Tag Archives: Unalaska City Council

Fight over America’s Finest vessel part of bigger processor battle

The mothershippers are fighting with the groundfish shoreplants in a politicized Bering Sea commercial fishing tussle reaching all the way to Washington, D.C. The battle over Pacific cod pits the factory trawlers of the Amendment 80 fleet against Alaska shoreplants and local governments. And in February, it pitted two local governments against each other. A delegation of municipal and business leaders from Anacortes, Wash., traveled to the Aleutian Islands to ask the Unalaska City Council to reverse itself but didn’t change anybody’s mind. The brand spanking new factory trawler America’s Finest remains stranded in an Anacortes, Wash., shipyard, unable to fish in the United States because it hasn’t received a waiver from the Jones Act. >click to read<15:54

Unalaska City Council supports smaller bycatch reduction, mayor says

pacific_halibut

Even without a formal resolution, the Unalaska City Council does agree with the mayor that any cuts to halibut bycatch allowed to trawlers should not exceed 10 percent, according to Mayor Shirley Marquardt. Last week’s newspaper incorrectly reported that she failed to win the city council’s support on the issue. At the April 28 meeting, Marquardt called for a halibut bycatch reduction of no more than 10 percent, versus the 50 percent supported by a group of Alaska state legislators. Read the rest here 16:39

Unalaska hires Anchorage marketing firm to shed ‘Deadliest Catch’ image

In a move to offset what is seen by some as a negative public image created by the reality television show “Deadliest Catch,” and to encourage oil company workers to make permanent homes locally, the Unalaska City Council is giving money to an Anchorage advertising firm to promote a wholesome image. The city government wants the outside world to know there’s more to life in Unalaska than getting drunk. The 10-year-old Discovery Channel show depicts life on Bering Sea commercial crab boats based in Unalaska/Dutch Harbor. Read the rest here 10:55