In a story that’s suddenly being reported everywhere. Dutton publishing company has announced an upcoming book written by a former Navy SEAL involved in the raid that killed Osama bin Laden. Turns out, the SEAL is from Alaska. Fox News revealed his identity yesterday (Thursday), but got certain details about him wrong.
KSTK’s Anne Hillman in Wrangell found out more.
The high-seas driftnetter the U.S. Coast Guard chased across the North Pacific Ocean has been turned over to Chinese Fishery Law Enforcement.
The crew from the Hawaii-based cutter Rush, which had been patrolling Alaska waters, boarded the ship, identified as the Da Cheng, just over two weeks ago and found 30 metric tons of illegally-caught albacore tuna and six metric tons of shark and shark fin on board.
While in Kodiak, Coast Guard Admiral Robert Papp called the 177-foot gillnetter a pirate ship, prompting Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu to call for prosecution of not only the crew, but of the illegal seafood’s buyers.
High seas driftnetting has been outlawed by international treaty for 20 years. The 10-mile nets the Da Cheng and other illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing boats efficiently catch tuna, but also scoop up everything in their path. Some nets are lost and drift for years, killing thousands of fish.
The crew of the Rush turned the Da Cheng over to the Chinese about 850 miles east of Tokyo.
A Honolulu-based Coast Guard cutter is off the coast of Japan, pursuing prosecution of an unregistered fishing vessel suspected of catching 40 tons of fish with an illegal high seas driftnet.
Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Robert J. Papp, Jr. on Monday announced that the 378-foot cutter Rush had been assigned to Alaska waters but had followed the fishing vessel across the Pacific to enforce commercial fishing law.
During a U.S. Senate subcommittee hearing in Kodiak, Alaska, Papp said he would “call this fishing piracy that is going on.” He said those aboard the fishing vessel “put eight miles of net out there and collect everything that flows through it.”
Papp said the vessel carried Chinese citizens and may be passed to China for prosecution.
Nearly two years after the death of U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, a Senate panel has recommended that a Navy warship be named in his honor.
Stevens’ legacy has already been memorialized through having a mountain named after him in his home state of Alaska, as well as the now-annual Ted Stevens Day. But several senators on Thursday said it would be particularly fitting for a warship to be named for Stevens, given his strong support for the military and service men and women during his 40 years in the Senate.
Sen. Daniel Inouye of Hawaii, a longtime friend of Stevens’, said it would be a “small but well-deserved honor” for someone who did so much to support the Navy.
The recommendation was included in a defense spending bill.
Monday is National Guard Day in Alaska.
The Alaska Legislature this year set aside July 30th of each year as a day to honor the National Guard and its work.
In Juneau, active and retired Air and Army National Guardsmen and women will celebrate with a picnic at Sandy Beach.
The first National Guard unit in Alaska — Alpha Company, 297th Infantry — was established in Juneau in 1940 under Territorial Governor Ernest Gruening.
Mac Metcalfe is one of three retired guardsmen in Juneau to organize the event. He says there are about 60 active National Guard members in Juneau, and an unknown number of retired members.
Every state has its own National Guard, “controlled by the governor, until the president calls a unit or all units up, then they become part of the regular Army or the regular Air Force,” Metcalfe says. In state, the National Guard “is here primarily to assist in state emergencies. And they have a lot of different tools to help, including helicopters, aircraft that can bring in large amounts of supplies, soldiers that can be deployed for security reasons or to do pick and shovel work, whatever’s needed.”
Monday’s first Alaska National Guard Day picnic in Juneau is from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. Monday at Sandy Beach.
