The Greenpeace vessel Esperanza has arrived in Unalaska.
The rainbow-covered ship checked in with port security around 8:30am, and has spent the day sitting off of Front Beach. The crew plans to stay in Unalaska for the next few days before leaving for the Chukchi Sea. There, The Esperanza will be conducting research on Shell’s lease site and monitoring any drilling activity that occurs. The voyage is part of Greenpeace’s campaign against the oil company’s Arctic program.
A few classic events may be missing from Unalaska’s 4th of July celebration tomorrow. The firefighters won’t put on their usual barbeque and dunk tank, and PacSteve won’t host its halibut run.
Brian Rankin, the firefighter who usually plans the barbeque, left the island for a vacation last month. New fire chief Abner Hoage would have been the next logical choice to put together the event, but he says he found out about the festivities too late.
With many kids spending as much of their summer days online as outside, there's something a little quaint about the lemonade stand that just popped up in town. But as KUCB's Lauren Rosenthal learned, this operation is far from old-fashioned.
Unemployment continues rising in the Aleutian region. The Alaska Department of Labor puts the rate for Unalaska and the Western Aleutians at 16.5 percent for May.
The unemployment rate was at 10.2 percent in April, and 4.9 percent the month before that. The amount of people actively looking for work in the Aleutians often coincides with the region’s major fishing seasons, with unemployment going down at the top of the pollock and crab seasons.
A new cost-of-living assessment confirms what every Unalaskan knows – this place is expensive. The Alaska Department of Labor monthly publication breaks down how much it costs to buy groceries, fuel, and housing in different regions in the state. In Unalaska, the cost of living is 58 percent higher than in Anchorage. Of Alaska’s larger communities, only Kotzebue is more expensive.
Heavy ice in the Bering Sea this winter carried away a mountain of crab gear. Fishermen lost about 800 pots over the course of the snow crab season, or about six percent of their total gear.
“Just for comparison, in the past two snow crab seasons, gear loss rates were between 1-2 percent," says Alaska Department of Fish and Game biologist Britta Baechler.
Each crab pot is worth between $1000 and $1500, which means the fishery lost about a million dollars worth of gear overall. This year’s record-breaking sea ice is the primary culprit. The ice can cut buoy lines or drag pots miles from where they were set. Baechler says the doubling of the snow crab quota was probably also a factor.
Two Unalaska-based Alaska State Troopers brought a Bristol Bay fisherman back to life after a near drowning on Thursday.
Fifty-four year old Jose Orendez and his adult son were heading from their fishing boat to shore in a 12-foot Zodiac when it capsized, sending the pair into the icy waters near Egegik, on the Alaska Peninsula. Both were wearing lifejackets, but Orendez got caught in a set-net line and wasn’t able to make it to shore. By the time bystanders got him to the beach, Orendez had stopped breathing.
Trooper regional commander Will Ellis says that’s when Trooper Jason Ball and Public Safety Technician Shawn Olsen arrived on scene.
Greenpeace is heading north as part of its campaign against Arctic drilling.
The motor yacht Esperanza is in Kodiak until Friday, and is scheduled to stop in Unalaska next week. The vessel had previously been in Seward for repairs.
According to Greenpeace Campaign Director Dan Howells, the 237-foot rainbow painted boat will then travel on to the Chukchi Sea and study marine life in the region.
The North Pacific Fishery Management Council is one of a handful of regional task forces that advises the federal Department of Commerce on fisheries regulations. New appointments to the council were announced last week, and some were surprised to see that Washington Governor Christine Gregoire's top choice was passed over a spot on the council.
Wesley Loy, who runs the fishing blog Deckboss, spoke with KUCB's Lauren Rosenthal about the NPFMC appointments, and how they could impact the North Pacific fisheries.
