Unalaska, AK – A new emergency order by the National Marine Fisheries Service might bring more crab to Unalaska's processing plants this year. About 600,000 pounds of golden king crab are required to be harvested and processed in the western Aleutians. In this case, Adak. The problem is there are no operational processing plants in Adak.

Adak Fisheries stopped processing last April then filed for bankruptcy in September. They were purchased by Adak Seafoods, a company basically run by the same person, Kjetil Solberg. Aleut Enterprise, the owner of the processing plant property, says that the old company's lease for the property expired and they will not extend the lease for the new company. Additionally, Adak Petroleum, which is also owned by the Aleut Corporation, will not sell Adak Seafoods any fuel. All three entities are currently tied up in legal battles and NMFS does not foresee any processing taking place on the island in the near future.

Unalaska, AK – The Unalaska Raiders boys and girls teams played their first matches in the Kotzebue Klassic Thursday afternoon. The girls had a rough game against the Dillingham Wolverines, who are pulling ahead as one of the best girls teams in the region. They lost 15 to 31. The boys however are showing off their improving defensive skills and their soaring offense. They led the game by double digits pretty much from start to finish. It's their fourth straight varsity win and their first win in their conference. They boys beat Dillingham 58 to 48.

Unalaska, AK – A researcher at the University of Alaska Fairbanks is conducting a survey on the longer-term impacts of the sablefish and halibut quota system on coastal communities. PhD student Alexander Kotlarov is asking halibut and sablefish fishermen and quota share owners to take a short online survey. He's trying to find out how the quota-share system has affected the economies of costal communities around the state. It's the first follow up study on the system since it was implemented in 1995. He says that knowing its impacts on communities might help fisheries managers when designing similar systems in the future.

Unalaska, AK – The Coast Guard rescued two of their own off of Ballyhoo this weekend. Two Coast Guard officers were hiking on Ballyhoo below the weather station and one slipped into a ravine. The other went down to help her, but both became stuck and couldn't move either up or down.

According to Coast Guard public affairs officer Lt. JG Crystal Hudak, they called the ship with their cell phone to ask for help. Five other Coast Guard people went with a rope to try to help them out but soon realized they would need a helicopter. Luckily, the chopper was at the airport for some routine training work and was easily mobilized. The was little to no wind on Ballyhoo on Saturday afternoon so the helicopter flew very close to the mountain and winched a rescue swimmer down to the two stranded officers. One by one the rescuer hoisted them up in a sling. Neither of the officers was injured, just bruised from sliding on the slate into the ravine. They were stuck for about three and a half hours.

Unalaska, AK – The high school English as a Second Language class recently won a Spirit of Youth Award. The award honors youth across the state for positive contributions to their communities. The winners were chosen by a group of youth based in Anchorage. Aura Beatty's ESL class won an award in the media and technology category for their radio segment "Outdoors Unalaska," which airs on KUCB. Each month the class interviews a different person or group about their outdoor adventures, including long distance hiking and scuba diving. It requires them to learn about the outdoors so they can ask educated questions.

Unalaska, AK – Greenpeace is taking a more humorous approach to lobbying the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council at this week's meeting in Portland. The environmental group created a spoof version of USA Today with headlines like "Huge area too deep to bottom trawl protected from bottom trawling" and "NOAA Habitat Conservation Division launches new initiative to actually conserve habitat." Then they wrapped the spoofs around the real copies of USA Today newspapers being distributed to all of the rooms in the hotel where council members were staying.

Unalaska, AK – The price tag on the Carl E. Moses Boat Harbor keeps increasing as the city council chooses which modifications will help it fit all of the different users' needs. During a three-hour long work session on Tuesday council members discussed different potential modifications, each of which would add to the base price of $24.5 million and raise it up as high as $31 million.

Two options would strengthen floats near the shore and add electrical outlets to make more spaces for small boats that are 32 feet and under. Another would strengthen the C float, which does not have slips, to allow 150 foot vessels to double stack against both sides. The costs of these options varied from about $600,000 up to $2.1 million.

Unalaska, AK – The Aleutian Islands Risk Assessment team is looking for public comments on the first two studies that make up phase A of the assessment. The studies look at vessel traffic in the region and the potential for oil spills. The first study identifies the characteristics of the vessels that transit through the area, the quantity of oil and hazardous cargo they are carrying, and what routes they are taking. Currently, 75 percent of the vessels are large, deep draft vessels that just transit through. Most of the vessels that stay in the area are fishing vessels.

Unalaska, AK – The State Fire Marshal has determined the cause of the fire at Peking Restaurant to be unattended cooking. Something was unintentionally left cooking on the stove, it caught on fire, and the fire spread from there. The building will need substantial repairs, such as fixing the holes cut in the roof and ceilings by fire fighters who were trying to extinguish the burning structural beams. It now also needs to be brought up to current fire code standards. The building was originally built during World War II. It's unclear when businesses will be able to resume operations in the building.