Unalaska, AK – The National Marine Fisheries Service is now accepting applications for its Crab Individual Fishing Quota loan program. These loans allow crews on crab vessels to borrow up to 80 percent of the cost of a crab quota share, and they can also be used to refinance IFQ loans that had been made previously.

The Bering Sea Aleutian Island Crab IFQ loan program was finalized in December, and NMFS is making $8 million available. The program is open to all current and former skippers and crewmen.

Unalaska, AK – Shell Oil has decided not to pursue an offshore drilling program in the Arctic this year, citing a lengthy permitting process as the rationale behind the move.

To drill an exploratory well in the Beaufort Sea, Shell must receive an air permit. The Environmental Protection Agency granted that air permit last year, but the agency was challenged by Alaska Native and environmental groups. An independent review board ultimately overturned the permit.

Unalaska, AK – The Unalaska Department of Motor Vehicles office is recalling Alaska driver's licenses and identification cards issued over the past three months. Cards issued between November 1, 2010 and February 3, 2011 may potentially lack TSA-required security features due to problems with the card stock. Approximately 300 cards were issued at this time, and an unknown number lack this feature.

Unalaska, AK – Today, the conservation groups Oceana and Greenpeace filed a motion to intervene in lawsuits involving Steller sea lion protection. If accepted, the motion would make the groups a party alongside the National Marine Fisheries Service, which is being sued over its biological opinion of the endangered western stock of sea lions.

That biological opinion resulted in the closures in the Western Aleutian Island for the Atka mackerel and Pacific cod fisheries. In an effort to overturn this rule, the State of Alaska filed a lawsuit challenging this federal regulation. The Freezer Longliner Coaltion and the head-and-gut fleet have also filed nearly identical suits. Oceana and Greenpeace are so far the only groups that have petitioned to intervene in these three lawsuits on either side.

Unalaska, AK – Yesterday, Michael Fernandez pleaded guilty to two counts of harassment in the first degree.

Fernandez, age 18, was arrested in December after being accused of engaging in sexual contact with a 16-year-old without her consent. He has been sentenced to 180 days in jail, with 120 days suspended. Fernandez will also receive credit for time already served.

Additionally, Fernandez has been placed on three years probation and is prohibited from returning to Unalaska High School so long as the victim is enrolled as a student.

Unalaska, AK – The job of a fishermen has got a reputation being "deadly" -- but it's a painful career, too. Now, NIOSH is trying to change that by studying injuries suffered by fishermen. KUCB's Alexandra Gutierrez has more.

Unalaska, AK – The Seattle-based seafood company Wards Cove continues to shrink.

The company is selling seven trawlers and one crab vessel to the Norton
Sound Economic Development Corporation and the Coastal Villages Region
Fund. These community development quota groups will also take over 4 percent of the pollock quota from Wards Cove. The sale was finalized Tuesday, and the price has not been disclosed.

Unalaska, AK – Yesterday, jurors who decided the False Pass rape case in December were called back to the Unalaska courthouse to examine issues that may have affected case outcome.

That case resulted in a hung jury. Jason Neil Downard, 29, was alleged to have raped a False Pass woman in 2008 and was charged with three felonies. He was found guilty of assault in the second degree, and not guilty of attempted sexual assault. But the jury was split on the rape charge. Now, the State of Alaska is trying to figure out how to proceed with that charge and whether a retrial is necessary. An evidentiary hearing that considered outside factors that may have impacted the jury's decision is a first step in that process. Judge Steve Cole explained why the jury was called back.

Unalaska, AK – The States of Alaska and Washington are teaming up to conduct a review of the Steller sea lion biological opinion that the National Marine Fisheries Service released last year. The review will primarily focus on the effect that the commercial groundfish fisheries may have on the endangered western stock of Steller sea lions.

Fish and Game representatives from Alaska and Washington will be putting together a panel of scientists to determine whether the research that went into the biological opinion was sound and impartial. The biop determined that the sea lions were experiencing nutritional stress, and the Pacific cod and Atka mackerel fisheries in the western Aleutian Islands were closed as a result.