Bering Sea

by The Associated Press Saturday, May 1, 2010 PALMER, Alaska -- A 6.0 magnitude earthquake occurred Friday afternoon under the Bering Sea, but officials say it posed no tsunami risk and was too far away to be felt on land. David Hale at the West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center in Palmer, Alaska, says the quake at 3:12 p.m. Alaska Daylight Time was followed 4 minutes later by a 6.0 magnitude aftershock. The quakes were centered about 480 miles southwest of Nome and about 9.8 miles deep.

The Coast Guard moved helicopters from Kodiak to St. Paul Island Saturday, in preparation for an influx of Bering Sea crabbers. Officials say the move will help crews better assist vessels on the winter fishing grounds. According to the Coast Guard, winter in the Bering Sea is a combination of the year’s highest activity and worst weather. Crab season opened Oct. 15, but most boats fish in January.

The U.S. Coast Guard is meeting Wednesday evening on Kodiak Island with a group of Russian Border Patrol officials. The Russians are here to renew a treaty that provides for cooperation between the Coast Guard and Russian law enforcement in the Bering Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean. The need for such cooperation has grown in recent years: with Arctic waters warming, 7,000 vessels now travel the Bering Sea each year. Some of those vessels come to illegally harvest fish.

by The Associated Press Saturday, January 16, 2010 ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Marine scientists, fisheries experts and oceanographers from around the world will gather Monday in Anchorage. The 2010 Alaska Marine Science Symposium starts at 1:30 p.m. at the Captain Cook Hotel. The program includes about 75 15-minute presentations with topics ranging from plankton to polar bears. The program is organized by regions. Gulf of Alaska topics will be featured Monday and Tuesday.

by The Associated Press Thursday, February 4, 2010 KODIAK, Alaska -- A Coast Guard helicopter hoisted a 40-year-old man complaining of chest pains from a fishing boat in the Bering Sea. The Coast Guard Juneau office took a call just before 5 p.m. Wednesday that the man was on the Alaskan Leader, a Kodiak-based longliner 265 miles northwest of St. Paul Island. The Coast Guard has two helicopters on St. Paul during the opilio crab season. They reached the ship at about 9:30 p.m. but winds up to 35 mph and waves of 20 feet prevented a rescue.

A government investigation into the deaths of several ringed seals off Alaska's coast this past summer has revealed few answers and NOAA declared it an "unusual mortality event," on Tuesday. Starting in mid-July, at least 75 diseased seals, many of them ringed seals, started showing up in the Bering Sea and the Arctic. More than 60 of them died and more reports are still coming in. They showed signs and symptoms of skin sores and hair loss as well as difficulty breathing.

by Mary Pemberton The Associated Press Monday, August 2, 2010 ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Government scientists are recommending changes in fisheries management in Alaska so that endangered Steller sea lions can get enough to eat. The National Marine Fisheries Service issued a draft biological opinion Monday that looked at the impact of Alaska's groundfish fisheries on endangered marine mammals, including sea lions and whales....

The Department of Environmental Conservation has announced a study on the Chukchi Sea for a two-year coast assessment. DEC's Alaska Monitoring and Assessment Program will collect data from Aug. 22 to Sept. 9, as well as next summer. The gathering of data is part of the Environmental Protection Agency's larger National Coastal Assessment, which is surveying the environmental condition of the nation's full coastal water resources. DEC and other environmental agencies will be gathering data on water-quality evaluations, permitting action, baseline assessments and tracking environmental trends over time.

by Ashton Goodell Wednesday, January 20, 2010 ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Marine scientists from across the globe are focusing on Alaska to understand climate change. At the Marine Science Symposium being held in Anchorage Wednesday, hundreds of scientists discussed issues of rapid warming in the Arctic. New reports show sea ice is melting faster than models first projected. Scientists say interest in environmental and marine issues has grown in recent years due to fears of global warming, but they say this conference is meant to sort through the speculation and find the science.

  The Russian Icebreaker, Renda, has crossed the stormy, wind-tossed waters of the Aleutians and has begun to cross the sea ice on its historic voyage to Nome. Vitus Marine LLC, the company that contracted the Renda to deliver more than a million gallons of fuel to Nome, says the Renda was 25 nautical miles southwest of Nunivak Island  at about 9:30 this morning -- and is making way through the southernmost ice at 8 knots. The Renda was hired after huge storms in the Bering Sea kept a barge company from delivering Nome's winter supply of fuel.  From dealing with several foreign governments and a number of regulatory hurdles, the Renda's journey hasn't been an easy one. The ship just cleared one last major hurdle.

The primary feature on the weather map is an upper low centered just south of Seward.  This is the same upper level low that moved out of the northern Yukon at the beginning of the week and has brought moderate to heavy rainfall to the majority of the mainland. This low will sag south slightly, then stall and continue to weaken.  Ahead of it, rain is coming onshore into PWS and the SE Panhandle.  On the backside of the low, rain is ending and dry air at the mid and upper levels is trying to punch into the Inlet region.  Clouds will continue to gradually break up into the afternoon in Anchorage and the entire Cook Inlet area.  Highs will rebound into the upper 50s and low 60s. With rain and rain showers forecast today, highs will be cool in PWS and SE.  Expect upper 40s to mid 50s. Widespread sunshine is forecast elsewhere thanks to a broad upper ridge of high pressure smack-dab over the Bering Sea.  Weak, dry northerly flow aloft is suppressing cloud development for a big chunk of the state.  The Alaska Peninsula, Bristol Bay region, western Interior, all of the west coast, and the Arctic coast will have mostly sunny to sunny skies.  Clouds will continue to decrease over the central and eastern Interior.

Heavy sea ice will significantly delay Shell Oil's planned offshore drilling operations this summer in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas. Shell is saying that sea ice coverage in the Bering Sea is 30 to 40 percent above normal, the worst it's been in 12 years. Ice coverage is also above normal in both the Beaufort and Chukchi seas. That means that the first Arctic Ocean drilling off America's shores in a generation will be delayed by two to three weeks -- a major setback since the summer drilling season in Arctic waters is so short.

TheU.S. Coast Guardhas been making a splash in Alaska lately ... only not so lately. The Coast Guard 17th District has been a regular presence all over the state, as would be expected in a state with so much water. The 17th District has been a regular presence in the media since last year, both in news and entertainment. The Coast Guard launched an unprecedented rescue this winter to clear the way for fuel to reach the iced-off city of Nome. The mission made national headlines, and bloggers tracked every move as the Coast Guard vessel Healy cleared a path through the ice through the Bering Sea so the Russian tanker Renda could deliver more than 1 million gallons of fuel.

The U.S. Coast Guard is meeting Wednesday evening on Kodiak Island with a group of Russian Border Patrol officials. The Russians are here to renew a treaty that provides for cooperation between the Coast Guard and Russian law enforcement in the Bering Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean. The need for such cooperation has grown in recent years: with Arctic waters warming, 7,000 vessels now travel the Bering Sea each year. Some of those vessels come to illegally harvest fish.

With rivers in Western Alaska still locked by ice, it may seem early to be talking about king salmon. But with weak returns expected again this season, for many, the dialogue can't begin soon enough.  State fish and game biologists are meeting in Anchorage this week to review escapement goals for the Arctic Yukon Kuskokwim region.  The discussion is the prelude to what could be a contentious summer, especially for those who have depended on...

  The Russian Icebreaker, Renda, has crossed the stormy, wind-tossed waters of the Aleutians and has begun to cross the sea ice on its historic voyage to Nome. Vitus Marine LLC, the company that contracted the Renda to deliver more than a million gallons of fuel to Nome, says the Renda was 25 nautical miles southwest of Nunivak Island  at about 9:30 this morning -- and is making way through the southernmost ice at 8 knots. The Renda was hired after huge storms in the Bering Sea kept a barge company from delivering Nome's winter supply of fuel.  From dealing with several foreign governments and a number of regulatory hurdles, the Renda's journey hasn't been an easy one. The ship just cleared one last major hurdle.

The Russian tanker Renda has received approval for its spill prevention plan during a winter fuel delivery to Nome from the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, according to the company that chartered it. Officials with Vitus Marine LLC say the Renda has crossed the stormy, wind-tossed waters of the Aleutians and is beginning to follow the U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker Healy through more than 300 miles of sea ice on its historic voyage to...

A government investigation into the deaths of several ringed seals off Alaska's coast this past summer has revealed few answers and NOAA declared it an "unusual mortality event," on Tuesday. Starting in mid-July, at least 75 diseased seals, many of them ringed seals, started showing up in the Bering Sea and the Arctic. More than 60 of them died and more reports are still coming in. They showed signs and symptoms of skin sores and hair loss as well as difficulty breathing.

A Teller man is missing after riding his ATV into Wednesday's violent storm as it hit the Western Alaska village, Alaska State Troopers and the man's family say. Kyle Komok, 26, was last seen around 4 p.m. Wednesday in Teller riding a yellow ATV out to a spit that separates the Bering Sea from the Imuruk Basin and is locally known as “the point,” said AST spokesperson Megan Peters Thursday. Teller search-and-rescue volunteers are combing the area for Komok, who was out in severe conditions that included high winds and seas from 8 to 10 feet.

Nome, AK has been beaten by one of the largest storms on record to ever hit the state. The massive storm rolled into the western Alaska town Tuesday afternoon and the blizzard conditions has been keeping communication limited, unless you follow Scott A. Johnson on Twitter that is. Johnson has been on a tweeting tear covering every aspect of the storm. As @akscojo, Johnson has been keeping followers updated on everything from the cost of bottled water in Nome to the recent power outages.