Industry

There will be no commercial tanner crab fishery in the Bering Sea this season.

The Alaska Board of Fisheries made the decision last week after a last-ditch attempt to allow a limited harvest failed in a split 3-3 vote.

Unalaska Mayor Frank Kelty attended the board meeting in Kodiak, where members considered a proposal that would have let crabbers harvest 10 percent of mature male bairdi in the western district.

A man was medeva​ced from Unalaska on Saturday after suffering seri​ous injuries from an amm​onia leak at the Kloosterboer cold storage facility.

Deputy Police Chief Jennifer Shockley said the man was inside an industrial freezer when its ammonia line began leaking. 

After he was "extricated and deconta​minated," the man was flown to Anchorage and then Seattle for emergency treatment. His current medical status is unknown, but Shockley said ammonia poses significant health hazards.

An ammonia leak at a cold storage facility in Unalaska has left one person with "serious injuries."

According to a statement from the Department of Public Safety (DPS), a seven-person hazmat team and 13 emergency responders arrived at the Kloosterboer building Saturday at 12:45 p.m. after a freezer line began leaking ammonia.

Officials say the victim was "decontaminated" and taken by ambulance to the clinic.

The responders — from the DPS and the UniSea hazmat team — shut off the ammonia supply and ventilated the building.

Unalaska's Fish and Game Advisory Committee will support a proposal to allow a limited tanner crab fishery in the Bering Sea this season.

The committee endorsed the proposal at a meeting Wednesday night, but only after a close 6-4 vote.