Two men were beachcombing near Izembek Lagoon on the Alaska Peninsula Sunday night when their skiff drifted away, leaving them stranded.
A concerned family member called the Coast Guard when the men didn’t make it home by midnight. Coast Guard cutter Monro, which was patrolling nearby, launched a helicopter to search for the missing mariners. A rescue team located them on the beach, where they had built a fire, and hoisted the two men back to Cold Bay.
The crab fleet is in a race against time. The Bering Sea has been covered in record-setting ice since the season got underway in January and with just a few weeks left, fishermen still have millions of pounds of snow crab to catch. As KUCB’s Stephanie Joyce reports, boats are going to extremes to finish in time, with a little help from a tugboat stationed on St. Paul Island.
For the second month in a row, the Aleutians West Census Area has the lowest unemployment rate in the state.
According to the Alaska Department of Labor, only 4.9 percent of people living in Unalaska and its neighboring communities were out of a job and seeking one in March. The statewide unemployment rate was at 7.0 percent.
Unemployment in the Aleutians in traditionally down in the springtime because of the availability of seasonal work connected to the fishing industry.
The Arctic Policy Commission is now taking membership applications.
The body was created by the legislature this year, and it has been tasked with coming up with an official strategy for Alaska’s arctic operations. The 20 members will hash out how the state should handle offshore drilling efforts, manage increased marine traffic, and protect fisheries and wildlife in the region. While legislators will make up a third of the committee, the rest of the commission will be composed of stakeholders from Native groups, the oil and gas industry, coastal communities, and conservation groups, among others. Senate President Gary Stevens and Speaker of the House Mike Chenault will make these appointments.
On this segment of The Exchange, Alaska-born writer Clayton Hanson discusses his newly released book, Ms. Remorse.
The subject should be familiar to residents of Unalaska. Ms. Remorsefocuses on friendship and adventure on the Bering Sea. The book focuses on two boys, Nick and Max, who grow up to be crab fishermen, and a considerable portion of the book is set in Unalaska.
A group of environmental activists have been removed from Shell-contracted icebreaker bound for Alaska.
On Thursday morning, six Greenpeace protesters boarded the Finnish icebreaker Nordica using inflatables, and then locked themselves to the vessel after tying up banners that criticize Arctic drilling. At the time of the boarding, the Nordica was underway in the Baltic Sea. The protesters lasted 10 hours aboard the ship before being arrested by Swedish authorities. According to Greenpeace, the arrested protesters were from Sweden, Finland, Austria, Israel, and Denmark.
Longtime resident Peggy McLaughlin has been selected as the City of Unalaska’s new ports director. She will be replacing Alvin Osterback, who left the department in December.
McLaughlin first came to Unalaska in 1993. She worked as a pollock processor on a factory trawler, and later joined Horizon Lines’ local office. She stayed with the company for 13 years, running its cargo operations. City of Unalaska Human Resources manager Kelly Stiles says that some of McLaughlin’s big selling points were her familiarity with Unalaska’s industry and its community.
After years of regulatory hurdles and legal challenges, it appears Shell Oil will finally have the approvals it needs to drill in the Arctic this summer. But that doesn’t mean the company’s struggles are over - heavy winter ice in the Alaskan Arctic is threatening to complicate Shell’s drilling plans.
"Our idea is to let Mother Nature dictate when we can get on our prospects," says Shell spokesperson Curtis Smith. "Obviously, we’d like to get there on July 15 - that’s the first day when we can legally start drilling our leases – and that’s what we’re planning to do. But we’re going to watch our forecasts closely of course and we’ll be ready no matter what.”
