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Fish planes are flying today, loaded with Copper River salmon. (Seattle Weekly)

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Will Alaska salmon go for $30 a pound? Alaska Airlines reports the first Copper River catch arrived in Seattle this morning.

"Alaska Airlines' Boeing 737-400 freighter touched down at Sea-Tac Airport about 6 a.m. Pacific time with some 7,500 pounds of fish from four seafood processors: Ocean Beauty Seafoods, Bear and Wolf Salmon Co., Trident Seafoods and Copper River Seafoods.

"Three more Alaska Airlines flights today will transport salmon from Cordova to Seattle and Anchorage."

The airline predicted it would move 20,000 pounds by day's end. By season's end, the volume is expected to be 750,000 pounds.

The closure of West Coast salmon fisheries is putting pressure on Alaska salmon, and prices are projected to top $30 a pound.

How green is my salmon? Timed to the salmon's arrival in the Northwest, Seattle Weekly takes a revealing look at our seafood passion. Writer Brian Miller calls it a "conspicuous form of connoisseurship" and asks just how green is this quest for the oh-so-healthy omega-3, pink-fleshed fish. He talked with a consultant who crunched numbers on the carbon impact of transporting a 25-pound Copper River king the 1,738 miles from Cordova to Anchorage and on to Seattle.

Delivery by air produced 57 times more carbon emissions than shipping it along the same route. "In this sense, first is worst," he writes.

A nod goes out to Progressive Alaska for the tip to the Seattle Weekly story. Blogger Phil Munger ponders the carbon footprint himself:

"Some of my friends will burn $15,000 of fuel catching fish there this summer. Multiply 550 times $12,000 to get the probable low end of the gillnet fleet's fuel bill for this season on the Copper -- almost $6 million in fuel. I can remember when that would have fueled all of Cordova for a year."

***

Alaska blogger named to the Dem Convention blogger corps. The Democratic National Convention Committee announced its list of credentialed bloggers for the four-day August convention in Denver. Alaska’s is the Celtic Diva, who shared the news with us.

According to the release, "bloggers will receive unparalleled access to state delegations and the floor of the convention hall. In a truly unprecedented move, the DNCC will seat these bloggers with their respective delegations."

***

Salmon derby canceled in Haines. The Chilkat Valley News reports that when state sportfish biologists closed Chilkat Inlet to Chinook harvest until July 1, the Haines Sportsmen's Association canceled its annual king salmon derby.

Rich Chappell, a Fish and Game biologist, said king numbers were running about 500 fewer than the minimum escapement goal to keep the fish stock healthy

"It's the lowest abundance for Chilkat kings since mark-recapture studies began in 1991," he said. "Survival rates in the marine environment have plummeted the last four years."

Some Haines sport fishermen think derbies in Sitka and Juneau should be canceled too.

***

Poll on Daily Kos shows Sen. Ted Stevens trailing Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich, 48 percent to 43 percent. The same poll had bad news for Rep. Don Young, showing him even further behind his likely Democratic opponent, former state House Minority Leader Ethan Berkowitz, 50 to 40 percent.

"Tough sledding for Alaska Republicans," says The Crypt, a political blog on the Politico site.

The Fix, Washington Post's politics blog, sees it the same. Writer Chris Cillizza has the Stevens-Begich matchup sitting at No. 5 on his top 10 races to watch.

"The Fix met Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich (D) earlier this week and came away impressed. Begich, unlike many local officeholders, had an understanding of the enormity of the challenge of defeating an incumbent -- in this case Sen. Ted Stevens (R) -- but is also confident in his ability to do so.

"Begich's deep roots in Alaska -- he was born and raised there -- and his base in the media market that covers the majority of the state would make him formidable even if Stevens weren't ensnared in an ongoing federal investigation into a pay-to-play lobbying scandal. ... This is an emerging Democratic opportunity."

Progressive Alaska calls the polls "very good news" because they show Alaskans are ready for change. Blogger Phil Munger, who advertises his affiliation with the Diane Benson congressional campaign, notes he's not happy that she never gets mentioned by Daily Kos.

Besides fish and politics, what else is happening in this state? You'd never guess.

***

Gelding the wild horses in Unalaska. KIAL reports that a band of 16 wild horses roaming the hills and beaches near Unalaska will be discouraged from reproducing after five males in the herd were castrated recently.

Ten years ago, a family brought horses to Summer Bay but never intended for the herd to grow. They released only three geldings and three mares, but someone else released a stallion, and the herd started to grow.

Controlling the growth is aimed at preserving tundra and protecting residents from the potentially dangerous feral horses.

***

UAA signs an agreement to make study in China easier. KTUU reports that Chancellor Fran Ulmer and representatives from a Chinese teaching college, Northeast Normal University, signed an agreement Thursday to pursue student-exchange programs. The arrangement will allow UAA students to learn Chinese language, culture and history through the university.

China is Alaska's second-largest training partner.

***

As the Nenana goes, so goes the Kuskokwim. It was breakup this week along the Kuskokwim River, reports Bethel blogger Tundra Medicine Dreams. And it was a fast one. The event is monumental in the Bush.

"The physicality of the event is what is so awesome. Conceptualize a serpiginous block of ice, four feet thick, a mile wide and 800 miles long. That's a lot of ice. Really. A lot.

"As winter retreats and the weather warms up, that block doesn't just melt; it would take too long. It breaks into huge pieces and floats out to sea, like a huge crowd of people surging towards a subway, everyone wanting to get on. Bumping, grinding, bobbing ice, in chunks as small as cars and as large as houses, racing for the ocean.

"Dead trees, dead animals and all kind of debris riding on top. It truly is an amazing thing to see. People gather at the river's edge and sit for hours, just watching it all go by."

There are a few still shots of the Kusko on the site, but one good way to get a feel for a massive river breakup is to check out the Nenana River ice as it crumbles. There are videos on You Tube. Here's a good one.

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