ALEUTIANS IN BRIEF

Published on July 29th, 2010

By ALASKA NEWSPAPERS STAFF

Support fiber optic Internet connection for the Aleutians

Unalaska groups are invited to write letters of support for the Northern Fiber Optic Cable project as it moves into the second round of stimulus funding. Kodiak Kenai Cable Co. will provide fiber optic cable service to the Aleutian region by constructing the Northern Fiber Optic Link (Northern Fiber Link), which will extend the Kodiak Kenai Fiber Link system from Kodiak Island to the Aleutian Islands and Western Alaska with landing points at King Cove, Unalaska (Dutch Harbor), Naknek (King Salmon), Dillingham, Bethel, Nome, Kotzebue, Barrow and Prudhoe Bay (Deadhorse). Address letters of support for the project to Walt Ebell, CEO Kodiak-Kenai Cable Co., 2702 Denali St., Suite 100, Anchorage, AK 99503. For more information on the project, visit http://www.northernfiberlink.info/.

Obama administration releases new oceans policy

The White House Council on Environmental Quality released the final recommendations of the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force on July 19. The task force was charged with developing a recommendation for a national policy that ensures protection, maintenance, and restoration of oceans, our coasts and the Great Lakes. It was also tasked with recommending a framework for improved stewardship, and effective coastal and marine spatial planning. Its final recommendations include a National Oceans Policy and the creation of a National Ocean Council to "strengthen ocean governance and coordination." The NOC will not have the power to propose new laws or regulations; rather, it will set broad policy goals and coordinate the work of the many federal agencies involved in conservation and marine planning.

One of the Task Force policy recommendations is to form nine new Regional Planning Bodies to develop region-specific coastal and marine spatial plans; Alaska/Arctic is its own regional planning area, as illustrated on page 52 of the report. To view the entire report visit http://www.whitehouse.gov/files/documents/OPTF_FinalRecs.pdf.

Mariners urged to avoid NOAA instruments

NOAA has deployed sub-surface moorings to update the tidal current predictions in and around Dutch Harbor, throughout the Krenitzin islands as far east and including Unimak Pass, and along the northern coast of Unalaska as far west and including Umnak Pass. The data collected will be used for the safety and navigation of the maritime community and to update the NOAA currents tables. Sub-surface moorings at the positions below will be removed by Sept. 15. In the meantime, mariners transiting the following locations are asked to avoid disturbing the instruments.

Unimak Pass - latitude 54.319139, longitude -164.742222, depth 73 meters, height off bottom 7 meters

Ugamak Strait - latitude 54.154667, longitude -164.882778, depth 49 meters, height off bottom 7 meters

Akutan Pass - latitude 54.025361, longitude -166.091917, depth 78 meters, height off bottom 7 meters

Udagak Strait - latitude 53.739683, longitude -166.291117, depth 43 meters, height off bottom 7 meters

Cape Kovrizhka - latitude 53.843933, longitude -167.186583, depth 92 meters, height off bottom 7 meters

Paso Point - latitude 53.412383, longitude -167.698933, depth 110 meters, height off bottom 20 meters

Umnak Pass - latitude 53.362383, longitude -167.819817, depth 88 meters, height off bottom 7 meters

Konets Head - latitude 53.329000, longitude -167.896250, depth 70 meters, height off bottom 7 meters

Sedanka Pass - latitude 53.851244, longitude -166.075319, depth 73 meters, height off bottom 7 meters

Bishop Point - latitude 53.978600, longitude -166.957333, depth 60 meters, height off bottom 7 meters

Cape Cheerful - latitude 54.026628, longitude -166.673899, depth 54 meters, height 7 meters

Four walk away from crash landing

Four people were picked up safely after the airplane they were riding in made an emergency landing July 15 near King Salmon, according to Alaska State Troopers.

The pilot, Douglas Bradbury, 44, of North Pole, was flying his Piper PA-14 aircraft, N5126H from Igiugig to King Salmon with three passengers aboard. The aircraft was in a holding pattern north of the airport due to poor weather when the engine began to run rough and then lost power. Bradbury made an emergency landing and was then able to call for help via a satellite phone. A privately owned helicopter responded to the crash site to transport the pilot and three unidentified passengers back to King Salmon. Medics checked and cleared all persons aboard. The aircraft sustained substantial damage and is considered totaled. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the incident.

NOAA launches Fairweather to map Arctic seafloor

Responding to a request from the U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard, Alaska Maritime Pilots and the commercial shipping industry, NOAA sent one of its premier surveying vessels, NOAA Ship Fairweather, to detect navigational dangers in critical Arctic waters that have not been charted for more than 50 years.

Fairweather, whose homeport is Ketchikan, will spend July and August examining seafloor features, measuring ocean depths and supplying data for updating NOAA's nautical charts spanning 350 square nautical miles in the Bering Straits around Cape Prince of Wales. The data will also support scientific research on essential fish habitat and will establish new tidal datums in the region.

The U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone includes 568,000 square nautical miles of U.S. Arctic waters. The majority of charted Arctic waters were surveyed with obsolete technology dating back to the 1800s. Most of the shoreline along Alaska's northern and western coasts has not been mapped since 1960, if ever, and confidence in the region's nautical charts is extremely low.

About a third of U.S. Arctic waters are considered navigationally significant. Of that area, NOAA's Office of Coast Survey has identified 38,000 square nautical miles as survey priorities. NOAA estimates that it will take well more than 25 years to map the prioritized areas of the Arctic seafloor.

Apply for environmental demonstration grants

The Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium and the Rural Alaska Community Action Program are accepting grant applications for the 2011 Community Environmental Demonstration Project. Ten to 12 grants ranging from $5,000 to $30,000 will be awarded. The deadline to apply is Sept. 9. The grants are made possible with funding from the US Environmental Protection Agency under the Alaska Tribal Multi-Media Demonstration Projects. For more information, visit www.ruralcap.com or www.anthc.org/chs/ces/hve/index.cfm.

NOAA plans meetings to beef up fishing community profiles

NOAA Fisheries Service Alaska Fisheries Science Center invites coastal Alaskans to provide information on how to enrich their community profiles for North Pacific Fisheries-Alaska publication (originally published in 2005) at meetings in Unalaska and Kodiak. The one-day meetings will bring local leaders and the public together to collaborate on revising profiles to better reflect communities. Meetings will be held in Unalaska/Dutch Harbor, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. on Aug. 25 (location to be announced), and in Kodiak on Sept. 27. Some of the themes that will shape the discussion include an exchange of local stories that best illustrate the way in which fishing shapes the fabric of the community; information that fishery managers need to know about Alaska communities that is not currently represented in the community profiles; and ways to best gather or compile this new information for each community. Food will be provided at the meetings. To RSVP, e-mail amber.himes@noaa.gov or call 206-526-4221.

AEA Seeks Qualified Applicants for Round IV Grants

Alaska Energy Authority is soliciting competitive grant applications from qualified applicants for renewable energy projects to be funded by the Alaska State Legislature. The Round IV application period opened July 21. applications by Sept. 15.

In 2008, the Alaska Legislature established the Renewable Energy Fund and authorized AEA to administer procedures for awarding the grants and distributing grant funds. AEA received more than 350 Rounds I, II and III applications which were thoroughly evaluated in accordance with criteria set forth in the legislation. Following AEA's recommendations, the Legislature approved 129 Round I, II and III renewable energy projects totaling $150 million.

AEA is seeking to recommend projects based on applications that clearly demonstrate a public benefit from the proposed project. From all Round IV applications received, AEA will make project recommendations to the Legislature for FY2012 funding.

Beginning July 21, a new link to the Round IV web page will be available from AEA's home page, www.akenergyauthority.org. The link will access the request for application, application forms and all supporting information. Applicants may also contact Renewable Energy Fund grants administrator Butch White by e-mail at re_fund@aidea.org, or by telephone, 907-771-3048.

This year marks the second Renewable Energy Fund construction season. Seven projects across Alaska have been completed, and 20 additional projects are scheduled for completion this year. For the first $125 million appropriated in Rounds I and II, 97 grants to successful applicants are in place. AEA expects to have Round III grants in place in early July. Funds are disbursed to grantees as work proceeds and invoices are submitted to the authority.