The Coast Guard lifted an order restricting movement of Shell’s Kulluk drill rig Thursday morning. Petty Officer David Moseley says the company had to provide information about assessments of the rig and their tow plan to the Coast Guard for review.
“The inspection, its seaworthiness, was done by industry class certification,” Moseley says. “They are the experts on those type of vessels. They inspected, they gave us their inspection for review, so we could understand what they found, if there were any concerns, or not, that needed to be addressed prior to its being transferred, or transported, from Kiliuda Bay.”
A pirate fishing vessel intercepted by the Coast Guard in August has been cut up. Captain Phillip Thorne is the head of enforcement for Alaska. He says the Chinese government has disposed of the 177-foot Da Cheng.
“They sold the vessel for scrap, and the vessel was destroyed. The government sold the vessel for scrap. They were not able to prosecute the crew under Chinese law. But they seized the catch and they sold the catch for auction and the proceeds went to the government.”
The Coast Guard helicopter forward deployed to St. Paul completed its third medevac of the fishing 'A-season' on Tuesday. The MH-60 Jayhawk picked up a fisherman with circulatory complications from the 170-foot Baranof around 6pm.
In a press release, the Coast Guard noted that sea ice made it impossible for the Baranof to get into St. Paul’s harbor. The 39 year old crewmember was airlifted to St. Paul for further treatment.
The 'Trusty Tusty' won’t be living up to its name this spring. The Alaska Marine Highway System announced Wednesday that the ferry Tustumena will be out of service until at least June. Spokesperson Jeremy Woodrow says workers found unanticipated problems with the vessel during routine maintenance this winter.
“So they need to replace some steel on the vessel that had deteriorated to the point where it was deemed unsafe if they were to put the vessel back online," Woodrow says.
A Grant Aviation flight crashed while landing at the Unalaska airport Saturday afternoon, after the apparent collapse of the plane’s landing gear. The pilot and two passengers walked away unharmed.
Unalaska Fire Chief Abner Hoage says there was a small fuel leak in the left wing. Fire crews stopped leak and contained the spilled fuel with absorbent boom.
The plane is a Piper PA-31 Navajo. Neither Grant Aviation nor the Department of Transportation could be reached for information about where the flight originated, or how the crash will affect flight traffic at the airport. The only scheduled Grant Aviation flights for Saturday originated in Akun.
They're often overshadowed by the larger Bering Sea fleets, but Unalaska has a handful of small boat commercial fishermen who make their living in the waters around the Aleutian Islands.
During the recent tanner crab fishery, KUCB’s Stephanie Joyce headed out to see what it’s like to be a small boat in big boat territory.
An intense lobbying campaign by Alaska’s congressional delegation has paid off for residents of the Aleutian community of King Cove. A group of them will have the chance to meet face-to-face with Interior Secretary Ken Salazar at the end of the month. As King Cove Corporation administrator Della Trumble explains, the goal is to convince Salazar to allow a road through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge.
“Hopefully have him say yes, we can have this road, and not go with what [the U.S.] Fish and Wildlife [Service] has... what their recommendation is, which is the no action alternative," Trumble says.
The group will be ten to twelve people, including several who can speak personally to the challenges of getting from King Cove to the all-weather airport in Cold Bay.
Another icy weekend is in store for the Bering Sea snow crab fleet. National Weather Service ice forecaster Kathleen Cole says winds will continue to blow ice into the crab grounds around the Pribilof Islands through the weekend.
“Probably to its furthest south extent by Sunday morning, and then after that, we will get some southerly... a southerly fetch, and then some southerly winds moving up early next week.”
A push to give communities where crab is processed more input into the sale and trade of crab processing quota got a lukewarm reception at the North Pacific Fishery Management Council meeting in Portland over the weekend.
Of six proposed revisions to the Right of First Refusal program, the Council passed only three, tabling the others or dropping them completely. Unalaska resource analyst Frank Kelty says the decision was unexpected, and disappointing.
“Community protections measures were basically watered down so much that there wasn’t any community protection," Kelty says.
