During peak fishing season, it can be hard to get off the island if you didn’t book months in advance. Last week, it was impossible. On the heels of a month of flight delays and cancellations, Alaska Airlines temporarily suspended the program that guarantees locals a seat on flights in and out of Unalaska. Now it’s back.
No one likes the feeling of being trapped, which is how the community access program came about.
At least a few Unalaska residents felt a small rumbling this morning. A 4.5-magnitude earthquake hit at 10:20am about 45 miles northeast of town.
While a few people reported feeling the quake to the Unalaska Department of Public Safety, the event did not cause any injuries or damage according to Director Jamie Sunderland. As the quake was relatively small, it also didn’t trigger any sort of tsunami warning.
Almost every public bathroom in Unalaska has at least one thing in common.
Somewhere in the room there are flyers for Unalaskans Against Sexual Assault and Family Violence. The name seems pretty self-explanatory, but if you attended their awareness luncheon yesterday, they might have surprised you.
A six-person panel of law enforcement, healthcare providers, and advocates fielded questions on everything from in-school bullying and LGBTQ community resources to elder abuse and domestic violence statistics.
The Bering Sea pollock B season is grinding to a close.
As of Saturday, 77,000 metric tons of fish remain unharvested. That’s about 10 percent of what the fleet’s allowed to take this fall. Both the catcher vessels and factory trawlers have reduced their effort substantially, according to NOAA’s latest catch report. Many crews have already packed up and flown home even if they still have fish on the table.
When Alaska Newspapers, Incorporated went under, many residents in rural Alaska worried that it would be harder to get local news. Now, one man in Unalaska has decided to do something about this.
This weekend, Alaska Federation of Natives delegates voted on some 50-odd resolutions, covering everything from health care to voting strategies. Two items that got approval call for serious changes to the way Alaska’s fisheries are managed.
The first resolution they voted on concerns policy-making. It expresses support for the reauthorization of the Magnuson Stevens Act, which sets the rules for fisheries management. It also calls for the North Pacific Fishery Management Council to create voting seats for Alaska tribal representatives. Right now, the 15-member council is made up of fisheries managers and representatives selected by the governors of Alaska and Washington.
Setting rental rates for the City’s new 8-plex generated some controversy at last night’s Council meeting.
Council ultimately adopted the rates proposed by the City Manger’s office, but not without considerable discussion. The main debate focused on whether the City should try to recover the cost of construction in the rental rates. The project totaled $5.5 million dollars. The city covered $1.7 million and a grant from the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation picked up the rest.
Less is more this season for Bristol Bay red king crab. The fishery’s quota was cut in half, but the price has soared.
When the season opened ten days ago, Jake Jacobsen, executive director of ICE, the largest crabber cooperative, was expecting the final price for red king to be around $10 per pound. That would have been a new record and almost three dollars more than last year. Now he says that estimate is low.
Thirty tons of squid and fifty-four sharks found on board the stateless high-seas drift-netter Bangun Perkasa have been sold to Westward Seafoods.
NOAA spokesperson Julie Speegle says the squid will be used as bait fish and the shark will be ground into fish feed. NOAA scientists took tissue samples from the sharks to determine species before auctioning them off.
Pending a decision on how to dispose of the vessel, it remains at the Magone Marine dock in Unalaska.
