Unalaska, AK – The local tanner crab fishery is closing early this year in Unalaska Bay. The eight boats were catching too few crabs per pot and the weights of ones they did catch were getting progressively smaller. Assistant area shellfish biologist Jeanette Alas said they closed the fishery in order to protect it for the long term.

"This season we saw a pretty consistent drop in the average weight of the crab, and that particularly indicates that the crab they're catching are recruit crab. We don't want them to keep fishing on crab that we rely on to keep the stocks going for next year."

Unalaska, AK – Captain Phil Harris of the F/V Cornelia Marie and one of the stars of the Deadliest Catch died Tuesday night at a hospital in Anchorage. He suffered a stroke on January 29 while off-loading crab in St. Paul and was taken by medevac to Anchorage. According the Discovery Channel website, on February 3 he showed some signs of improvement and spoke with his two sons, Josh and Jake, who are crew members on the crab vessel. He died Tuesday night in the hospital at the age of 53.

Unalaska, AK – The proposed Unalaska Bay trawl closure passed and failed in parts at the Board of Fisheries meeting in Anchorage last week. The proposal called for all of Unalaska Bay, the area south of a line from Cape Cheerful to Kalekta, to be closed to all trawling year-round. Currently the area is open during pollock B' season, from June 10 until November 1. Residents say the area should be reserved for subsistence and sport fishing for the community. Some say they have gear conflicts with the trawlers and have lost long lines and pots. Conversely, pollock fishermen say the area is important because it's a good source of local, high-quality pollock that can be fished without using much fuel.

Unalaska, AK – The Unalaska Raiders basketball teams faced the toughest teams in their league this weekend at the Barrow Invitational.

The girls had a rough go of it. Their first game showed some of their strengths in their second match-up this season again the Nome Lady Nanooks. They lost 52 to 26, but coach Alan Haskins said they played with confidence.

Their second game, against the Barrow Lady Whalers, proved even more of a challenge. "They came out, pressed us full court all over the floor, and we had way too many turnovers," he said.

Unalaska, AK – The caribou population on Unimak Island has dropped to dangerously low levels, and the Alaska Department of Fish & Game is developing a plan to help restore it. Recent surveys found only 300 caribou on the island, and only 15 of them were bulls. In 2009, only seven calves survived into recruitment, mostly because of predation by wolves. ADF&G Assistant Commissioner Corey Rossi said the decline might be part of the caribou's natural population cycle. However, the numbers are so low that the department is worried that the population may not be able to rebound.

Unalaska, AK – Alyeska's pollock A' season is starting with a new approach to fishing. The pollock fleet is participating in the Salmon Savings Incentive Plan (SSIP) pilot program, one of the plans the industry is putting into place to reduce Chinook salmon bycatch.

Next year a new regulation will go into play that limits the industry's salmon bycatch to 60,000 fish, though they should aim for no more than 47,000. If a boat gets more than its bycatch allotment and cannot get more from another boat, then it has to stop fishing. One plan to keep fishermen below even their allotted number is the SSIP. For approximately every two salmon they do not catch this year, they have an extra in the bank for next year in case of emergency. Alyeska fleet manager Sylvia Ettefagh said her fleet has always tried to avoid bycatch, but they are testing the program this year to get ahead for next year when the rules go into effect.

Unalaska, AK – The Unalaska Raiders boys and girls basketball teams faced their first set of opponents yesterday in the Barrow Invitational. Both teams faced the Nome Nanooks, who defeated them in Bethel last weekend.

The girls played first. Though they were behind the entire game, in the fourth quarter they strutted their stuff and pushed forward. They scored 11 points that quarter, the best they had all game. However, the Lady Nanooks doubled the Raiders score and won 52 to 26.

Unalaska, AK – It's another slow start to pollock A' season this year. Just like last year, when the quota was just about the same, the some of fleet was slow to leave port. Though the season opened on January 20, Unisea's boats have chosen to stay here. Some crews have even gone home for a little while instead of waiting in Unalaska. Starlight crew member Scott Bingen, who fishes for Unisea, said they are waiting for the spawning fish with large amounts of roe to school up.

Unalaska, AK – The fate of Adak Seafoods is still in limbo. According to court documents retrieved by fisheries reporter Wesley Loy, Aleut Enterprise is suing Adak Seafood to evict them from the property. The case was originally filed in the state court system but was removed to the federal courts.

Aleut Enterprise, the landlord of the only fish processing plant in Adak, says that their original lease with Adak Fisheries expired in December and they will not renew the lease with Adak Seafood, the company that took over operations when Adak Fisheries declared bankruptcy. Adak Seafood has a office based in Norway but is still partially owned and operated by the same man, Kjetil Solberg.