CRAB

A third seafood processing plant has shut down in the Aleutian Islands amid a COVID-19 outbreak, threatening to further derail lucrative winter fisheries in the region.

In the Aleutian port town of Unalaska, at least five local boats are stuck at the dock with nowhere to deliver their cod after the shutdown of the Alyeska Seafoods processing plant, according to a crew member on one of them, Tacho Camacho Castillo. 

The U.S. Coast Guard is seeking help from the public in its investigation of a Dutch Harbor-based fishing vessel that was lost off the Alaska Peninsula along with five crew members.

While Dutch Harbor has been named the nation's top fishing port in terms of volume for the 22nd consecutive year, the port dropped from second to third place in terms of value.

According to an annual National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration report released last month, the Port of Dutch Harbor led the nation with 763 million pounds of seafood landed in 2018, worth $182 million. But the value of landings in Naknek, Alaska, rose to $195 million. 

The Eastern Aleutian District tanner crab fishery is closed this winter.

The small commercial fishery often opens in January, with two or three local boats harvesting bairdi in state waters around Unalaska and Akutan islands. 

But just like last year, the state's trawl survey indicated low numbers of mature males, forcing managers to close the 2020 season.