Emergency crews responding to an ammonia leak on the Clipper Epic. Photo by Zac Schasteen.
Emergency crews were mopping up an ammonia leak from a boat at the OSI dock on Unalaska's Captains Bay Road midday Friday. They blocked off the road at the Crowley dock Friday morning, about a half mile closer to town, as they responded to the leak. At 11 a.m., Unalaska police officers moved the road block closer to OSI, stopping traffic just before the main entrance to the facility.
Museum of the Aleutians' Oct. 12 board meeting. Board members (at table, L-R) Melissa Good, Sharon Svarney-Livingston, Eilleen Scott and executive director Zoya Johnson. KUCB/Greta Mart photo.
The Museum of the Aleutians in Unalaska remains closed after the discovery of museum materials--including a Russian Orthodox Bible from 1801--at the executive director's house disrupted normal operations last week.
The museum's board of directors voted Oct. 12 to close the museum and place executive director Zoya Johnson on paid administrative leave.
In a statement issued on Friday, the museum’s board said it completed an investigation and found that "no criminal intent was exercised" by Johnson. The Unalaska City Council member has served as the museum's executive director for the past 11 years.
Last week the Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced catch limits for the state’s crab fisheries. On Monday, a Fish and Game biologist explained how the agency determined those catch limits to a group of crabbers in Seattle. Nine local crabbers gathered at Unalaska’s City Hall to tune into the conference call and ask questions.
The biggest drop in total allowable catch – or the TAC – is for Bering Sea snow crab, also known as opilio. The total allowable catch this season for snow crab is just over 40 million pounds. That’s a forty percent drop from last season.
This week the Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced catch limit numbers for the upcoming red king crab and tanner crab seasons.
The 2015/2016 Bristol Bay red king crab total allowable catch is 9.974 million pounds.
Of that total, 8.976 million pounds are allowed under the individual fishing quota. Just under a million are allowed under the community development quota.
Mussels collected from Little Priest Rock in Unalaska this summer tested positive for high levels of toxins that cause paralytic shellfish poisoning, or PSP. That’s according to Melissa Good of the Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program.
Good said that throughout the summer, she’s been collecting blue mussels from Unalaska for analysis by the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation. The last of the collection ended on September 30. Once the data is in and analyzed, Good promised to present a community lecture on her findings.
Polling booths in Council Chambers. Photo by Greta Mart.
According to the preliminary count listed on the ballot box ticker tape Tuesday night just after 8 p.m., Frank Kelty is in the lead for City Council Seat G with 158 votes. His opponent John Waldron received 112 votes. There were four votes for write-in candidates.
City Clerk Cat Hazen says are still 28 absentee ballots left to be counted. Hazen said she plans to open and count those absentee ballots on Friday at ten a.m.
The Alaska Department of Transportation is proposing changes in ferry service to Unalaska/Dutch Harbor for the 2016 sailing season.
On Tuesday the state agency released its draft Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS) sailing schedule for next year. If approved as is, the ferry Tustumena will sail to Unalaska once in June and once in September. In May, July and August, the ferry will make the run from Kodiak to Unalaska twice a month.
For the first time in five years, helicopters and cowboys are rounding up cattle by the hundreds on Umnak and Unalaska islands. The Bering Pacific Ranches at Fort Glenn on Umnak Island are herding their tundra-roaming cattle to take them to market.
Alaska agriculture officials say the Bering Pacific is the state's biggest cattle operation. It's also the only one with cowboys herding by helicopter.
The only contested race on Unalaska’s ballot on Tuesday is for Seat G on the Unalaska City Council. Former police officer John Waldron is vying for the seat against longtime local politician Frank Kelty.
Both candidates are experienced politicians. Unalaska residents are familiar with Frank Kelty from eight years as a City Council member and his ten years as Mayor. John Waldron was elected to the borough assembly and school board in Yakutat and served as a police officer here in Unalaska.
