The Westward Seafoods plant is tucked away on Captains Bay Road. But the factory -- and two of its former employees -- are drawing heat from federal regulators for allegedly violating the Clean Air Act.
Westward makes its own electricity on-site using three generators. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Feldis says the company has air permits that lay out what pollutants it can emit -- and under what conditions.
The Arctic Slope Regional Corporation -- and a handful of village corporations nearby -- now have the option to buy into offshore drilling operations in the Chukchi Sea. It’s part of a new agreement with Shell Oil.
But with the future of that company’s Arctic operations up in the air, the deal raises more questions than answers.
Arctic Inupiat Offshore is the new company that’s formed as a potential partner in Shell’s Chukchi Sea operations. Its leader is Rex Rock -- the current president of the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation.
While salmon is still the main species that pollock fishermen are trying to avoid taking as bycatch this summer, there’s another creature that’s been causing problems in the Bering Sea.
Along with their pollock, fishermen have pulled up about 1,100 metric tons of slimy, pink squid this summer.
That’s more than four times their catch limit, according to Krista Milani. She’s a biologist for the National Marine Fisheries Service.
"The squid TAC or quota is supposed to last us for the whole year," Milani says. "So it’s quite a bit to be taken already."
Saltchuk Alaska has given $150,000 in scholarship funds to Alaska Pacific University. The award is aimed in part at introducing students to industry jobs at Saltchuk companies.
Students in communities where Saltchuk runs its fuel and transportation businesses get priority for the scholarship. Recipients will be mentored and do job-shadowing at one of those businesses, too.
Alaska Pacific will give out the scholarships this fall and next spring. Students have to have at least a 3.0 GPA and can be enrolled in any field of study to qualify.
There's still fish in the water, but seiners are done harvesting herring in the Aleutian Islands.
The purse seine fleet picked up their last load of herring on Saturday night north of Akutan. Fish & Game biologist Nathaniel Nichols says that leaves about 160 tons of herring on the table out of the 1,805 tons up for harvest this season.
"The processors decided they had enough before we got to the allocation, so they quit fishing," says Nichols.
The Aleutian Islands herring fishery is off to a slow start.
Nathaniel Nichols is a biologist monitoring the harvest for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. In a good year, he says, the entire 1,805-ton allocation can be taken in three days.
The season officially opened on Tuesday.
"So far, I think we’ve got around 500 tons already caught," Nichols says. "So we’re chugging along."
The bulk carrier Amakusa Island in Vancouver in 2010. (Courtesy: Gary McLeod/MarineTraffic.com)
A 750-foot bulk carrier ran aground outside Prince Rupert in British Columbia Monday. It didn’t cause a fuel spill, but critics of a proposed pipeline in the region say it underscores the risks of increasing tanker traffic.
The Japanese-flagged ‘Amakusa Island’ was moving from its berth at a coal terminal to Prince Rupert’s outer harbor Monday. It scraped the ocean bottom, ripping its hull and flooding two ballast tanks, according to The Vancouver Sun.
Canadian Coast Guard Ship Louis S. St-Laurent (Courtesy of Fisheries and Oceans Canada)
Canada’s Coast Guard is suffering from crossed wires at their only manned field station in the Arctic.
The CBC reports that some radio transmissions aren't making it through to the Coast Guard office in the northeastern province of Nunavut because of a lag in their new software system.
About a half-dozen North Pacific Fuel employees picketed on Friday. (Lauren Rosenthal/KUCB)
Laborers from North Pacific Fuel walked off the job in Unalaska on Friday to protest the firing of a co-worker.
The incident follows a rising tide of interest in unionizing among local fuelers.
Rasoul Charkhandaz is one of them. He was a truck driver for North Pacific Fuel until this week. On Friday, he stood outside the company's office with a picket sign, asking for his job back.
