State Wildlife Troopers have cited two boats for illegal pot cod fishing.  Troopers released the details of the February violations over the weekend. 

Raymond Dushkin of the fishing vessel Desirae Dawn and Melvin Koso Jr of the Melanie Sue were both cited for commercial fishing during a closed season.  The 53-foot Desirae Dawn was fishing near False Pass and the 44-foot Melanie Sue near Cold Bay. 

Cleveland Volcano is continuing to erupt.  On Friday afternoon, a blast shook the Aleutian volcano for the second time in a single week.

In a release, scientists at the Alaska Volcano Observatory noted that the explosion was similar in size and duration to Wednesday’s blast.  There’s no monitoring network on the volcano itself, but distant seismic stations picked up both explosions.

Scientists haven’t been able to detect the ash clouds associated with either event because of cloudy conditions in the area.  The Observatory says both blasts were too small to interrupt air travel in the region, although Cleveland is on a major international flight path.

The Coast Guard suspended its search on Friday for a crew member from the fishing vessel Glacier Spirit.  The as-yet unidentified man fell overboard on Friday morning.  The Alaska Department of Fish and Game notified the Coast Guard, who then launched a Dolphin helicopter and a C-130 aircraft to search for the crewmember.  

Petty Officer Jonathan Lally says the Coast Guard Command Center in Juneau made the decision to call off the search after six hours.  He says the search team covered an area of more than 40 square miles, taking into account tides and currents.  Lally could not say whether the man was wearing survival gear when he went overboard. 

The Coast Guard is searching for a man overboard near Sand Point, on the Alaska Peninsula.

Petty Officer Jonathan Lally says the Coast Guard received a report around 10:30am Friday from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game that a man had gone overboard on the 47-foot fishing vessel Glacier Spirit.  Lally could not say whether the man was wearing survival gear.  

A Dolphin helicopter from the cutter Alex Haley and a C-130 airplane started searching for the man just before noon.  Weather conditions in Sand Point on Friday afternoon are 25 mile per hour winds and 12 foot seas.  

A grand jury has reduced the charges against Denison Soria and Leonardo Bongolto Jr, who are accused of fatally beating their co-worker, Jonathan Adams. All three were processing workers at Bering Fisheries in Unalaska.

The co-defendants were initially charged with murder in the first degree, which in the State of Alaska requires intent to kill.  A grand jury indicted each of them on two counts of murder in the second degree and one count of assault in the first degree on Thursday.  Soria has also been charged with one count of tampering with evidence.

Five months after its seizure, the stateless fishing vessel Bangun Perkasa is still tied up at the dock in Unalaska - but not for much longer.  Earlier this month, a U.S. District Court judge formally declared the vessel unclaimed.  Now the government will seek forfeiture so the Bangun Perkasa can be sold – either for scrap or at auction. 

When the Coast Guard intercepted the Bangun Perkasa on the high seas last year, the boat was setting a drift net.  Frequently referred to as ‘curtains of death’, drift nets are indiscriminate in their harvest and detrimental to ocean ecosystems.  They’re also illegal on the high seas, so the crew of the Bangun Perkasa tried to cut their net and flee the Coast Guard. 

The Coast Guard was busy in the Bering Sea Thursday, medevacing two fishermen in separate incidents involving cardiac distress.  

Late Wednesday night, the Coast Guard received a call that a 52-year-old man aboard the pollock catcher-processor Arctic Storm was in distress.  The cutter Alex Haley launched its Dolphin helicopter, which intercepted the 314-foot vessel about 63 miles north of Cold Bay.

The federal government is proposing at least a million dollar reduction in funding for tsunami programs in Alaska.  The agency in charge says the cuts are necessary and won’t hurt the state’s tsunami preparedness, but some scientists and officials disagree.  They say the reduction in funding will weaken Alaska’s tsunami programs and leave the state’s coastal communities at risk.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration or NOAA is proposing a $4.6 million reduction in funding for tsunami programs nationwide in the fiscal year 2013.  Most of those savings will come at the expense of a program that gives money to states and academic institutions for tsunami outreach, education, and research.

Cleveland Volcano has blown its top again.  An explosion shook the restless Aleutian volcano at around 7 o’clock Wednesday night.  There’s no monitoring network on the volcano itself, but seismic stations as far away as Dillingham picked up the signal.

Alaska Volcano Observatory seismologist Steve McNutt says that like a similar explosion in December, Wednesday’s was relatively small.