Saving Seafood

ALASKA: 5 crew members rescued from fishing vessel that runs aground in Southwest Alaska

November 2, 2026 — A Coast Guard helicopter crew early Thursday rescued five crew members from the 58-foot Oracle, a fishing vessel that ran aground near False Pass in Southwest Alaska.

The crew members, some of whom sustained minor injuries, were taken to a clinic in Cold Bay, according to a statement from the Coast Guard.

The Coast Guard received a distress report at 4:48 a.m. Thursday, and by 6:16 a.m., an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew — based in Kodiak and deployed to Cold Bay — was on scene. Coast Guard video shows surf breaking around the Oracle as a crew member is brought up in a rescue basket to the helicopter.

Read the full article at Anchorage Daily News

Arctic sea hits record low, while Bering Sea ice surges

April 8, 2026 — While Arctic sea ice reached its lowest seasonal peak on March 15, conditions in the Bering Sea told a very different story this winter– with ice expanding farther south than fishermen have seen in more than a decade.

According to reporting from KMXT, sea ice in the eastern Bering Sea continued growing for another week after the Arctic-wide peak, ultimately reaching its greatest extent since 2013. Ice pushed south past Bristol Bay and the Alaska Peninsula, extending to Cold Bay, Unimak Island, and even the Pribilof Islands

“The Bering Sea is the only place in the Arctic where sea ice is above normal,” Rick Thoman said to KMXT. “To our west, in the Sea of Okhotsk, so west of Kamchatka, it’s the lowest sea ice extent of record [as of March 19].”

Read the full article at the National Fisherman