Unalaska, AK – The City of Unalaska is considering investing over half a million dollars on a Geographic Information System (GIS). The system creates an interactive, digital map of the city and all of its infrastructure, including water systems, electrical systems and more. It forms a link between scattered pieces of information.
"The idea is that it will improve efficiency, it will reduce costs, it will save time, it will save money," said CEO David Holdstock of Geographic Technologies Group, the company that is developing the city's GIS strategic plan. "It will manage and inventory all of the infrastructure. And the old classic story of the engineer who leaves the city with a wealth of knowledge that knowledge won't leave the city. It will remain in digital form even after staff leave."
Unalaska, AK – The new cold storage facility on Ballyhoo road is entering the next stage of construction. DH Ports is now partnering with Kloosterboer, a Dutch company that specializes in modern cold storage facilities, and they will begin construction of the cold storage building on March 15. DH Ports Vice President Per Brautaset says the facility aims to raise the value of fisheries products from all types of vessels and processors.
Unalaska, AK – The Alaska Volcano Observatory raised the warning level for Okmok to yellow, or advisory, on Monday after a series of seismic bursts that lasted for six hours. The tremors repeated again Wednesday but have since subsided. AVO coordinating scientist Steve McNutt said these seismic signals could mean anything.
"Signals like this sometimes precede eruptions on the scale of hours to days, sometimes weeks or longer. And then sometimes the volcano just goes back to sleep," he said. "So you have to be cautious and assume that it may erupt and it could do so quickly, so that's the basis for our treating it with caution and changing the color code. On the other hand it could represent a new physical state of the volcano in which case it could do something different and then go back to sleep."
Unalaska, AK – The Coast Guard successfully rescued five men off of a grounded fishing vessel Thursday morning on St. George Island. The 112-foot F/V Mar-Gun contacted the Coast Guard at 4:11 am saying they had drifted aground on the beach and could not get off, but all crew members were fine.
Coast Guard Petty Officer Sara Francis said the Coast Guard deployed a MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter from nearby St. Paul. The crew safely hoisted all five men from the ship at 7:53 am and transported them to the clinic in St. Paul.
Unalaska, AK – Almost 50 people attended parts of this week's 5-hour long city council meeting. Most came to discuss the proposed smoking ban. The work session aimed to tailor the ban to Unalaska's specific needs.
Tom Enlow from Unisea spoke up in favor of the ordinance but says it needs clarification and the businesses need more time to plan for it. He says Unisea would want time to build a designated smoking areas near their businesses so people are not smoking out front and making the area unsafe and unpleasant for other patrons. He also wants to know how the ban would affect company housing. Enlow's concerns and thoughts were echoed by community members and council members. Many seemed to think banning smoking by main entrances but not ancillary ones was a good idea. Council member Roger Rowland also wanted to know how the ban would affect city housing.
Unalaska, AK – A rogue wave on the Bering Sea knocked out the windows of a fishing vessel and soaked all of the navigational equipment. The 112-foot F/V Alyeska , out of Washington, was transiting 131 miles north of Akutan at about 2:45 pm Wednesday when it was stuck by the wave. Coast Guard Petty Officer Sara Francis explains the incident.
"The wave blew out several of their pilot house windows and damaged the ship's electronics," she said. "All of their navigational equipment failed because it was inundated with water. They managed to keep one VHF radio operational. But they were essentially piloting blind. So another vessel, the Pacific Challenger, a stern trawler based out of Seattle, escorted them into Dutch Harbor."
Unalaska, AK – The Coast Guard is working with Magone Marine and the Alaska Department of Conservation on a salvage plan for the F/V Icy Mist , which grounded on Akutan Island Wednesday morning. According to the crew of the vessel, approximately 2,700 gallons of diesel, 150 gallons of lube oil and 200 gallons of hydraulic oil are on board. Coast Guard Petty Officer Sara Francis says the ship is still upright on the beach and the fuel tanks in the stern are fairly protected.
Unalaska, AK – A 58-foot fishing boat has run aground on Akutan Island, about 40 miles east of Unalaska. The four-man crew of the Icy Mist was fishing for cod when they sent out a mayday call at 4:38 this morning.
"Due to the remoteness of Akutan Island the mayday call was received by the Arctic Fox which was then relayed to Northern Glacier who contacted us," said Coast Guard Petty Officer Jon-Paul Rios.
