Search called off for missing Alaska Ranger crew member
Tuesday, March 25 2008
Search continues for missing Alaska Ranger crew member
Monday, March 24 2008
Unalaska, AK – UPDATED 6:15 PM, MONDAY--A Coast Guard helicopter is still searching for the final missing crew member from the fishing vessel Alaska Ranger, which sunk Sunday morning in the Bering Sea west of Unalaska Island.
The missing man has been identified as Satoshi Konno, a Japanese national who was the fish master onboard the Alaska Ranger. Four members of the ship's crew are confirmed dead, including the captain. About half of the survivors arrived in Unalaska before dawn today, and the rest are safe onboard the Coast Guard cutter Munro, which is on its way back to Dutch Harbor.
Some Alaska Ranger surivors arrive safely in Unalaska
Monday, March 24 2008
Unalaska, AK – Four crew members are dead and a fifth is missing after a fishing trawler sank in the Bering Sea on Sunday.
The boat's owner, the Fishing Company of Alaska, has identified the dead as captain Eric Peter Jacobsen, chief engineer Daniel Cook, mate David Silveira and crewman Byron Carrillo. As of early this morning, the Coast Guard was still searching for a fifth crew member, whose name hasn't been released yet.
Missing Alaska Ranger crew member identified
Sunday, March 23 2008
Unalaska, AK – A Coast Guard cutter and two helicopters are searching for the final missing crew member from the fishing vessel Alaska Ranger, which sunk yesterday morning in the Bering Sea west of Unalaska Island.
The Coast Guard has identified the missing man as Satoshi Konno, a Japanese national who was the fish master onboard the Alaska Ranger.
Coast Guard officials were meeting in Unalaska this morning to plan the investigation into the ship's sinking, the cause of which remains unclear. Half of the ship's crew arrived in Dutch Harbor early this morning on the Alaska Ranger's sister ship, the Alaska Warrior.
Four dead, one missing from sinking trawler
Sunday, March 23 2008
Unalaska, AK – Four people are dead and a fifth is missing after the crew of the trawler Alaska Ranger was forced to abandon ship early this morning.
As of 1:30 p.m., the Coast Guard was unable to confirm whether the 184-foot ship, which is owned by the Fishing Company of Alaska, was still afloat, and few details are available on the cause of the incident. According to the Coast Guard, the ship lost control of its rudder and began taking on water at about 2:50 a.m. this morning, 120 miles west of Unalaska. The identities of the dead crew members have not been released.
Selendang Ayu spill may have hit seabirds hardest
Friday, March 21 2008
Unalaska, AK – An early tallying of the damage from the 2004 Selendang Ayu oil spill suggests that sea birds were the hardest hit among the animals living in the affected areas of Unalaska Island.
A preliminary assessment of damages from the spill was released earlier this week by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the other state and federal agencies involved in recovery work. The document looks at the impacts on the whole ecosystem of Unalaska Island's western coast, from marine invertebrates to salmon streams to sea otters. The assessment says that at least 41 species of birds were injured by the oil spill, and appear to have been affected worse than the marine mammals, fish and vegetation in the area.
China now second-largest importer of Alaskan seafood
Friday, March 21 2008
Unalaska, AK – Alaska's overall exports totaled $3.9 billion in 2007, according to figures released by the governor's office Thursday. As usual, more than half of those exports were from the seafood industry, which sent nearly $2 billion worth of its products to customers in other countries. What's new is who's buying all of that fish--for the first time, China is now the second-largest importer of Alaskan seafood, and Americans might actually be eating more of it than anyone else. KIAL's Charles Homans explains.
Legislature, Unalaska School Board honor Walter Dyakanoff
Thursday, March 20 2008
Unalaska, AK – Longtime Unalaska resident and local leader Walter Dyakanoff, who passed away on March 5, is receiving two posthumous honors for his life and work in Unalaska.
Superintendent John Conwell says the school board is planning to pass a resolution in memory of Dyakanoff's service to the community at this evening's meeting.
The state Legislature also passed a resolution in memory of Dyakanoff, which was sponsored by District 37 representative Bryce Edgmon.
DEC hosts shipping safety meetings in Unalaska
Wednesday, March 19 2008
Unalaska, AK – Staff from the state Department of Environmental Conservation were in town today meeting with local industry representatives about shipping safety issues.
DEC Emergency Response Program Manager Leslie Pearson said that the meetings were about dealing with the "residual lessons learned" from the 2004 Selendang Ayu wreck. In the morning, she and the agency's other representatives met with local processing plant executives to look at how those plants would be able to cope with an oil spill in Unalaska Bay.