The National Marine Fisheries Service recently released a court-ordered draft environmental impact statement, intended to be the first step in resolving the decades-long debate over Steller sea lion protection measures in the western Aleutians. Last week, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council reviewed the document, and if their reaction is any indication, it’s not going to be a cure-all.
City council will meet early tonight to tackle a packed agenda, including a project to stabilize the cliff behind the wastewater treatment plant.
For three consecutive meetings, council's discussed ways to stop rock slides at the site of the new plant. Those slides are threatening to delay construction. An engineering consultant has designed a plan that would stabilize the cliff face and let construction move forward.
The city had considered processing that work as a change order on Advanced Blasting's existing contract, which was to prepare the site for construction of a new plant. But the extra work would have cost $2.1 million -- more than the original $1.4 million contract.
A 25-foot boulder broke off the side of Ballyhoo late last week, damaging the Latitude 54 warehouse.
Norman Bautista, the terminal manager for North Pacific Fuel, says the rock fell from the cliffside around 7 am Thursday. No one was injured, but the boulder dented the back of the Latitude 54 building, where it’s still resting now.
Bautista says Northern Mechanical has been contracted to break up the boulder and carry it offsite. In the meantime, he says people should steer clear of the rock face behind the warehouse. North Pacific Fuel employees have cordoned off the area with caution tape to dissuade visitors.
The Pribilof Island of St. George is getting an upgrade to its decades-old power system. The community’s entire electrical grid, from generators to distribution lines will be replaced this summer.
For St. George mayor Pat Pletnikoff, overhauling the power grid isn’t just about cheaper energy. It’s about keeping people in the community. St. George has lost more than a third of its population since 2000.
Unalaska’s NYO -- or Native Youth Olympics -- team made a strong showing at a tournament in Bethel this weekend. They competed against more than 15 teams from Dillingham and the Kuskokwim Delta at Bethel Regional High School, and took gold in five individual events.
Steven Ugale took first place and Rizalie Rollin tied for first in the one-foot high kick. Ugale also won first place in the toe kick, which measures an athlete’s forward jump and requires a steady landing on both feet.
When a local processing plant got wind of the need for new equipment down at the Iliuliuk Family and Health Services clinic, they turned to fishermen for help.
The ventilator is a critical part of the Iliuliuk Family and Health Services emergency room. It provides breathing support for patients while they wait for medevac flights. But after ten years, the clinic’s ventilator seemed to be breaking down.
Clinic director Eileen Scott says one of her EMTs took notice.
For the past year, pollock and cod fishing off Kodiak has been booming -- but processing plants in town say they aren’t seeing enough of that business. That’s because more than 14 million pounds of pollock and cod caught near Kodiak during the 2012 "B" season was shipped to plants in Akutan, King Cove, and Sand Point.
Matt Moir, the plant manager for Alaska Pacific Seafoods, made an impassioned plea to Kodiak city council at a recent meeting.
The Bering Sea snow crab season is almost over, but the final stretch is shaping up to be icy.
As of Tuesday, 89 percent of the 66 million pound harvest had been landed, and two-thirds of vessels had checked out of the fishery, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. The remaining 22 boats could get shut out of the crab grounds this week.
After the bombing of Unalaska in 1942, the military relocated the entire civilian population of the Aleutian and Pribilof Islands. In many cases, people were given just a few hours to pack their belongings before being loaded on transport ships and sent off to camps in Southeast Alaska.
Anthropologist and archaeologist Charles M. Mobley recently published a book in conjunction with the National Park Service that explores the camps and their histories.
