ALEUTIANS EAST BOROUGH

For decades, King Cove’s roughly 800 residents have called for a road they say could save lives in emergencies. Neither city has a hospital, so residents rely on medical evacuations to reach Anchorage for urgent medical care. The Biden administration last week endorsed the proposal, recommending a land exchange with King Cove’s Native corporation so the road can be built. But that road would go through a federally protected wilderness area. While residents argue it’s a matter of life and death, environmental advocates say the road could threaten vital wildlife habitat — and set a dangerous precedent.

Silver Bay Seafoods will acquire processing plants in Dillingham and Port Moller, along with fishery support sites in Dillingham and North Naknek. Silver Bay announced the acquisition from Rodger May, the former co-owner of Peter Pan Seafoods, in a press release Wednesday. The Dillingham and Port Moller plants are Silver Bay’s fourth and fifth plant acquisitions this year. It also took over Peter Pan’s plant in Valdez last spring, and Trident Seafoods plants in Ketchikan and False Pass.

It’s unclear how the sale will affect King Cove, which relied on the processing facility as its main economic driver until it closed in January.

A big portion – $106.4 million – will go towards replacing the 60-year-old Tustumena, seen here in Sand Point in June 2024, that serves the Aleutian Islands. The price tag for the project, called TRV for Tustumena Replacement Vessel, is over $315 million. The rest of the cost will come from federal money the state has already received. The ferry build is scheduled to be completed in 2027-28.

Rodger May, an entrepreneur and fish trader, narrowly beat out another industry player, Silver Bay Seafoods, with his $37.3 million bid. The sale must still be approved by a Seattle court.

When Peter Pan Seafood Co. announced in April they were ceasing all operations, the City of King Cove lost its only economic engine. Now, the town is struggling to survive, while Alaska’s seafood industry continues on an uncertain path.

Communities in the Aleutians are pushing back against proposed legislation that would bring stricter regulations to the Bering Sea trawl fishery. Trade organizations and some coastal communities whose economies rely on trawl fisheries have pushed back against the bill, asking the congresswoman to repeal it.

Rumors of Joshua Gould’s detainment have circulated widely on social media in recent months, but charges were not formally filed until Wednesday.

Representatives from Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan’s offices arrived in Sand Point Monday, their first stop on a multi-city tour around the region. The trip, which will include stops in King Cove and False Pass, comes ahead of a strategic plan the senators are expected to present to the Secretary of Commerce this summer.

The mayors of Unalaska and the Aleutians East Borough traveled to Washington, D.C. last month, sounding the alarm on the challenges jeopardizing Alaska’s fisheries.