Unalaska, AK – The National Marine Fisheries Service has issued the final draft of its recovery plan for Alaska's population of Steller sea lions, and it includes good news and bad news for the long-troubled marine mammal. KIAL's Charles Homans reports.

Unalaska, AK – The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Park Service want to know what you think is the most important thing to tell tourists about Unalaska when they come here on the ferry.

The Alaska Marine Highway was declared an All-American Road in 2005, and parts of the southwestern ferry route have been declared scenic byways. That means there's federal funding available for interpretive exhibits telling passengers on the Tustumena about the communities along the ferry route.

Unalaska, AK – The Unalaska Raiders had a rough weekend in Bethel, losing their final games before the regional tournament starts later this week.

Both the boys and girls teams went winless in last week's games against the Warriors. The girls lost 64-27 on Friday and 62-31 on Saturday. The boys came closer but couldn't come away with a win either, losing 48-47 on Friday and 56-47 on Saturday.

Unalaska, AK – A staffer from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge will be filling Unalaskans in on a plan to eradicate rats from an island in the western Aleutians in a talk at the Museum of the Aleutians this evening.

The FWS is poised to start the project this fall on Rat Island, an island about 200 miles west of Adak that is believed to be the first place in Alaska to become infested with Norway rats, as early as the 1780s.

Unalaska, AK – Another Bering Sea community is being forced to get its fuel by emergency air deliveries as fuel barge deliveries in the region lag behind communities' needs. KIAL's Charles Homans reports from Unalaska.

Unalaska, AK – Scientists have discovered a new variety of kelp in the waters off the Aleutian Islands.

"I kind of think it's like running into a rock star in the middle of nowhere," said National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries scientist Mandy Lindeberg, who first identified the new species on a 2006 research cruise in the Aleutians.

The kelp's common name is golden V kelp, after its shape and color. Lindeberg found it off the coast of Kagamil Island in the central Aleutians, while working as part of a research team conducting a detailed survey of the Aleutian underwater ecosystem for the Department of Environmental Conservation. The team, which also included Unalaska divers Reid Brewer and Roger Deffendall, spent two summers traveling the length of the island chain.

Unalaska, AK – A fire that forced the evacuation of a factory trawler in the Bering Sea 136 miles northeast of Dutch Harbor late Tuesday has been extinguished. The ship is headed back to the port this evening, and expected to arrive around midnight. The blaze started in the laundry room of the Pacific Glacier, and burned for almost half a day before the ship's crew was able to get it under control. There have been no injuries or deaths reported among the more than one hundred people onboard at the time. In Unalaska, KIAL's Charles Homans reports.

Unalaska, AK – A panel of local judges has selected the regional winners for this year's Alaska Migratory Bird Calendar Contest, an annual competition held by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Alaska. The region includes Aleutian and Pribilof Island communities adjacent to the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge. The winners are:

LITERATURE

Kindergarten through 2nd grade:

Unalaska, AK – The fishing vessel Pacific Glacier is on its way back to Dutch Harbor after a serious fire that broke out on the boat Tuesday evening was contained early this morning.

No injuries or deaths were reported among the 106-member crew of the 276-foot factory trawler, where a fire originating in the laundry room spread to other parts of the ship at about 5 p.m. yesterday. As of late this morning the Pacific Glacier was being escorted back to Dutch Harbor by the Coast Guard cutter Alex Haley, which arrived on the scene around midnight Tuesday night.