Monday, January 19, 2015

Four rescued off sinking vessel near Sitka

From the Alaska State Troopers:

Location: Sitka
Type: Search and rescue
On 1/19/15 at 0546 hours, the U.S. Coast Guard asked Alaska State Troopers and Sitka Mountain Rescue to assist in the recovery of four adults from the 80-foot tender F/V Eyak, which had run aground 16 miles south of Sitka. The vessel sustained hull damage and was taking on water. The captain was identified as David Castle, 48, of Sitka. Crewmembers were identified as 29-year-old Anna Zallau, 23-year-old Charles Wlaslewski and 49-year-old Debra Rose, all of Port Alexander. The captain and crew had no flotation devices or survival suits. An Alaska Wildlife Troopers vessel and a Sitka Mountain Rescue vessel with divers responded to the scene and recovered the captain and crew from the sinking vessel at 0755 hours. The vessel flipped and sank shortly after and only a small portion remained above water. No one was injured and all rescued parties refused medical attention. A Good Samaritan vessel is attempting to pull the vessel to a better grounding location.

Saturday, January 17, 2015

Alaskan Leader Fisheries fined $11K for fuel spill

Here's a press release from the state of Washington:

Jan. 15, 2015

Fishing vessel owner fined for 2013 Seattle spill

SEATTLE — The Washington Department of Ecology has fined Lynden-based Alaskan Leader Fisheries LLC $11,000 for a 2013 oil spill to Elliott Bay from one of its fishing vessels in Seattle.

The Bristol Leader, a 167-foot catcher-processor, spilled 181 gallons of diesel fuel into the bay on Sept. 13, 2013, while taking on fuel from a tank truck at Terminal 91.

Incoming fuel — intended for empty tanks on the Bristol Leader — went instead to a partly full tank. Ecology determined that the vessel's chief engineer had not followed the company's written procedures and loading plan. These specified which tanks would receive fuel and in what order, and required the chief engineer to monitor tank levels and valve settings.

"The company could have prevented the spill if they had kept a close watch on the valves and fuel levels," said David Byers, Ecology's spill response supervisor.

To read more, click here.

Strong Copper River sockeye catch expected

A new forecast calls for a harvest of 2.24 million sockeye salmon this year at the Copper River.

Gillnetters last season took nearly 2.1 million sockeye.

The forecast also projects a conservative catch of 6,000 Chinook.

Thursday, January 15, 2015

Young offers marine sanctuary bill

U.S. Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, has introduced legislation (H.R. 332) that could make it harder to designate marine sanctuaries off Alaska.

The text of the bill is not yet available.

Monday, January 12, 2015

Second wave of salmon disaster relief coming

The National Marine Fisheries Service has approved another round of salmon disaster relief. The outlay will total nearly $13 million, and will be distributed as follows:

• $4.5 million in direct payments to the recreation fishing sector, including sportfish guides.

• $7.5 million for research, restoration, education, gear replacement and modification, and outreach. Of this sum, $6.4 million is for the Yukon-Kuskokwim region and $1.1 million is for Cook Inlet.

• $700,000 in direct payments to commercial buying stations and salmon buyers in the Cook Inlet area.

Friday, January 9, 2015

No support here

The Aleutians East Borough Assembly unanimously passed a resolution opposing the nomination of the Aleutian Islands as a national marine sanctuary. Here's a press release.

Monday, January 5, 2015