A crew member was found dead aboard the fishing vessel Alaska Warrior early in the morning on November 9.

Fishing Company of Alaska owns the catcher-processor, which was tied up at the dock when crewmates found the body of 36 year old Sui Filisi.

Unalaska City Police are investigating but could not comment on the cause of death.  The Medical Examiner will be doing an autopsy.

Fishing Company of Alaska representatives could not comment on the incident.   

City Council barely met quorum last night, with three Councilors and the Mayor absent from the meeting, but those who were there had lively discussions about the fee schedule for the Carl E Moses Small Boat Harbor and the Council’s Travel Policy.

Although Councilors didn’t vote on the Harbor fee schedule last night, they did agree to make several changes to the current policy.  Most of the discussion focused on fees for use of the drive down dock and crane.

After weathering a stormy night, the fishing vessel Rebecca Irene is on its way back to Unalaska. 

The 140-foot catcher-processor lost power in one engine on Tuesday morning, leaving it stranded in open ocean as the massive weather front hitting western Alaska moved in.

As a precaution, the Coast Guard cutter Sherman evacuated 20 of the 34 crewmembers on Tuesday afternoon and stayed with the Rebecca Irene through the night. Petty Officer Sara Francis says the conditions near Unimak Pass weren’t as extreme as forecast.

As most Alaskans and Discovery Channel fans know, commercial fishing is an exceptionally dangerous job. Now, the National Transportation and Safety board has released a series of recommendations meant to reduce the number of deaths in the fishing industry.

The NTSB report was released yesterday, and it calls on the Coast Guard to set stability standards for smaller boats. The document suggests periodic stability inspections for vessels 79 feet and under, and it cites the 2008 sinking of the F/V Katmai in the Bering Sea as an example of limited stability training and lack of oversight contributing to multiple fatalities.

The amount of pollock that fishermen are able to catch will likely shrink next year.

The National Marine Fisheries Service has posted its draft assessment of the Eastern Bering Sea pollock stock, and it proposes revising the allowable biological catch -- the amount that fishermen can safely harvest in a year without negatively impacting the fishery -- down to 1.08 million metric tons. That’s a 14 percent decline over this year’s ABC of 1.270 million metric tons.

The Coast Guard evacuated a crew member off of the Deadliest Catch crab boat F/V Wizard yesterday afternoon.

According to Petty Officer Charly Hengen, the as-yet unidentified 28-year-old male collapsed and was showing signs of dehydration and shock when the crew radioed for help. A Jayhawk helicopter in the area on a training flight transported him to Cold Bay for treatment.

The Wizard is one of four permanent vessels featured on the Discovery Channel show. They are currently fishing for Bristol Bay red king crab.  Discovery Channel representatives could not immediately comment on the incident.

The Coast Guard has evacuated most the crew of the 140-foot catcher-processor Rebecca Irene. 

The ship contacted the Coast Guard early this morning (Nov 8) to report that they had lost power in one engine and had limited propulsion. 

A massive storm tracking up the western coast of Alaska is forecast to cause winds of up to 55 mph and seas of up to 35 feet in the area near Unimak Pass where the vessel is reported to be. 

Amending the Carl E. Moses Small Boat Harbor rate schedule is at the top of this evening's City Council agenda.  

Discussion of the schedule last meeting ended without agreement on several key issues.  In a work session tonight, Councilors will address whether to raise the moorage rate by 15 percent, how to deal with multiple vessels under the same ownership, and how to administer use of the drive-down float.  

The pollock B season closed last Tuesday, and now the final harvest numbers are out.

Over 1.16 million metric tons of pollock were caught in the Bering Sea this year. That’s enough to make more than 3 billion boxes of fish sticks.

But even though that sounds like a lot of fish, this wasn’t the greatest year for the pollock fleet. Many boats were fishing right up to the season’s end in hopes of catching their quota, and some vessels gave up on that prospect altogether. According to Josh Keaton with the National Marine Fisheries Service, that makes this an unusual year.