in the upcoming search.

    “By joining this large-scale surface watch, you’ll have a real opportunity to personally contribute towards this fascinating mystery that has captivated so many people from around the world,” he added.

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  • Anchorage homeless face cold and bears. A plan to offer one-way airfare out reveals a bigger crisis

    Anchorage homeless face cold and bears. A plan to offer one-way airfare out reveals a bigger crisis

    ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Shawn Steik and his wife were forced from a long-term motel room onto the streets of Anchorage after their rent shot up to $800 a month. Now they live in a tent encampment by a train depot, and as an Alaska winter looms they are growing desperate and fearful of what lies ahead.

    A proposal last week by Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson to buy one-way plane tickets out of Alaska’s biggest city for its homeless residents gave Steik a much-needed glimmer of hope. He would move to the relative warmth of Seattle.

    “I heard it’s probably warmer than this place,” said Steik, who is Aleut.

    But the mayor’s unfunded idea also came under immediate attack as a Band-Aid solution glossing over the tremendous, and still unaddressed, crisis facing Anchorage as a swelling homeless population struggles to survive in a unique and extreme environment. Frigid temperatures stalk the homeless in the winter and bears infiltrate homeless encampments in the summer.

    A record eight people died of exposure while living outside last winter and this year promises to be worse after the city closed an arena that housed 500 people during the winter months. Bickering between the city’s liberal assembly and its conservative mayor about how to address the crisis, and a lack of state funding, have further stymied efforts to find a solution.

    With winter fast approaching in Alaska, it’s “past time for state and local leaders to address the underlying causes of homelessness — airplane tickets are a distraction, not a solution,” the American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska said in a statement to The Associated Press.

    About 43% of Anchorage’s more than 3,000 unsheltered residents are Alaska Natives, and Bronson’s proposal also drew harsh criticism from those who called it culturally insensitive.

    “The reality is there is no place to send these people because this is their land. Any policy that we make has to pay credence to that simple fact. This is Dena’ina land, this is Native land,” said Christopher Constant, chair of the Anchorage Assembly. “And so we cannot be supporting policies that would take people and displace them from their home, even if their home is not what you or I would call home.”

    Bronson’s airfare proposal caps a turbulent few years as Anchorage, like many cities in the U.S. West, struggles to deal with a burgeoning homeless population.

    In May, the city shut down the 500-bed homeless shelter in the city’s arena so it could once more be used for concerts and hockey games after neighbors complained about open drug use, trespassing, violence and litter. A plan to build a large shelter and navigation center fell through when Bronson approved a contract without approval from the Anchorage Assembly.

    That leaves a gaping hole in the city’s ability to house the thousands of homeless people who have to contend with temperatures well below zero for days at a time and unrelenting winds blasting off Cook Inlet. At the end of June, Anchorage was estimated to have a little more than 3,150 homeless people, according to the Anchorage Coalition to End Homelessness. Last week, there were only 614 beds at shelters citywide, with no vacancies.

    New tent cities have sprung up across Anchorage this summer: on a slope facing the city’s historic railroad depot, on a busy road near the Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson and near soup kitchens and shelters downtown.

    Assembly members are slated to consider a winter stop-gap option in August falling far short of the need: a large, warmed, tent-like structure for 150 people.

    Summer brings its own challenges: hungry bears last year roamed a city-owned campground where homeless people were resettled after the arena closed. Wildlife officials killed four bears after they broke into tents.

    Bronson said he prefers to spend a few hundred dollars per person for a plane ticket rather than spending about $100 daily to shelter and feed them. He said he doesn’t care where they want to go; his job is to “make sure they don’t die on Anchorage streets.”

    It’s not clear if his proposal will move forward. There is not yet a plan or a funding source.

    Dr. Ted Mala, an Inupiaq who in 1990 became the first Alaska Native to serve as the state’s health commissioner, said Anchorage should be working with social workers and law enforcement to discover people’s individual reasons for homelessness and connect them with resources.

    Buying the unsheltered a ticket to another city is a political game that’s been around for years. A number of U.S. cities struggling with homelessness, including San Francisco, Seattle and Portland, Oregon, have also offered bus or plane tickets to homeless residents.

    “People are not pawns, they’re human beings,” Mala said.

    The mayor’s proposal, while focused on warmer cities, also would fund tickets to other Alaska locations for those who want them.

    Clarita Clark became homeless after her medical team wanted her to move from Point Hope to Anchorage for cancer treatment because Anchorage is warmer. The medical facility wouldn’t allow her husband to stay with her, so they pitched a tent in a sprawling camp to stay together.

    Having recently found the body of a dead teenager who overdosed in a portable toilet, Clark yearns to return to the Chukchi Sea coastal village of Point Hope, where her three grandchildren live.

    “I got a family that loves me,” she said, adding she would use the ticket and seek treatment closer to home.

    Danny Parish also is leaving Alaska, but for another reason: He’s fed up.

    Parish is selling his home of 29 years because it sits directly across the street from Sullivan Arena. Bad acts by some homeless people — including harassment, throwing vodka bottles in his yard, poisoning his dog and using his driveway as a toilet — made his life “a holy hell,” he said.

    Parish is convinced the arena will be used again this winter since there isn’t another plan.

    He, too, hopes to move to the contiguous U.S. — Oregon, for starters — but not before asking Anchorage leaders for his own plane ticket out.

    “If they’re going to give them to everybody else,” Parish said, “then they need to give me one.”

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  • Anchorage homeless face cold and bears. A plan to offer one-way airfare out reveals a bigger crisis

    Anchorage homeless face cold and bears. A plan to offer one-way airfare out reveals a bigger crisis

    ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Shawn Steik and his wife were forced from a long-term motel room onto the streets of Anchorage after their rent shot up to $800 a month. Now they live in a tent encampment by a train depot, and as an Alaska winter looms they are growing desperate and fearful of what lies ahead.

    A proposal last week by Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson to buy one-way plane tickets out of Alaska’s biggest city for its homeless residents gave Steik a much-needed glimmer of hope. He would move to the relative warmth of Seattle.

    “I heard it’s probably warmer than this place,” said Steik, who is Aleut.

    But the mayor’s unfunded idea also came under immediate attack as a Band-Aid solution glossing over the tremendous, and still unaddressed, crisis facing Anchorage as a swelling homeless population struggles to survive in a unique and extreme environment. Frigid temperatures stalk the homeless in the winter and bears infiltrate homeless encampments in the summer.

    A record eight people died of exposure while living outside last winter and this year promises to be worse after the city closed an arena that housed 500 people during the winter months. Bickering between the city’s liberal assembly and its conservative mayor about how to address the crisis, and a lack of state funding, have further stymied efforts to find a solution.

    With winter fast approaching in Alaska, it’s “past time for state and local leaders to address the underlying causes of homelessness — airplane tickets are a distraction, not a solution,” the American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska said in a statement to The Associated Press.

    About 43% of Anchorage’s more than 3,000 unsheltered residents are Alaska Natives, and Bronson’s proposal also drew harsh criticism from those who called it culturally insensitive.

    “The reality is there is no place to send these people because this is their land. Any policy that we make has to pay credence to that simple fact. This is Dena’ina land, this is Native land,” said Christopher Constant, chair of the Anchorage Assembly. “And so we cannot be supporting policies that would take people and displace them from their home, even if their home is not what you or I would call home.”

    Bronson’s airfare proposal caps a turbulent few years as Anchorage, like many cities in the U.S. West, struggles to deal with a burgeoning homeless population.

    In May, the city shut down the 500-bed homeless shelter in the city’s arena so it could once more be used for concerts and hockey games after neighbors complained about open drug use, trespassing, violence and litter. A plan to build a large shelter and navigation center fell through when Bronson approved a contract without approval from the Anchorage Assembly.

    That leaves a gaping hole in the city’s ability to house the thousands of homeless people who have to contend with temperatures well below zero for days at a time and unrelenting winds blasting off Cook Inlet. At the end of June, Anchorage was estimated to have a little more than 3,150 homeless people, according to the Anchorage Coalition to End Homelessness. Last week, there were only 614 beds at shelters citywide, with no vacancies.

    New tent cities have sprung up across Anchorage this summer: on a slope facing the city’s historic railroad depot, on a busy road near the Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson and near soup kitchens and shelters downtown.

    Assembly members are slated to consider a winter stop-gap option in August falling far short of the need: a large, warmed, tent-like structure for 150 people.

    Summer brings its own challenges: hungry bears last year roamed a city-owned campground where homeless people were resettled after the arena closed. Wildlife officials killed four bears after they broke into tents.

    Bronson said he prefers to spend a few hundred dollars per person for a plane ticket rather than spending about $100 daily to shelter and feed them. He said he doesn’t care where they want to go; his job is to “make sure they don’t die on Anchorage streets.”

    It’s not clear if his proposal will move forward. There is not yet a plan or a funding source.

    Dr. Ted Mala, an Inupiaq who in 1990 became the first Alaska Native to serve as the state’s health commissioner, said Anchorage should be working with social workers and law enforcement to discover people’s individual reasons for homelessness and connect them with resources.

    Buying the unsheltered a ticket to another city is a political game that’s been around for years. A number of U.S. cities struggling with homelessness, including San Francisco, Seattle and Portland, Oregon, have also offered bus or plane tickets to homeless residents.

    “People are not pawns, they’re human beings,” Mala said.

    The mayor’s proposal, while focused on warmer cities, also would fund tickets to other Alaska locations for those who want them.

    Clarita Clark became homeless after her medical team wanted her to move from Point Hope to Anchorage for cancer treatment because Anchorage is warmer. The medical facility wouldn’t allow her husband to stay with her, so they pitched a tent in a sprawling camp to stay together.

    Having recently found the body of a dead teenager who overdosed in a portable toilet, Clark yearns to return to the Chukchi Sea coastal village of Point Hope, where her three grandchildren live.

    “I got a family that loves me,” she said, adding she would use the ticket and seek treatment closer to home.

    Danny Parish also is leaving Alaska, but for another reason: He’s fed up.

    Parish is selling his home of 29 years because it sits directly across the street from Sullivan Arena. Bad acts by some homeless people — including harassment, throwing vodka bottles in his yard, poisoning his dog and using his driveway as a toilet — made his life “a holy hell,” he said.

    Parish is convinced the arena will be used again this winter since there isn’t another plan.

    He, too, hopes to move to the contiguous U.S. — Oregon, for starters — but not before asking Anchorage leaders for his own plane ticket out.

    “If they’re going to give them to everybody else,” Parish said, “then they need to give me one.”

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  • Family’s Alaska fishing trip becomes nightmare with 3 dead and search over for 2 more

    Family’s Alaska fishing trip becomes nightmare with 3 dead and search over for 2 more

    JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — An Alaska fishing adventure became a nightmare for a family of eight when disaster struck one of the two boats they chartered over the Memorial Day weekend, leaving three people dead and two more missing despite a desperate search over hundreds of square miles of ocean.

    The tragedy tore the Tyau family apart: Two sisters and one of their husbands are dead, while the other’s partner and the boat captain remain missing off southeast Alaska four days after the boat was found partially submerged off an island.

    Authorities suspended a more than 20-hour search covering 825 square miles (2,100 square kilometers) on Monday and have no plans to resume it.

    The women’s parents, older brother, and sister-in-law were on the other charter boat as part of a three-day trip to a destination fishery known for king salmon and groundfish.

    The sisters and their sister-in-law didn’t like fishing but joined the vacation to spend more time with a family that was usually split between Hawaii and Los Angeles.

    “It was just supposed to be a simple family get-together for eight of us, since we haven’t been together in the same spot for so long,” Michael Tyau, the older brother, told The Associated Press on Thursday. “For it to turn out like this is really devastating.”

    The Tyau siblings — Michael, Brandi and Danielle — grew up fishing in Hawaii with their parents. Michael Tyau said his sisters hated being cold and wet but would endure it for their water-loving parents and later their partners.

    Brandi Tyau’s longtime partner, Robert Solis — a Navy diver-turned-private investigator who was stationed in Hawaii when they met decades ago — was someone for whom “ the ocean really was his life,” one of Solis’ brothers said.

    So when the Tyau siblings’ mother suggested a family trip last year, a fishing vacation in the Sitka Sound won out.

    “My sisters, I think, reluctantly agreed,” Michael Tyau said.

    He and his wife flew from Los Angeles to Alaska on Thursday with Brandi Tyau, 56, and Solis, 61. They met up with their parents, sister Danielle Agcaoili, 53, and her husband, 57-year-old Maury Agcaoili, all Hawaii residents.

    The whole family stayed in a lodge owned by charter boat company Kingfisher Charters in Sitka. The small port city with a backdrop of a stunning volcanic mountain is located on the shore of Baranof Island, which is part of a cluster of islands dripping off Alaska’s southeast coastline.

    The area is a “premier fishing destination” because the many bays and passageways created by the islands provide protection from the wind and waves on days when the open sea is too rough, Kingfisher Charters says on its website.

    Forrest Braden, executive director of the Southeast Alaska Guides Organization, said anglers often stay for multiple days on trips to the region.

    “It’s more of a fishing-themed trip for a lot of people, rather than being one of a variety of activities that they do,” he said.

    The boats the Tyau clan chartered, named the Pockets and the Awakin, set out Friday amid rough conditions. Michael Tyau said his sisters and wife spent the day’s voyage seasick in the two boats’ cabins and skipped Saturday’s trip to recover on land.

    When Sunday dawned, their last vacation day before Monday flights home, the women rejoined the boats.

    Danielle Agcaoili said “she didn’t want to let anybody down,” Michael Tyau recalled through tears.

    The boat captains opted for different fishing spots. Aboard the Pockets, Michael Tyau said he “in no way felt in jeopardy, like this wasn’t safe for us to fish in.”

    The Pockets returned to the lodge Sunday evening, but the family began worrying when Brandi Tyau, Danielle Agcaoili, Maury Agcaoili and Solis didn’t respond to text messages and never arrived for dinner.

    The Awakin hadn’t come back, the charter company told Michael Tyau, and they lost radio contact with the captain, 32-year-old Morgan Robidou.

    What happened aboard the Awakin on Sunday remains unclear. Efforts to recover the 30-foot (9-meter) aluminum vessel have been hampered by rough seas and strong winds.

    The bodies of Brandi Tyau and Danielle Agcaoili were found inside the cabin. Maury Agcaoili’s body was discovered near the boat. Solis and Robidou were still considered missing Thursday.

    The boat was last seen Sunday afternoon near Sitka, authorities said, but around 7 p.m. Sunday was found partially submerged off Low Island, about 10 miles (16 kilometers) west of Sitka.

    Coast Guard investigators are working to determine the timeline and cause of the incident. The area was experiencing 6-foot to 11-foot (1.8- to 3.35-meter) waves, a Coast Guard spokesperson said.

    Robidou was “the nicest, quietest, friendliest young fellow you’ve ever seen,” said Thad Poulson, editor of the Daily Sitka Sentinel newspaper where Robidou once worked as a press operator. The two had not seen each other in some time but “we formed a great friendship with him when he was here.”

    “Official boat owner,” Robidou had posted on Facebook last October, along with a photo with the boat he said he had named Awakin.

    Kingfisher Charters has declined to respond to questions outside a statement released Wednesday saying the company is “devastated by the loss of the guests and captain of the Awakin” and is fully cooperating with an investigation it hopes “furnishes answers to the questions as to how it occurred.”

    For the Tyau family, it’s too late. The deaths of Brandi Tyau, the reserved middle child who was a calming influence on Solis, and Danielle Agcaoili, the happy-go-lucky baby of the family who was often called “Dani,” has been devastating.

    Brandi Tyau and Solis leave behind one son together, as well as Solis’ three sons from a previous relationship. The Agcaoilis have two children, one of whom just graduated from high school.

    The family’s vacation was meant for them to enjoy a holiday weekend away and bridge the gap between their homes in Hawaii and Los Angeles.

    “I don’t think all eight of us have been together in over 10 years,” Michael Tyau said.

    Now, only four are left.

    ___

    Dazio reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press News Researcher Randy Herschaft in New York contributed.

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  • Alvarez has 3 RBIs, Brown solid as Astros beat Rangers 8-2

    Alvarez has 3 RBIs, Brown solid as Astros beat Rangers 8-2

    HOUSTON — Yordan Alvarez doubled with three RBIs to back up a strong start by rookie Hunter Brown and help the Houston Astros to a 8-2 win over the Texas Rangers on Saturday night.

    Alvarez tied the game with a two-RBI double in the third, and his bases-loaded walk started the scoring in a five-run seventh that pushed the lead to 8-2.

    Brown (2-0) allowed five hits and two runs — none earned — with five strikeouts in seven innings to lower his ERA to 1.93.

    Texas right-hander Jon Gray left the game with no outs in the third inning with a bruised forearm after being hit on the throwing elbow with a comebacker.

    Rangers’ manager Bruce Bochy was ejected in the seventh inning for arguing balls and strikes as Texas struggled after winning Friday’s series opener 6-2.

    The Astros led by 1 in the seventh when Jake Meyers and Mauricio Dubón hit back-to-back singles before Alex Bregman walked to load the bases. Ian Kennedy then walked Alvarez to make it 4-2.

    José Abreu reached on a fielder’s choice after hitting a chopper to shortstop Josh Smith that he deflected for an error, allowing two runs to score.

    Kennedy was replaced by Josh Sborz, who walked Kyle Tucker to load the bases again and send Bochy out onto the field to argue with home plate umpire Erich Bacchus. Jeremy Peña drove in two more runs with a line drive to left field that made it 8-2.

    The Rangers took an early lead thanks to a miscue by Houston. Robbie Grossman reached to start the second on an error by Dubón, when he overthrew first base.

    Travis Jankowski singled to send Grossman to third. But Grossman got caught in a rundown when Leody Taveras reached on a fielder’s choice.

    Marcus Semien singled to score Jankowski and make it 1-0 before Brown plunked Josh Smith. There were two outs in the inning when Adolis García drove in a run with an infield single to put Texas up 2-0.

    There were no outs in the bottom of the third when Yanier Díaz hit a comebacker that bounced off Gray’s elbow. He threw a couple of warmup pitches after being looked at by a trainer, but eventually left the game and was replaced by Cole Ragans (2-1).

    Ragans struck out Meyers before a Dubón singled to extend his hitting streak to a career-high 10 games. Alvarez’s double came with two outs to score both runners and tie it at 2.

    Peña and Corey Julks hit consecutive singles with one out in the fourth before the Astros took the lead when Peña scored on a sacrifice fly by Díaz.

    TRAINER’S ROOM

    Astros: CF Chas McCormick was out of the lineup but feeling better a day after leaving the game in the third inning with vision problems. He could return Sunday.

    SPECIAL GUEST

    Ralph Garr, who had a 13-year MLB career and won the NL batting title in 1974, threw out the ceremonial first pitch as part of Houston’s celebration of Jackie Robinson Day. His best friend, manager Dusty Baker, who played with Garr for eight seasons in Atlanta, caught the throw and gave his old friend a big hug afterward.

    UP NEXT Houston RHP Framber Valdez (1-1, 1.89 ERA) opposes LHP Andrew Heaney (1-1, 8.22) when the series wraps up Sunday.

    ___

    AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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  • Hezbollah chief: Israel didn’t hit Hamas in Lebanon strikes

    Hezbollah chief: Israel didn’t hit Hamas in Lebanon strikes

    The leader of Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group claims that Israel did not hit Hamas or Hezbollah targets in last week’s strikes on southern Lebanon

    ByAHMAD EL-KHATIB Associated Press

    BEIRUT — The leader of Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group on Friday claimed that Israel did not hit Hamas or Hezbollah targets in last week’s strikes on southern Lebanon.

    The strikes last Friday in south Lebanon came a day after militants fired nearly three dozen rockets from there at Israel, wounding two people and causing some property damage. The Israeli military said it had targeted installations of Hamas, the Palestinian militant group, in southern Lebanon.

    Speaking at an a ceremony in Beirut marking “Quds Day,” or Jerusalem Day — an annual show of support for the Palestinians held on the last Friday of every Islamic holy month of Ramadan — Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah called the Israeli statements “a barefaced lie” and that “no Hezbollah or Hamas infrastructure was struck.”

    Rather, he said, the Israelis hit “banana groves” and a water irrigation channel. There was no immediate comment from Israel.

    While Israeli military officials have not said they hit any Hezbollah targets, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a speech Monday said Israel had targeted both Hamas and Hezbollah infrastructure. Nasrallah called this “the biggest lie.”

    According to Associated Press reporters on the ground, several missiles fired by Israeli warplanes struck an open field in the town of Qalili, near the Palestinian refugee camp of Rashidiyeh, close to the coastal southern city of Tyre.

    Others struck a bridge and power transformer in the nearby town of Maaliya and a farm on the outskirts of Rashidiyeh, killing several sheep. No human deaths were reported.

    It could not be independently verified if any other locations were hit.

    ___

    Associated Press writer Abby Sewell in Beirut contributed to this report.

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  • Evan Bouchard scores OT winner, Oilers beat Avalanche 2-1

    Evan Bouchard scores OT winner, Oilers beat Avalanche 2-1

    DENVER — Evan Bouchard scored a power-play goal 1:50 into overtime, Stuart Skinner stopped 28 shots and the Edmonton Oilers beat the Colorado Avalanche 2-1 on Tuesday night for their eighth straight win.

    Bouchard lined a shot past Alexandar Georgiev to set off a celebration. Moments earlier, Colorado defenseman Bowen Byram drew a penalty for hooking Connor McDavid as the Oilers center powered toward the goal.

    McDavid assisted on the OT winner to extend his points streak to 15 games. He’s the first player in NHL history to have three different points streaks of 15 or more games in the same season. He’s only had seven games where he didn’t register a point.

    Mattias Ekholm also scored for the Oilers, who remain in the chase for the Pacific Division title with one game remaining. They also extended their points streak to 14 straight games.

    A contest featuring two high scoring teams turned into a defensive showdown. It was no surprise, though, this game went into an extra period. Colorado won the previous two meetings this season in overtime.

    Ben Meyers scored for the defending Stanley Cup champion Avalanche, who saw their five-game winning streak snapped.

    Georgiev made 38 saves, including one on a breakaway by McDavid in the second period. Colorado remains in the driver’s seat for the Central Division crown with two games to go. With a point Tuesday, the Avalanche also wrapped up home ice in the first round courtesy of Minnesota’s loss to Winnipeg earlier in the night.

    The Avalanche weathered a four-minute penalty in the second period when Devon Toews’ stick caught Zach Hyman in the mouth and drew blood.

    The game featured five 100-point scorers, marking the first time that’s happened in 37 years, according to NHL Stats.

    It was Meyers kicking off the scoring early in the first period when he was credited for a goal that went in off a skate. Just 36 seconds later, Ekholm tied the game off a pass from Ryan McLeod, who was activated from the injured list before the game.

    It was McLeod’s first game since March 14.

    QUITE A SEASON

    McDavid is attempting to become the first outright leader in goals, assists and points since Wayne Gretzky in 1986-87. Only eight times has the same player finished as the league’s outright leader in goals, assists and scoring — Gretzky (five times), Phil Esposito, Gordie Howe and Howie Morenz.

    Count Avalanche forward Mikko Rantanen as impressed by McDavid’s offensive exploits.

    “What he’s able to do, never seen anything like it,” Rantanen said. “I feel like he’s getting better, too. I don’t know if that’s possible, but I feel like he is.”

    AROUND THE RINK

    Oilers forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins played in his 800th NHL game. He became the fifth player in Oilers history to reach the mark for the franchise. … Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar missed his fifth straight game with a lower body injury.

    UP NEXT

    Oilers: Finish the regular season Thursday by hosting San Jose.

    Avalanche: Host Winnipeg on Thursday before closing out the regular season Friday at Nashville.

    ___

    AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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  • Panthers beat Capitals 6-3 in matchup of playoff contenders

    Panthers beat Capitals 6-3 in matchup of playoff contenders

    WASHINGTON — Marc Staal wasn’t too worried about not scoring a goal all season and having a goal drought extend almost a full calendar year.

    That didn’t make his smile any smaller when he ended it and was mobbed by Florida teammates.

    “They were all pumped up and it’s a big goal in a big game, so it was a lot of fun,” Staal said.

    The Panthers have plenty to celebrate lately, especially after Staal’s goal and 28 saves from Sergei Bobrovsky helped them beat the Washington Capitals 6-3 Thursday night in a crucial matchup in the Eastern Conference wild-card race.

    “Everyone played awesome,” said Colin White, who scored after replacing injured center Sam Bennett in the lineup. “We knew how big of a game this is. It felt like a playoff game out there. I thought we brought our best effort, and everybody worked so hard.”

    Florida pulled even with Washington at 62 points, closing an 11-point gap between the teams since New Year’s Day. The Capitals are only ahead in the standings because they’ve played one fewer game.

    If recent trends continue, the Panthers will pass them quickly, having won five of seven to claw into the playoff chase. Despite cutting their deficit to one goal with under three minutes left in regulation, Capitals fell to 0-3-0 on their three-game homestand.

    “Our execution isn’t where it needs to be — I mean all over the ice,” said Nicklas Backstrom, who scored for Washington. “We need to tighten up our game a little bit and just execute better because right now we’re just doing too many mistakes.”

    Washington played without captain and leading goal-scorer Alex Ovechkin, who is away after the death of his father, Mikhail, who received a pregame moment of silence.

    With Ovechkin expected to be out at least one more game and likely longer after going home to Russia, the Capitals need to figure out a way to right the ship before their chances of extending the organization’s postseason streak to nine seasons get slimmer.

    One reason they’re in a precarious spot is the rise of the Panthers, who have been making up ground despite a difficult schedule in 2023.

    “It’s going to be a constant grinder right straight through,” coach Paul Maurice said. “But a win like tonight, on the road, with the schedule we’ve had, they start to believe.”

    Along with Staal scoring for the first time since March 15, 2022, when he was with Detroit, and White getting on the board, defenseman Gustav Forsling and captain Alexander Barkov beat Darcy Kuemper, who allowed four goals on 34 shots. Anton Lundell and Sam Reinhart each added an empty-netter in the final couple of minutes to seal it.

    Dylan Strome and Evgeny Kuznetsov also scored for the Capitals, who cut their deficit to one with 2:32 but couldn’t complete the comeback after losing Marcus Johansson to injury.

    NOTES: Maurice said he wasn’t concerned about Bennett’s absence being a long one. … Washington center Lars Eller played his 925th regular-season NHL game, tying Frans Nielsen for the most by a player from Denmark. … The Capitals announced winger Carl Hagelin underwent left hip resurfacing surgery earlier this week in New York. Hagelin, who has not played since taking a stick to his left eye last March, is considered out indefinitely and will begin his recovery and rehab immediately.

    UP NEXT

    Panthers: Visit the Nashville Predators on Saturday afternoon.

    Capitals: Face the Carolina Hurricanes outdoors Saturday night in the NHL’s annual Stadium Series game at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh.

    ___

    Follow AP Hockey Writer Stephen Whyno on Twitter at https://twitter.com/SWhyno

    ___

    AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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  • Crypto’s ties to sports raise ethical questions

    Crypto’s ties to sports raise ethical questions

    Sports fans who view their favorite players as role models might think twice before taking their financial advice, too.

    The bankruptcy of FTX and the arrest of its founder and former CEO are raising new questions about the role celebrity athletes such as Tom Brady, Steph Curry, Naomi Osaka and others played in lending legitimacy to the largely unregulated landscape of crypto, while also reframing the conversation about just how costly blind loyalty to favorite players or teams can be for the average fan.

    Cryptocurrencies are digital money that use blockchain as the database for recording transactions. It isn’t backed by any government or institution and it remains a confusing concept — one that at first was largely the niche of tech-savvy coding specialists, people who distrusted governments and centralized banking systems and speculators with money to risk.

    But now that risk is increasingly being taken on by investors who can’t afford to lose, and the disparity in wealth between celebrities and their fans creates an ethical dilemma: Should sports stars, or teams, or leagues, be touting products that could lead their fans to financial harm? Or should fans bear the responsibility for their own risky behavior regardless of who is encouraging it?

    “In retrospect, it was an unwise business association that put Curry and Brady together with bad company,” Mark Pritchard, a professor at Central Washington who has studied the intersection of ethics and sports, said in an email to The Associated Press. “Not sure how much due diligence was paid to the decision, but it does call to mind a Warren Buffet quote: ‘Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful.’”

    The marriage between crypto and sports formed a few years ago and has only strengthened since, despite all the troubles plaguing the industry. A study by the IEG sponsorship group, for instance, found FTX and other crypto companies had spent $130 million for sponsorship in the NBA alone over the 2021-22 season; the season before, the sum was less than $2 million.

    FTX itself had numerous ties to sports before its eventual collapse: The company paid an undisclosed amount to place patches on the uniforms of MLB umpires, $135 million for the naming rights on the arena where the Miami Heat play, and another $10 million to Curry’s basketball team, the Golden State Warriors, for ad placement in its arena and throughout the Warriors organization.

    While those deals, as well as some others, cratered when FTX declared bankruptcy, plenty more live on. They include the naming rights for the home of the Lakers, which was once known as the Staples Center, but is now known as Crypto.com Arena, at the reported cost of $700 million over 20 years. There are crypto deals in cricket, soccer and Formula 1.

    Separately, dozens of athletes have endorsed crypto, and in doing so, have led some of their fans to follow suit — and others to file suit, against the likes of Curry, Brady and other high-profile personalities for using their celebrity status to promote FTX’s failed business model.

    Ben Salus, a Philly sports fan who has lost money in crypto, said he was uncomfortably surprised at the sudden increase of crypto-related signage around his favorite teams.

    “It’s a very odd transition, especially because I don’t know if the world was ready for the prominence of crypto,” Salus said. “You’re getting these big personalities backing a thing that they, or their teams, know something about, but not very much.”

    The debate has become even more complex over the past five years, with the intersection between crypto, digitized artwork offered in the form of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), legalized sports wagering and e-gaming, along with the ever-expanding virtual-reality Metaverse — all growing more popular among large factions of sports stars and fans alike.

    “It’s a lot more connected than people think,” said Ryan Nicklin, who studies the role of crypto in sports as part of his public-relations business. “And there’s a lot more crossover from the crypto world to the gambling world and into gaming, because when you spend on one of these Metaverse games, you’re essentially gambling since you don’t know whether the value of that asset you’ve purchased is going to go up or down.”

    Crypto’s move into the public mainstream wasn’t driven by sports, but as it became a better-known commodity, sports leagues and teams and their athletes — never shy about trying to make a buck off the latest trends — got into the act.

    “A lot of endorsements have to do with an emotional attachment,” said Brandon Brown, who teaches sports and business at New York University’s Tisch Institute for Global Sport. “So, it would make sense for these (crypto) companies to work with a sports team or a sports celebrity because there’s an emotional attachment that goes along with that partnership.”

    One key moment came in 2020 when a few players, including Carolina Panthers Pro Bowl lineman Russell Okung, announced they would take all or some of their multimillion-dollar salaries in crypto.

    “So many purchase Bitcoin to become cash rich,” Okung tweeted not long after the announcement. “I bought it to be free from cash.” Not long after, Bitcoin.com proudly stated that the increases in the price of Bitcoin had essentially doubled the $6.5 million portion of Okung’s salary that was paid in crypto.

    Bigger names followed. Actors Matt Damon and Larry David were among the Hollywood types. The mayors of New York and Miami made a splash when they, too, said they would take their pay in crypto.

    Aaron Rodgers, Shaquille O’Neal, Beckham Jr. and Trevor Lawrence were among a large group of high-profile athletes who also got into the act. One popular commercial involved Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Brady and his then-wife, Gisele Bündchen, calling friends to talk crypto and playfully asking them: “Are you in?”

    The relationship between crypto and sports is also regenerating a debate about how athletes should use the platform they wouldn’t otherwise have but for sports. Colin Kaepernick’s kneeling, to say nothing of the racial tensions laid bare in the U.S. by George Floyd’s killing in 2020, upended the old “shut up and play” cliché, and presented many athletes with an opening to use sports to send a message.

    Curry is among those who has been unafraid to delve into some of society’s more difficult topics, speaking out after Floyd’s killing and contributing to the Players’ Tribune website where athletes blog about their views unfiltered by traditional media.

    Now, Curry is in the headlines again as one of many paid endorsers of FTX. But aside of being named in the class action lawsuit and being ridiculed on some social media sites that are heavily engaged in crypto discussions, there hasn’t been any major blowback against Curry for his investments and endorsements — and there may never be.

    “When the currency blows up, will people look poorly on the currency, or will people look poorly on Brady or Steph Curry?” Brown said. “I’d venture to say that people are likely to have such a strong connection with their sports figures that they’ll latch onto said sports figure and blame the other party, which in this case is FTX, or the currency.”

    ———

    AP Business Writer Ken Sweet contributed to this report.

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