Unalaska, AK – A representative from Alaska's Department of Environmental Conservation visited Unalaska this week to discuss the water quality of Dutch Harbor and Iliuliuk Harbor.

These two harbors are currently listed as impaired according to Alaska's Clean Water Act -- the sediment of both water bodies contains more than the allowable amount of petroleum hydrocarbons. In response, the DEC is drafting a "Total Maximum Daily Load" document.

Unalaska, AK – This morning a pile of waste caught fire at the landfill on Summer Bay Road. No individuals were harmed.

The fire department received a call about a fire in the baler building at 11:16. Fourteen fire and EMS personnel and two police officers arrived on the scene. The fire department contained the fire within 45 minutes, says fire chief Brian Long.

"We had fire under control by 12:01," says "We don't declare the fire totally out until we can pull the fire completely apart, and that's hard to do when you have a mountain of garbage to deal with."

Unalaska, AK – The United Fishermen of Alaska instated a new president Tuesday. Arni Thomson will be replacing Joe Childers, who led the trade group for three years. Thomson says that his major goals for UFA are educational outreach and continuing its work on marketing Alaska seafood products.

Thomson has served as executive director of the Alaska Crab Coalition since 1986. He is also serves on the advisory panel of the North Pacific Research Board, and he was an advocate for crab rationalization. His election breaks the decade-old UFA trend of electing finfish harvesters.

Unalaska, AK – For the next five weeks, 48 scientists will explore a new frontier for NASA. No, they're not going to Mars. They're traveling to the arctic circle as part of NASA's ICESCAPE mission.

Unalaska, AK – This weekend, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration completed the first part of its effort to redo tidal current maps for the Aleutian chain. It's been over fifty years since the maps have been updated.

NOAA is using a total of 24 subsurface moorings to collect data in the area between Unimak Isand and Unalaska Island. Fifteen of those moorings were put in place on this trip. The moorings are shaped like torpedoes, and inside there's a meter that records information on the speed of the currents. The NOAA team attaches recycled railroad wheels to the moorings to keep them place.

Unalaska, AK – On Friday, Gov. Sean Parnell approved an economic package in Ketchikan, signing a number of bills focused on loans and taxation. House Bill 365 was part of that package, and it puts in place the last part of the fisheries buyback permit program. The buyback program is supposed to help stabilize the fisheries by helping retire latent permits.

Anchorage Representative Charisse Millett sponsored the legislation and says that she was impressed that the members of the fishing industry came to her with a plan for sustainability that includes taxation provisions.

Unalaska, AK – Area M seiners in Sand Point and King Cove head out tomorrow, after standing down the season's first sockeye salmon opening. The second period of the season starts at 6am on Saturday and rounds up at 10pm on Tuesday, June 15.

Seiners from Peter Pan, Trident, and Snopac chose not to participate in the first opening as a gesture of solidarity with the subsistence chum fishermen on the Yukon and Kuskokwim Rivers, who say that seiners may be preventing an adequate number of salmon from reaching their spawning beds. The standdown may also be a precaution against future restrictions by the Alaska Board of Fisheries.

Unalaska, AK – Today, the PCR is moving across the street into Unalaska's high school. They'll be there for the summer until construction is complete. The PCR is making a number of improvements, including building a new music room, expanding the cardio room, and renovating the child care center.

Sarah Riffer from PCR says "We're hoping to move back in on August 9th. At that time, we still won't have full use of our facilities but the main program areas will be completed at that time."

Unalaska, AK – The city council met last night to discuss another increase to the Ports tariff and to move forward on the disposal of twelve trailers.

The council voted to amend the Port tariff. Last year a study by Northern Economics recommended that the council raise the tariffs by 4.8 percent per year for the next three years in order to help keep the department afloat.

Ports lost significant amounts of business to the new Kloosterboor facility last year, though it gained some back after the APL crane fell forcing them to use city facilities. In November, the council voted to increase the tariffs for just one year instead of the recommended three. The four members of the council present approved the ordinance unanimously.