Aleutians

Officials with the U.S. Northern Command and the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) told state and federal officials last month that they would be interested in expanding military access on Adak Island. The announcement was made during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Feb. 13, after Sen. Dan Sullivan pressed federal officials to strengthen military presence in Alaska.

In this episode of “Island Interviews,” Education and Outreach Manager Thomas McLenigan talks about the museum’s Lunch and Learn program in general and discusses Alaska’s whaling history, including subsistence practices in the Aleutians.

While many families unwrapped presents in the warmth of their homes on Christmas Day, a small group of surfers in Unalaska paddled into 40 degree waters in hopes of catching a few waves on the Bering Sea.

The National Weather Service has issued a special weather statement for the Eastern Aleutians and Alaska Peninsula. According to the organization, small amounts of ashfall are possible in Unalaska, Nikolski, Sand Point and Cold Bay through Monday afternoon.

Two women who capsized their small skiff Monday in Volcano Bay are in stable condition.According to U.S. Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Travis Magee, the women had symptoms of hypothermia when the Coast Guard crew reached them Tuesday morning.

The U.S. Coast Guard encountered four People’s Republic of China military warships in the Bering Sea over the weekend.The foreign vessels were following international law, and told Coast Guard personnel they were practicing “freedom of navigation operations.”

Alaska Airlines has suspended its mileage-sharing agreement with Ravn after what an Alaska Airlines representative called the result of Ravn’s recent “transition in leadership.”

A strong parade of storms has been making its way through the North Central Pacific Ocean, and the location of the jet stream has produced colder storms for Unalaska and the Aleutian region this year. That’s according to Rick Thoman, a climate specialist at the International Arctic Research Center with the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

High levels of the toxin that causes paralytic shellfish poisoning showed up in samples of shellfish last year from the Aleutian Islands, according to an analysis by the Knik Tribe. The Southcentral Alaska tribe’s scientists looked at shellfish samples from Sand Point collected in 2023, and some showed levels of the biotoxin almost 50 times higher than the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s recommended limit. The Knik Tribe’s analysis of samples from Juneau, Kodiak, King Cove and Chignik Lagoon also showed some had levels of PSP toxin higher than the FDA’s cutoff.

In this episode of “Island Interviews,” MOTA's Thomas McLenigan and Jenya Anichtchenko shared their thoughts on the fall exhibition and the impact they hope “Family Mosaics” will have on visitors.