Local News

Biologists and tribal officials in the Bering Sea off the west coast of Alaska are working to protect one of the world's greatest gatherings of seabirds. With a little unwilling help from wharf rats in Alaska's Dutch Harbor, the nation's busiest fishing port, they aim to keep rats as far away as Seattle from devouring the birds of the rat-free Pribilof Islands.

Shell Oil's Polar Pioneer rig left Alaska's Dutch Harbor for Port Angeles, Washington, on Wednesday.

The energy giant's other Arctic rig, the Noble Discoverer, left Dutch Harbor for Everett, Washington, on Monday.

Other ships in Shell's Arctic fleet are expected to leave Alaska over the next couple of weeks, and the company has not disclosed the fate of the 400 employees who have worked on the project in Anchorage.

But the departure of the 30-story-tall Polar Pioneer is the most visible sign that Shell's 8-year hunt for oil in the Arctic Ocean has come to an end.

Mussels collected from Little Priest Rock in Unalaska this summer tested positive for high levels of toxins that cause paralytic shellfish poisoning, or PSP. That’s according to Melissa Good of the Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program.

Good said that throughout the summer, she’s been collecting blue mussels from Unalaska for analysis by the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation. The last of the collection ended on September 30. Once the data is in and analyzed, Good promised to present a community lecture on her findings.

  This week the Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced catch limit numbers for the upcoming red king crab and tanner crab seasons.

The 2015/2016 Bristol Bay red king crab total allowable catch is 9.974 million pounds.

Of that total, 8.976 million pounds are allowed under the individual fishing quota. Just under a million are allowed under the community development quota.

The Alaska Department of Transportation is proposing changes in ferry service to Unalaska/Dutch Harbor for the 2016 sailing season.

On Tuesday the state agency released its draft Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS) sailing schedule for next year. If approved as is, the ferry Tustumena will sail to Unalaska once in June and once in September. In May, July and August, the ferry will make the run from Kodiak to Unalaska twice a month.