KUCB - Unalaska

The number of reported challenges to books doubled in 2022 — and the number of challenges to unique titles was up nearly 40 percent over 2021 — according to data released by the American Library Association’s Office of Intellectual Freedom Monday.

Each year the ALA releases data on books it says have been most often challenged for removal from public and school library shelves. Though the group says it’s not possible to track every challenge, and that many go unreported, the data come through a variety of sources, including news stories and voluntary reports sent to the Office of Intellectual Freedom.

This year’s report includes an expanded list of the 13 books most challenged in 2022, as there were the same number of banning efforts against several of the books. Overall, the ALA says that 2,571 unique titles were banned or challenged.

Lessa Kananiʻopua Pelayo-Lozada, president of the American Library Association, says it used to be that titles were challenged when a parent or other community member saw a book in the library they didn’t like. But times have changed: “Now we’re seeing organized attempts by groups to censor multiple titles throughout the country without actually having read many of these books.”

Pelayo-Lozada says that despite the high challenge numbers, a library association poll shows a large majority of Americans don’t believe in banning books.

Once again this year, Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe, published in 2019, tops the ALA’s list. The graphic memoir follows Kobabe’s path to gender-identity as nonbinary and queer. Most of the books on the list have been challenged with claims of including LGBTQIA+ or sexually explicit content.

There are a handful of titles on the list this year that are new from 2021, including Flamer by Mike Curato, Looking for Alaska by John Green, The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Choosky, A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas, and Crank by Ellen Hopkins.

Eight of the titles have remained on the list for multiple years.

Most Challenged Books of 2022

Here are the books the ALA tracked as most challenged in 2022 (there was a 4-way tie for #10):

1. Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe — LGBTQIA+ content, claimed to be sexually explicit

2. All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson — LGBTQIA+ content, claimed to be sexually explicit

3. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison — rape, incest, claimed to be sexually explicit, EDI content

4. Flamer by Mike Curato — LGBTQIA+ content, claimed to be sexually explicit

5. Looking for Alaska by John Green — claimed to be sexually explicit, LGBTQIA+ content

6. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Choosky — claimed to be sexually explicit, LGBTQIA+ content, rape, drugs, profanity

7. Lawn Boy by Jonathan Evison — LGBTQIA+ content, claimed to be sexually explicit

8. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie — claimed to be sexually explicit, profanity

9. Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Pérez— claimed to be sexually explicit

10. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews — claimed to be sexually explicit, profanity

10. This Book is Gay by Juno Dawson — LGBTQIA+ content, sex education, claimed to be sexually explicit

10. A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas — claimed to be sexually explicit

10. Crank by Ellen Hopkins — claimed to be sexually explicit, drugs

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A proposed marine sanctuary in the Pribilof Islands has drawn major pushback from the commercial fishing industry, ever since the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration accepted the nomination last June.

The Aleut Community of St. Paul — the tribal government for the Pribilof Island community of around 500 people — says the sanctuary designation would give it greater authority to protect the region’s vast ecosystems and resources, including rich fishing grounds and habitat for the federally protected northern fur seal.

The national marine sanctuary would be named Alaĝum Kanuux̂, or Heart of the Ocean — and if approved, it would be the first of its kind in Alaska, possibly creating a new precedent for resource management in the state.

Lauren Divine is the director for the tribe’s ecosystem conservation office. She said the sanctuary designation would make the tribe a co-manager for the region’s resources, which are currently managed by the State of Alaska and the National Marine Fisheries Service.

“That co-management aspect is really important because it’s a step towards self determination, sovereignty,” Divine said in an interview. “It really speaks to going back to Indigenous stewardship of lands and waters, which have operated successfully and sustainably since time immemorial.”

Divine also said the sanctuary would act as a spotlight, bringing tourism, research, and education dollars to the region.

NOAA accepted the tribe’s nomination last year, which set off panic bells in the commercial fishing industry. Many in the industry have voiced concerns that bringing in another co-manager could threaten the industry, even though NOAA and the tribe say the change would not affect fishing regulations.

Commercial fishing representatives railed against the proposed sanctuary during an April 6 meeting in Anchorage, which NOAA hosted to clear up confusion within the industry.

Todd Loomis is the director for Ocean Peace, a commercial fishing company that runs a half dozen catcher-processor boats in the area. After watching a presentation about the sanctuary nomination process, he told NOAA representatives that it was still confusing, and uncertainty was bad for business.

“I saw a lot of wiggle words in terms of the authorities, what applies and what doesn’t apply. And it did not provide any comfort,” said Loomis.

A big concern for opponents is the Alaska pollock fishery in the Bering Sea. It’s not only the largest fishery in the region; it’s the largest in the United States. NOAA valued the 2021 fishery at about $383 million.

Dennis Robinson is the president of the Qawalangin Tribe of Unalaska, where he is also the city’s vice mayor. He’s concerned the proposal will threaten a fishery that NOAA touts as a poster child of sustainability.

“These are the best managed fisheries in the world and you want to put a sanctuary in the middle of it,” said Robinson, commenting on behalf of the tribe. “We are opposed to it.”

The issue has caused so much rancor that both of Alaska’s U.S. senators, Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, have chimed in. In February, they wrote a joint letter to NOAA asking the agency to revoke the nomination.

Despite the industry’s fears, supporters say the sanctuary would not create any new fishing regulations. Divine, from the tribe in St. Paul, said the designation would not prevent fishing in the region, and any new regulations would still have to go through the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, like they currently do.

“Sanctuaries, by legal definition, cannot exclude fisheries. That’s not an activity that they can prohibit,” said Divine. “Commercial fisheries will continue into the future. Subsistence fisheries will continue into the future.”

While the Bering Sea is incredibly rich and biodiverse, it is also experiencing vast changes, largely due to climate change. Seabirds, fish and marine mammals have all been affected.

George Pletnikoff is from the neighboring Pribilof community of St. George. He told attendees at the NOAA meeting that pushback against the sanctuary has been based on misinformation and scare tactics.

“It’s not a boogeyman,” said Pletnikoff. “It’s just an attempt to take care of our home. It’s dying, and you know it’s dying. And I don’t know other ways to do it.”

The sanctuary process is long and complicated. While NOAA has accepted St. Paul’s nomination, representatives from the federal agency said they have not made a decision about initiating the next step, which would be a multi-year designation process.

Zooplankton are small organisms — like sea snails, jellyfish, and krill — and they’e crucial to the Bering Sea’s ecosystem. But new data from NOAA Fisheries shows that one of the most common zooplankton isn’t as fatty or abundant as it used to be.

Large, high-fat copepods — distantly related to shrimp and crab — are dwindling with the lack of sea ice from global warming. Meanwhile, smaller zooplankton are increasing in both numbers and range.

David Kimmel is a research oceanographer and leader of the nearly two-decade study. He said Arctic fish, seabirds, and marine mammals are struggling to adjust to global warming while consuming less fatty foods.

“They can get skinny — which doesn’t necessarily lead to mortality, but can make them more susceptible,” said Kimmel. “For example, not surviving in the winter if they don’t have enough energy stores to make it through the winter.”

While less fat in the diet doesn’t necessarily lead to extinction, Kimmel said it could lead to smaller population sizes of common Bering Sea organisms, like king crab and harbor seals. It could also create an ecological shift in the sea.

“Organisms that are normally found to the south are moving northwards,” he said. “So communities that you might expect to exist at more southerly latitudes begin to become more prominent at more northerly latitudes.”

The Bering Sea is one of the most sensitive regions to global warming. Kimmel said knowing how the bottom of the food chain changes with warmer temperatures can help predict how ecosystems around the world will be affected by climate change later on.

“The people that live in Alaska at the frontline of this change are really the ones that are experiencing it,” Kimmel said. “And they’re quite removed from a lot of fellow citizens throughout the country that aren’t experiencing it — you know, right up close and personal. And that makes their stories and their experiences much more important to share and talk about.”

The U.S. Small Business Administration is offering special disaster loans to some businesses hurt by the recent red king crab and snow crab closures.

The federal agency announced last month that certain entities, like small agricultural coops or aquaculture businesses, as well as most private nonprofit organizations are eligible for low-interest loans of up to $2 million. Interest rates range from below 2% to about 3%, depending on the type of organization.

The SBA declared a disaster following a relief request from Gov. Mike Dunleavy for the crab fisheries closures in the Bering Sea and Bristol Bay. Along with U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola, Dunleavy requested a total of nearly $290 million from the federal government last year — the estimated total exvessel loss for both fisheries since 2021. It generally takes years for that kind of money to reach the hands of fishermen and others affected by similar disasters.

“We’re committed to providing federal disaster loans swiftly and efficiently, with a customer-centric approach to help businesses and communities recover and rebuild,” said SBA Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman.

Small businesses affected by the crab crashes between October of 2022 and May of this year are eligible to apply.

The loans can be used to cover debts, payroll and other bills that couldn’t be paid because of the recent crashes. The deadline to apply is Nov. 9.

Business owners and nonprofit organizers interested in applying can do so online. The Alaska Small Business Development Center is also offering help with applications. Email rural@aksbdc.org for more information.

The Alaska Marine Highway System released its summer sailing schedule Tuesday, and Unalaska will receive service that’s similar to last year’s.

The M/V Tustumena is the only state ferry serving the Aleutian chain, and it will make six calls in Unalaska this summer — roughly once per month from May through September.

The Tustumena sailed the chain about twice a month in the years before the COVID-19 pandemic, when the marine highway system reduced services to approximately one sailing per month.

The 59-year-old ship offered even fewer sailings last year due to repairs. The vessel is scheduled to be replaced by 2027, a $200 million undertaking.

The Tustumena serves the Aleutian communities of Unalaska/Dutch Harbor, Akutan, Sand Point, King Cove, Cold Bay, and False Pass, as well as the Alaska Peninsula and Kodiak on its way to Homer.

Find the full 2023 ferry schedule here.