F/V Arctic Hunter shortly after it ran aground in November 2013. / Credit: Jennifer Shockley

An abandoned crab vessel will finally be pulled off the beach in Unalaska, more than seven months after it ran aground. But as KUCB's Lauren Rosenthal reports, the Arctic Hunter isn’t the only shipwreck that’s awaiting removal.

The new year will likely bring new fisheries to the western Aleutian Islands, now that the NMFS has issued its final report on the way commercial fishing affects an endangered population of Steller sea lions.

Mt. Shishaldin seen from the air on May 7, 2014. (Courtesy of Meghan Bliss)

Shishaldin Volcano is rumbling to life in the Aleutian Islands.

The Alaska Volcano Observatory detected long tremors and an increase in surface temperatures at Shishaldin on Tuesday.

Those could be signs of an an eruption, says AVO geologist Robert McGimsey.

"Typical eruptions of Shishaldin have involved what we call Strombolian eruptions, which are gas-charged emissions," McGimsey says.

Cape Field at Fort Glenn. (Credit: Yvonne Meyer/National Park Service)

In its heyday, Fort Glenn on Umnak Island was a huge part of the military's defense during World War II. It helped protect Dutch Harbor's naval base from attacks.

But it's been almost seventy years since the airfield was used. And there are still plenty of traces of the war left behind, according to Valerie Palmer. She's a project manager with the Army Corps of Engineers.

"Through our investigation of that area, we have found that potentially there are still munitions on that site that have not exploded, and so they present an explosive hazard," Palmer says.

This weekend, Unalaska’s public safety department took steps to keep a family of bald eagles from returning to nest in the center of town.

Police chief Jamie Sunderland says the area around the Iliuliuk Family and Health Services Clinic has always been a popular neighborhood for eagles -- and a hotspot for attacks during their annual nesting season. The birds already swooped one jogger near the clinic this spring.

After a research review, the National Marine Fisheries Service is prepared to loosen controversial limits on commercial fishing in the western Aleutian Islands.

NMFS closed fishing grounds three years ago to protect an endangered population of Steller sea lions. That triggered several rounds of litigation and a new evaluation of the science behind fishing bans.

Steam at Shishaldin's summit is seen from a PenAir flight to Unalaska on March 20, 2014. /Credit: Levi Musselwhite/AVO

Fake emergencies are overtaking Unalaska this week as part of state-wide disaster drills.

But there are real rumblings going on elsewhere in the Aleutians.

After a week of unrest, Shishaldin Volcano is being put on a higher alert level.

Scientists at the Alaska Volcano Observatory reported Friday that they've been seeing explosions inside the volcano and elevated surface temperatures since March 18.

Blowing snow plastered Unalaska on Wednesday. (Annie Ngo/KUCB)

Unalaskans woke up to wet snow blowing sideways Wednesday morning -- and an island-wide cell phone outage.

GCI spokesman David Morris says that’s because the company’s satellite dish on Haystack Hill is getting plastered with snow.

"And even though we have deicers and heaters, it’s just not keeping up with the conditions," Morris says. "So what we’re doing is, we’ve repeatedly dispatched someone to go clean the dish out. And now I think we have a person just stationed there. That’s all they’re doing."

One of three bald eagles that were burned in December. / Credit: Susie Silook

It’s common practice to burn trash in the Aleutians, to keep landfills from overflowing.

But it’s not that simple in Adak, where flaming waste has killed or injured at least ten bald eagles in the last few months.

As KUCB’s Lauren Rosenthal reports, it’s now the subject of a federal investigation.