Alex Haley Crew Rescue Injured Fisherman in Aleutains

Annie Ropeik/KUCB
The Coast Guard medevac’d an injured fisherman from near the Islands of the Four Mountains in the central Aleutians yesterday.
The 27-year-old man was aboard the fishing vessel Patricia Lee at the time. The boat was near Chuginadak Island, home of Cleveland Volcano, when the man hurt his foot and needed medical attention.
Coast Guard public affairs officer Diana Honings says the cutter Alex Haley was nearby, with an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter aboard.
“The Alex Haley was on a patrol through the Bering Sea,” she said, “and they happened to be in the neighborhood when the man needed a medevac.”
The Alex Haley sent its helicopter to hoist the injured fisherman from the 116-foot vessel Patricia Lee. The man was flown to Unalaska for emergency treatment. Weather conditions were reportedly calm at the time.
It’s the first Coast Guard medevac in several months from near Unalaska. But Honings says this summer has been busy for rescues elsewhere in the state.

Sand Point Police Investigate Alleged Tusty Drug Smuggling

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Lauren Rosenthal/KUCB
It’s not uncommon for the Tustumena ferry to get held up on its trips through the Aleutian Chain. Usually, it’s due to rough weather or mechanical issues.
But this Sunday, the Tustumena spent some extra time in Sand Point so local police could investigate alleged drug smuggling.
Officer Eric Tupper says he received a call from a ferry employee while the vessel was still on its way into port.
”Somebody on board was seen with what appeared to be a plastic bag with a white powder in it. They were requesting that I try to search the bags or locate the white powder because they were unable to do so.”
This isn’t the first time that Sand Point police have heard about drugs allegedly coming into the community on the Tustumena. But those tips usually come after the fact.
In this instance, Tupper says he was able to board the vessel as soon as it arrived in Sand Point. He met up with two passengers who had been flagged as suspicious and searched by Tustumena staff – which is allowed, according to Alaska Marine Highway System policies.
Tupper asked a third passenger to step off the ferry for questioning. That woman was carrying a mixed vial of pills in her luggage. With help from the local clinic, police determined that the prescriptions were valid.
“So it ended up being [that] we didn’t find any drugs. But we take any clue about drugs very seriously because of the drug problem and we’re going to investigate it as seriously as we can, and take every step we can to make sure that drugs aren’t coming [in]. And I think that we did that successfully.”
Tupper wouldn’t point to any specific cases, but he says police have been making progress on stopping illegal drug sales in Sand Point.

Alaska Fisheries Report

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Coming up this week, Kusko fishermen get another salmon opening; herring is kinda slow in the Aleutians, and the Canadians are the latest to airlift salmon. All that, and a blast from the Alaska Fisheries Report past. We had help from KYUK’s Daysha Eaton in Bethel, KUCB’s Lauren Rosenthal in Unalaska, KTOO’s Lisa Phu in Juneau, KFSK’s Joe Viechnicki in Petersburg and KMXT student intern Yasent Oliver in Kodiak.

Western Aleutian Fishing Changes Released for Comment

Lauren Rosenthal/KUCB
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is opening public comment on a plan to relax Steller sea lion protections and allow more commercial fishing in the western Aleutian Islands.
The agency released a draft of its new regulations on Tuesday. They would pave the way for the first commercial harvests of Atka mackerel and Pacific cod since 2011.
That’s when federal managers banned fishing on those species in the western Aleutians. It was intended to help an endangered population of sea lions. But commercial fishing interests and the state of Alaska argued that the science behind the fishing bans were faulty.
After years of litigation — and a comprehensive, court-ordered reassessment of the protection plan — NOAA ruled that commercial fishing wouldn’t jeopardize the sea lions if it was done under the right conditions.
Members of the public will have 45 days to weigh in on a draft of the new fishing regulations. The comment period will close on August 15. NOAA’s aiming to finalize the new rules by January 2015.

No Tsunami Associated with Sizable Aleutian Quake

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Annie Ropeik/KUCB
A powerful underwater earthquake in the Western Aleutians triggered tsunami alerts for the Aleutian and Pribilof islands Monday afternoon.
No damages were reported after the magnitude 8.0 quake, recorded just before 1 p.m. on Monday. It happened about 30 miles northwest of Amchitka, about 60 miles underwater.
Residents in the Western Aleutians reported feeling shaking during the quake, according to the Alaska Earthquake Information Center. And the quake has set off a series of aftershocks, some as strong as a magnitude 6.
The earthquake also generated a tsunami warning from Attu to Nikolski and in the Pribilof Islands for about two hours Monday. It was then downgraded to an advisory.
The Unalaska area, from Nikolski to Unimak Pass, was also under an advisory for part of Monday afternoon. It ended around 4 p.m.
The tsunami alerts stemmed from the force of the quake. But the Earthquake Center’s Natasha Ruppert says tremors at such a depth don’t often create tsunamis.
“Well, based on its magnitude, there is definitely potential for tsunami in the Aleutian Islands. But based on its depth, I do not expect that there will be a significant tsunami from this earthquake.”
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration observed tsunami waves about a foot in height or less in Unalaska, Adak and other islands in the region. Those waves are measured at the highest water level above the tide level. They weren’t high enough to do any damage.
Unalaska’s Department of Public Safety told residents to avoid beaches and harbors during the advisory, but there was no full-scale evacuation to high ground.
Monday’s earthquake was near an active volcanic island in the Western Aleutians. Semisopochnoi Island has been undergoing a series of small quakes – most around magnitude 2.0 – for the past couple of weeks. But the AEIC’s Ruppert says the activity isn’t connected.
“All earthquakes that are related to volcanoes, they are very shallow, right beneath the surface, and this one is about 100 kilometers deep.”
It was a busy day for earthquakes in the Pacific, though — another one with a magnitude 7.2 was recorded in the South Pacific, off New Zealand, about an hour and half before the quake in the Aleutians. Ruppert says it’s possible that one triggered the other – but they don’t know for sure.

Unalaska Delta Western Unionization Certified

Annie Ropeik/KUCB
It’s official: Delta Western fuel supply workers in Unalaska are unionized. The National Labor Relations Board certified the workers’ vote to join the Inland Boatmen’s Union last week, according to an IBU statement.
The workers had voted by an eight to 15 margin to join the union in early April. An NLRB representative oversaw the election.
The next step will be to negotiate a contract for the workers. The IBU will head up that process.
The road to unionizing began in February, when Delta Western workers walked off the job in
protest of alleged workplace mistreatment. They went on strike again in March and filed a federal complaint with the NLRB, saying their managers were using illegal methods to punish them for striking and to keep them from organizing.
The group petitioned to join the IBU soon after. They’re now the only unionized Delta Western terminal in Alaska.