Can you hear me?

A new report says the U.S. Coast Guard should prioritize upgrades to its Alaska maritime search and rescue communications system, which has been plagued with outages.

Chinese warships spotted

The U.S. Coast Guard says its cutters, during a patrol in the Bering Sea and Arctic region, on Aug. 30 encountered Chinese military ships including a guided missile cruiser and a guided missile destroyer. A few more details here.

'Years of flagrantly illegal conduct'

The federal government has entered this court filing explaining why it has slapped Alaska pollock industry players with many millions of dollars in Jones Act penalties.

The matter involves a "scheme" to transport seafood unlawfully to the East Coast, and centers on a tiny railroad — about 100 feet long — that "goes nowhere."

Shell-shocked crabbers urge 'bold actions'

Facing a rare and devastating season closure of the lucrative Bristol Bay red king crab fishery, a crabbing organization says the outlook for snow crab isn't good, either.

More in this press release from Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers.

Indy Walton named to Board of Fisheries

Gov. Mike Dunleavy today announced the appointment of Indy Walton to the Alaska Board of Fisheries.

Walton takes the seat previously occupied by Abe Williams.

The governor's office provided this background on Walton:

Mr. Walton received his degree in education from Brigham Young University and worked as an educator in Alaska for five years. He has been commercial fishing for 37 years, with 22 years of setnetting in Bristol Bay and Kodiak and 15 years of driftnetting in Bristol Bay. Indy has owned a lodge for the past three years on the Kvichak River and has worked as a licensed financial adviser with Edward Jones Investments for the past 19 years. Additionally, he has coached hockey in Soldotna for the past 23 years.

Calamitous crab announcement

The Bristol Bay red king crab fishery, historically one of Alaska's most valuable shellfish harvests, will be closed this season due to stock weakness. Here's the announcement.

'A shock to the industry'

This highly interesting press release just dropped.

Peter Pan implements vaccine requirement

Details in this press release.

"Peter Pan's COVID-19 vaccine policy does not apply to its fleet," the company notes.