Industry

The Alaska Board of Fisheries has scheduled a special meeting in May to consider changing the harvest strategy for Bering Sea tanner crab.

The current strategy sparked controversy last year, when biologists were forced to cancel the $50 million commercial fishery after the bairdi population fell short of the opening threshold.

Unalaska waters welcomed an unusually large visitor over the weekend.

The M/V Ecofaith G.O. was towed to Broad Bay on Saturday after the bulk carrier lost propulsion last month on its way to a Canadian port.

“The vessel is about 44,000 gross tons and 751 feet long," said Lisa Krebs-Barsis, a supervisor with the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation's response program. "It was in ballast on its way to Prince Rupert, and it had no cargo onboard.”

After more than 30 years in the seafood industry, the Fishing Company of Alaska (FCA) was bought out last month, ending its long and often difficult presence at the Port of Dutch Harbor.

The company is still under investigation, though, after one of its vessels sank off the Aleutian Islands last summer.

Lt. James Daugherty said the U.S. Coast Guard's probe has gone on, regardless of the sale.  

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.