Ten years ago a Bristol Bay red king crab fisherman could head out for three or four days and come home with a year’s salary in his pocket.
After the fishery was rationalized, it seemed unlikely that was ever going to happen again. Until this year.
When the season started, things weren’t looking good for Bristol Bay. The quota was cut by 47 percent this year and the pre-season abundance survey showed a continued decline in crab stocks. Some crabbers were predicting this would be the last opener for at least a few years. But as the season progressed, things started looking better.
As most Alaskans and Discovery Channel fans know, commercial fishing is an exceptionally dangerous job. Now, the National Transportation and Safety board has released a series of recommendations meant to reduce the number of deaths in the fishing industry.
The NTSB report was released yesterday, and it calls on the Coast Guard to set stability standards for smaller boats. The document suggests periodic stability inspections for vessels 79 feet and under, and it cites the 2008 sinking of the F/V Katmai in the Bering Sea as an example of limited stability training and lack of oversight contributing to multiple fatalities.
The amount of pollock that fishermen are able to catch will likely shrink next year.
The National Marine Fisheries Service has posted its draft assessment of the Eastern Bering Sea pollock stock, and it proposes revising the allowable biological catch -- the amount that fishermen can safely harvest in a year without negatively impacting the fishery -- down to 1.08 million metric tons. That’s a 14 percent decline over this year’s ABC of 1.270 million metric tons.
The Coast Guard evacuated a crew member off of the Deadliest Catch crab boat F/V Wizard yesterday afternoon.
According to Petty Officer Charly Hengen, the as-yet unidentified 28-year-old male collapsed and was showing signs of dehydration and shock when the crew radioed for help. A Jayhawk helicopter in the area on a training flight transported him to Cold Bay for treatment.
The Wizard is one of four permanent vessels featured on the Discovery Channel show. They are currently fishing for Bristol Bay red king crab. Discovery Channel representatives could not immediately comment on the incident.
The Coast Guard has evacuated most the crew of the 140-foot catcher-processor Rebecca Irene.
The ship contacted the Coast Guard early this morning (Nov 8) to report that they had lost power in one engine and had limited propulsion.
A massive storm tracking up the western coast of Alaska is forecast to cause winds of up to 55 mph and seas of up to 35 feet in the area near Unimak Pass where the vessel is reported to be.
The pollock B season closed last Tuesday, and now the final harvest numbers are out.
Over 1.16 million metric tons of pollock were caught in the Bering Sea this year. That’s enough to make more than 3 billion boxes of fish sticks.
But even though that sounds like a lot of fish, this wasn’t the greatest year for the pollock fleet. Many boats were fishing right up to the season’s end in hopes of catching their quota, and some vessels gave up on that prospect altogether. According to Josh Keaton with the National Marine Fisheries Service, that makes this an unusual year.
Little South America is shaping up to be one of Unalaska's busiest marine centers. The Carl E. Moses small boat harbor is reaching completion, and now a different project might be on the verge of starting up.
Northern Mechanical has filed a request to build a barge-loading facility on the western side of Little South America, which would be used for shipping material from two area quarries. Right now, Northern Mechanical loads its quarry rock at a dock by the city landfill. However, that dock is set to disappear once the city completes its landfill expansion project.
Slow Internet and outdated wireless data coverage are facts of life for many Alaskan communities.
That might be about to change though. Last week the Federal Communications Commission dedicated a $4.5 billion dollar subsidy fund to providing broadband and 3G access in rural areas.
In the past, the Universal Service Fund was used to subsidize rural telephone usage. Now the FCC has renamed it the Connect America Fund and expanded its mission to ensuring broadband access in remote areas. Here’s FCC spokesperson Mark Wigfield.
When a building catches fire, the situation is scary enough. The stakes are even higher on a boat, where there’s nowhere to go and no one to fight the fire but the people on board. The crew of Kodiak-based catcher-processor found themselves in that situation last week, while finishing a long fishing trip on the Bering Sea.
