Unalaska, AK – The Alaska Department of Fish & Game released its quotas for crab today.

For Bristol Bay red king crab, the total allowable catch is 14.8 million pounds. The total allowable catch for Bering Sea snow crab is 54.3 million pounds. The Saint Matthew Island Section is also open for Blue king crab this year, with a total allowable catch of 1.6 million pounds. They will all open on October 15th at noon.

Unalaska, AK – Yesterday, Unalaska got its first dusting of snow, meaning that summer is officially over. KUCB's Alexandra Gutierrez spoke with some Unalaska residents about the changing of the seasons and the coming of winter.

Unalaska, AK – Given all the stakeholders involved, it's unlikely that anyone would mistake a fishery management council meeting for a love-in. With commercial fishermen, conservationists, the federal government - just to name a few - all having different perspectives on resource protection, conflict seems nearly inevitable.

But not necessarily, says Thomas Miller. Miller is a fisheries scientist with the University of Maryland, and he and a team of researchers have come up with a collaborative way of managing fisheries. Their idea? Well, it's pretty simple: include all stakeholders from the very beginning instead of taking comment from them after quotas have been suggested. KUCB's Alexandra Gutierrez has more.

Unalaska, AK – On Monday, Deadliest Catch production crew will be arriving in Dutch Harbor to prepare for the seventh season of the popular Discovery Channel television series. However, some of the show's biggest stars won't be greeting them. Andy and Johnathan Hillstrand of the Time Bandit and Sig Hansen of the Northwestern sent a statement to the Hollywood Reporter yesterday, saying that they will not be returning to the show.

Unalaska, AK – A vessel owned by the Norwegian shipping company Hoeghe Autoliners was brought into Dutch Harbor yesterday afternoon after experiencing engine trouble. The Triton had left from Yokohama, Japan and was transporting automobiles to Canada.

Joanne Villamor with the Alaska Maritime Agency explains what the trouble was.

"It has a piston problem with one of its engines," she says. "But the other engine is still working, which is how it got to Dutch Harbor."

Unalaska, AK – Yesterday, city council passed an ordinance that would shorten the delinquency period for utilities bills.

What the ordinance does cut the amount of a time a person or company has to pay their bill before the power is disconnected. Previously, one could wait forty five days after receiving an overdue notice before their power is shut off - giving that property 80 days of extra power after a bill was mailed before the city acted. Now, that period has been cut by twenty days. The city will mail the bill and give a person a month to pay it. After that month is up, a late fee will be charged and the property owner will be notified of delinquency, giving them a chance to lean on a renter if the property is leased out. After that, the person tasked with paying the bill has another month to make up the balance before the lights are turned off.

Unalaska, AK – More federal stimulus money is being directed to Alaska's internet infrastructure. The Connect Alaska initiative, a non-profit organization, has received $4.5 million in funding for the purpose of expanding broadband internet access in remote communities across the state.

So far, Connect Alaska has been working to identify underserved areas and has been creating a map of the state that pinpoints what kinds of communication services are available in a given town. Now, the length of their project is being expanded from two years to five years, and they'll be working with state and local governments - along with the private sector - to get rural communities online.
Jessica Ditto is a spokesperson for Connect Alaska, and she explains how this funding might help Unalaska.

Unalaska, AK – Tonight city council will be meeting to discuss utilities billing and budget reallocations.

For the past two meetings, council has been working match the city's utilities billing practices with other communities in the state. A proposed ordinance would shorten the delinquency period by a month - from about three months to two. The ordinance is meant to prevent the city from absorbing losses from unpaid bills, which have ranged year by year from a couple of thousand dollars to amounts over $50,000.

Unalaska, AK – This year's mayoral candidates, incumbent Shirley Marquardt and city council member Dick Peck, discussed their takes on this year's election and one of the major issues - finances. The KUCB news team has more.