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The recent closure of the Bering Sea snow crab and Bristol Bay red king crab fisheries has some of Western Alaska’s coastal towns taking a hard look at their futures, and one small island is bracing for a huge hit. The Pribilof Island of St. Paul runs on snow crab — also known as opilio crab. The community’s Trident Seafoods is one of the largest crab processing plants in the world. So when fisheries management officials announced the species “overfished” and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game shut down snow crab for the first time in the fishery’s history in October, City Manager Phillip Zavadil knew the community needed to act fast. “We're trying to get creative and have people understand that this is going to happen more and more, and that we need to address it,” Zavadil said. “We can do something now, instead of waiting for next year, when we don't have any funding or we can't provide services.”

Aleutian Airways announced Tuesday that it had moved into a new office and hangar space at the Anchorage airport with a second Saab 2000 aircraft; and with less than one week left to campaign, some organizations are working to get more Alaska Native voters to the polls.

Millions of homeowners skipped mortgage payments during the pandemic, as people lost jobs and reevaluated their finances. In response, the U.S. Department of Treasury issued millions of dollars to states, tribes and U.S. territories to help prevent payment defaults and utility shutoffs. Now, the Aleutian Housing Authority is giving more than $2 million to homeowners in the Aleutian and Pribilof region through the Department of Treasury’s Homeowner Assistance Fund.

A group of researchers wanted to see if hydrogen fuel cells could replace petroleum in trans-Pacific shipping. What they found places Unalaska and Adak right in the center of a "green corridor."

The Aleutian Housing Authority is giving about $2 million dollars to homeowners in the Aleutian and Pribilof region; on St. Paul Island there’s a model for how the federal government and Tribes might work together to manage marine mammals for subsistence use; and at Wednesday’s debate for Alaska’s sole U.S. House seat, all candidates discussed the continued threat of bycatch to salmon and crab stocks across the state.

The mayor and two sitting city council members began their fresh terms following this month's municipal election; and two resolutions brought before the Alaska Federation of Natives during this year’s annual convention called for efforts to reduce salmon bycatch in an area along the Aleutian chain.

The labor shortage hitting the nation is particularly pronounced in Alaska, where the rate of unfilled positions is about twice the national average, according to the state’s labor data. And in the Aleutian community of Unalaska, you can see it playing out with tugboat mariners.

Bering Sea snow crab will close for the first time in the fishery’s history. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced Monday afternoon that snow crab — also known as opilio crab — and Bristol Bay red king crab would not open for the upcoming fall and winter fishing seasons. Miranda Westphal, an area management biologist for ADF&G, said stocks are just too low to justify opening either fishery. “All of our crab stocks in the Bering Sea have seen declines the last few years,” Westphal said. “[For] red king crab, we've been seeing declines for a little over a decade now. We just see very little recruitment coming into the population — not a lot of crab maturing into a fishable size. And so we're just seeing more of that this year.”

Bering Sea snow crab will close for the first time in the fishery’s history; travelers can now book mid-November flights on Aleutian Airways between Anchorage and Unalaska; and a new Arctic strategy released on Friday by the White House acknowledges some big changes in the region over the past decade – the rise of military threats posed by Russia, the largest Arctic nation.

Travelers can now book mid-November flights on Aleutian Airways between Anchorage and Unalaska, according to a statement released by the airline Monday morning. Prospective passengers can make reservations online through the company’s website or via local travel agents.