Western

Repairs to a fiber optic data cable suppling nearly all of Western Alaska are underway, though a full restoration of internet and some cell service could take up to two months.

That’s the word from Quintillion President Mike McHale.

“This will be a long-term outage,” he said. “We’re talking about probably a six-to-eight-week turnaround time for the ship to mobilize and for the ice to clear out of the region, but that is the current situation.”

According to a statement Monday from Quintillion, service on the subsea fiber optic network was interrupted over the weekend after a fiber cut caused a system-wide outage.

Initial assessments indicate an offshore cut north of Oliktok Point, near Prudhoe Bay. McHale says heavy ice is the likely cause of the cut.

“We believe that the cut, and we’re confirming this, but it’s a high probability that the cut was a result of significant ice scouring event,” McHale said.

The broken line is 34 miles offshore, at a depth of about 90 feet.

According to McHale, two repair ships are being mobilized to go to the location of the break.

U.S. fighter jets intercepted six Russian aircraft flying off Alaska’s coasts last week.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command says its Alaska office detected the Russian aircraft as they were flying through the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone on Thursday.

A NORAD news release issued Saturday says the Russian formation included Tu-95 bombers, Su-35 fighters and an air-refueling tanker.

In response, Alaska NORAD dispatched F-16 and F-22 fighter jets and an AWACS plane for what the agency called a “routine interception.” But the news release didn’t say where the intercept occurred or how many U.S. aircraft were sent to accompany the Russian planes through the aircraft identification zone.

It’s not unusual for Russian aircraft to fly through the Alaska air-ID zone, which is international airspace. NORAD says the Russian aircraft didn’t enter U.S. or Canadian airspace, and weren’t considered a threat to either nation.

But some observers noted that the interception occurred while the military was conducting a large-scale training exercise called Northern Edge around Alaska — and while the U.S. and NATO are supporting Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s invasion.

The snow crab population in the Bering Sea off the western coast of Alaska has fluctuated for decades. An increase in young crabs back in 2018 gave way to optimism that fishing would be good for years to come, but the hope was short-lived.

Gabriel Prout and his family own the fishing vessel Silver Spray in Kodiak, Alaska.

He said it was obvious something was wrong the last few years. The Bering Sea fishing grounds are usually covered in sea ice in the winter. But there wasn’t much ice, and they fished further north than usual. Finding snow crabs was still difficult.

“It was just very poor fishing,” said Prout. “We searched for miles and miles and miles and really didn’t see anything.”

More than 10 billion Bering Sea snow crabs disappeared in Alaska between the years 2018 and 2022, devastating a commercial fishing industry worth $200 million just last year. The population crash coincided with a marine heat wave that hit the Bering Sea. Now, fishermen and researchers are working to figure out what happened, and they think warmer ocean water could be to blame.

Bycatch, which is the catch of a non-target species, has also drawn criticism from fishermen for its effect on the snow crab fishery. Even with the fishery closed to crabbers, the bycatch limit for the trawl sector is 3.6 million individual snow crabs this season.

But such a large, sudden die-off and the lack of sea ice was a red flag for scientists like Erin Fedewa, a research fishery biologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

“That was an immediate potential smoking gun when we saw this Arctic species suddenly in decline,” she said.

That’s because sea ice is an important ingredient in the snow crabs’ life cycle. In the winter, it accumulates on the water’s surface. And during the summer, the ice melts, sending cold, dense water sinking to the ocean floor, where it hovers just above freezing at around 35 degrees.

Scientists call it the cold pool, and it’s a sanctuary for young crabs. Warmer temperatures can lead to starvation, and higher rates of disease. At the Kodiak Fisheries Research Center, state and federal researchers are piecing together how all those factors contributed to the crabs’ collapse.

Tanks filled with seawater pumped in from the bay replicate conditions on the seafloor.

“And then we can hold the different portions of the same population in, say, five degrees Celsius, eight degrees Celsius. And we can begin to look at the response of those species once they’re in these warmer temperatures,” said Fedewa.

Scientists use the pools to study how different temperature and pH levels affect the crabs’ development — how fast they grow and how quickly they die.

“We know that increases in temperature increase metabolic rates of fish and crab, causing them to need to eat more and more,” said Fedewa.

In a shrinking cold pool, that means more crabs pushed into the smaller space, fighting for less food. Across the hall from the federal lab, Ben Daly, a research coordinator with Alaska’s Department of Fish and Game, is also trying to figure out how a smaller cold pool affects crabs in the Bering Sea.

“That’s part of what we’re doing now is trying to untangle the what happened part. That’s only half of the challenge. The other half of the challenge is what do we do next,” he said.

His team has been tagging crabs in the wild with satellite transponders that will track their movement over time. He’s hoping the tags provide more detailed information about the distribution of crabs across the cold pool.

And in March, a group of state and federal researchers headed out on the Silver Spray to continue studying crab populations outside the lab. Federal scientists complete population assessments in the Bering Sea annually in the summer.

Ahead of the trip, Gabriel Prout said this winter survey is a big step in understanding more about the species overall.

“We’ll be doing 20 days of pot survey and pot pulling, measuring the crab, sexing the crab, and sizing the crab,” he said.

And tagging the crabs with Daly’s satellite transponders.

Prout and his family are grateful for the work. The many fishermen that rely on snow crabs for income are left with more questions than answers right now.

“We’re sitting tight trying to count our pennies and figure out how to make our way forward,” Prout said.

Scientists say it will likely take years before the snow crab population rebuilds. If another marine heatwave hits the Bering Sea, it could be even longer. But they’re hopeful that lessons learned from snow crabs might provide insight into how other marine species handle climate change as the ocean warms.

This story was created in collaboration with NOVA with major funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

From January through this April, more than a dozen red foxes in the Nome area have shown signs of rabies and tested positive for the virus.

According to Alaska Department of Fish and Game wildlife veterinarian Dr. Kimberlee Beckmen, during a typical winter there are usually only two or three positive rabies cases from the Nome area.

“There’s been 16 total red foxes, if you count Nome and the surrounding area — plus there was one each in Unalakleet, Shishmaref and we diagnosed one and Brevig Mission,” Beckmen said.

The case in Brevig Mission was diagnosed on Wednesday, April 26.

Preliminary 2023 results already show differences from samples taken two years ago. Of 11 foxes this year that were found dead or killed in Nome by dogs or because they appeared rabid, all were positive for the virus.

Of the 61 red foxes counted in and around Nome between February and March 2023, nearly one quarter were positive. This is an increase over the 17% of positive foxes during a similar period in 2021.

Norton Sound Health Corporation, the City of Nome, the Office of the State Veterinarian, and the National Park Service assisted in the research.

This year, the Centers for Disease Control donated Bionote rabies test kits to the state. Beckmen said that with those kits, officials can confirm in minutes if rabies is present in fox brain tissue, rather than the hours previously required.

“If it’s positive, we can get that positive result right away and make sure that the dog or person that was exposed is notified right away,” Beckmen said. “They get the appropriate treatment and boosters.”

If someone believes they have been exposed to rabies, they are advised to immediately seek medical attention.

Beckmen said dog-to-human infection by the rabies virus — after a dog has encountered a rabid fox — is of concern.

“We have had cases even this winter where a red fox attacked a person,” Beckmen said. “Most of the time, people recognize that this is not a good thing and they seek medical care. (But) if a dog gets attacked by a fox or tangles with a fox, and people don’t know about it, and then the dog becomes rabid and then bites a person, that’s an unknown exposure, so the person doesn’t get treated.”

According to the health corporation, no cases of rabies in humans has been detected since January.

Beckmen said if Western Alaskans see a fox acting aggressively or afraid, or trembling or having what looks to be seizures and aggressively biting at an inanimate object, the best advice is to put it down.

“If they see a fox like that then they should shoot it and submit it to Fish & Game,” Beckmen said.

Alicia Reitz, with Norton Sound Health Corporation, says dogs and cats in the region can get vaccinated at no cost.

“We have one in almost every village who can vaccinate for rabies, and it’s free,” Reitz said. “We have vaccinators in Nome that we have trained through Norton Sound Environmental Health.”

Reitz added that keeping dog food and garbage away from foxes helps to limit their presence in towns and villages. Making sure pets are always supervised or tied up and unable to interact with potentially rabid foxes is another important factor.

Rabies vaccines for pets are free. In Nome, contact the Nome Animal House at (907) 443-2490 or Rural Alaska Animal Resources (907-443-5697) to vaccinate your pet. Outside of Nome, contact NSHC’s Office of Environmental Health at (907) 443-9767 for when vaccinations will be available in your community.

A Superior Court judge in Bethel has dismissed a lawsuit accusing state officials of unconstitutionally mismanaging Yukon River and Kuskokwim River salmon fisheries, leading to a crisis on those rivers.

Judge Nathaniel Peters, an appointee of Gov. Bill Walker, said in a 16-page ruling on Thursday that plaintiff Eric Forrer failed “to identify any specific policy or action on the part of the Board (of Fisheries) or Commissioner (of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game) that could in any way be viewed as a violation of the sustained yield principle.”

That principle requires the state to manage its resources sustainably, and Forrer — represented by Juneau attorney Joe Geldhof — had argued that salmon declines in Western and Interior Alaska were evidence that the state was failing to meet its constitutional obligation.

Peters further concluded that Forrer, a Juneau resident, was asking the courts to direct the management of fisheries.

“The Alaska Constitution has delegated the management of this State’s natural resources to the legislature, not the judiciary,” Peters said.

Geldhof said during courtroom arguments last month that he intended to appeal any unfavorable decision to the Alaska Supreme Court. He did not immediately respond to a text message seeking confirmation of that intent.

In a prepared written statement, the Alaska Department of Law noted that Peters concluded that the state “engaged in reasoned decision-making” when considering the fisheries.

“The state’s inseason management, area management plans, and statewide regulations reflect the department’s world-renowned science-based fisheries management,” said Fish and Game Commissioner Doug Vincent-Lang in the statement. “Over the last two years, the Yukon and Kuskokwim fisheries have faced historically low salmon runs and the department has managed the fisheries to preserve the stocks in the face of this crisis.”

Proposals to limit chum salmon bycatch in the Bering Sea are moving ahead, but slowly. After reviewing recommendations over the weekend, the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council asked for further analysis to help develop possible chum bycatch limits or additional regulations on the Bering Sea pollock industry.

It’s a small step in a slow federal fishery management process.

Supporters of bycatch limits say reducing the accidental catch of chum and chinook salmon in the Bering Sea could help improve runs along the Yukon and Kuskokwim Rivers, which have seen record-low returns in recent years. But the pollock industry is pushing back.

Mellisa Johnson is government affairs and policy director for the Arctic-Yukon-Kuskokwim Tribal Consortium and a member of the council’s advisory panel. She said while the council is moving in the right direction, the motion doesn’t immediately address villages along the Yukon and Kuskokwim that have been hit hardest by the chum and chinook crash.

“Indigenous people … have provided testimony [that] they have not been able to fish for three years,” she said. “There’s a high possibility that they may not be able to fish with 2023 being the fourth year.”

Salmon is central to life in Western Alaska. Residents, environmentalists and other pro-subsistence advocates spent hours testifying in favor of bycatch limits last week, describing the devastating impacts to food security and Indigenous culture without it.

“Hopefully there’s enough other salmon species runs that will work to accommodate the food security issues, but it’s really hard to say … that [Western Alaskans are] going to get their needs met,” Johnson said. “More than likely, that’s not going to happen.”

The Western Alaska salmon crash is likely driven by a number of factors, including climate change. It’s not certain new bycatch limits would improve the runs, since only about 10% of chum intercepted in the Bering Sea are headed for Western Alaska, according to genetic studies.

But the council’s motion acknowledges that the Bering Sea pollock trawl fishery is responsible for keeping some proportion of chum salmon from returning to Alaska rivers.

Chinook bycatch limits are already in place in the Bering Sea, and the number of chinook accidentally caught remains low. Brent Paine, executive director of United Catcher Boats, said the idea of adding chum bycatch limits is “scary” for the groundfish trawlers he represents.

He said the impact to trawlers depends on what the council ultimately decides, but a constraining hard cap could close the fishery.

“The Bering Sea pollock fishery is one of the largest, valuable fisheries in the world,” he said. “So there will be huge losses, huge revenue losses, and lots of jobs loss.”

The Bering Sea and Aleutian Island pollock fishery was valued at $448 million in 2019, according to a NOAA Fisheries report.

Paine noted that the fishery supports coastal communities with processing plants like Dutch Harbor, Akutan and Sand Point. Sixty-five Western Alaska villages also participate in the Community Development Quota, or CDQ, program, which allocates a percentage of pollock and other species for those communities to harvest.

Tim Bristol, executive director of the pro-subsistence advocacy organization SalmonState, said he’s disappointed with the council’s process, which he said prioritizes the pollock fishery above subsistence harvesters.

“You have this industry that I think the government, via the council, sees as too big to fail. And I just worry that that has really disturbing implications for everybody else who counts on that ecosystem for their livelihood and their way of life,” Bristol said.

Meanwhile, last week, Tanana Chiefs Conference and the Association of Village Presidents, represented by Earthjustice, filed a lawsuit against the National Marine Fisheries Service, arguing that current federal fishery management plans are outdated and don’t adequately prioritize the needs of subsistence users.

Kate Glover, senior attorney at Earthjustice, said they’re pushing for the agency to consider different ways to approach fisheries management.

“That might include things like looking at changes in bycatch, or what could be done as far as catch limits go and how that affects other fish that are not being targeted by the fisheries but are important to subsistence users,” Glover said.

The analysis the council requested over the weekend will go through a series of reviews and public comment periods. Its first review is scheduled for the council’s October meeting. Brian Ritchie, chair of the council’s advisory panel, said final action on the proposals is scheduled for June 2024. If a bycatch limit does pass, it won’t be active until the 2025 season.

“It’s a complicated process,” Ritchie said. “Sometimes effecting real change and actions like this — it can take time.”