The Oak Harbor Marina Advisory Commission introduced the marina’s new assistant harbor master, Charlie Kurt, who described two decades of work at hatcheries and floating marine facilities in Southeast Alaska and said he is relocating to be closer to family in the Pacific Northwest.

Nut graf: Kurt told commissioners he has 22 years of experience with fish hatcheries and floating structures, including time with the Southern Southeast Regional Aquaculture Association working at the Burnett Inlet and Neats Bay hatcheries. He described operations and scale at those facilities and said he is looking forward to working with the Oak Harbor staff.

Kurt said his most recent work was with the Southern Southeast Regional Aquaculture Association, where he worked at two facilities over seven years. He reported those hatcheries produced "upwards of 100,000,000 chum salmon" and that the Neats Bay facility produced about 3,200,000 coho salmon annually. He described logistical differences for off-grid hatcheries with no road access.

"I'm very excited to be here and working with Elise and the rest of the crew at the Oak Harbor Marina, and I'm just happy to be here," Kurt said.

Ending: Commissioners and staff thanked Kurt; the commission then moved on to other agenda items including reappointments and financial updates.