-
Kirsten Dobroth/Alaska Public MediaAn oil spill from a grounded fishing vessel was reported in Izhut Bay around 6 a.m. on Sept. 1. Commercial fishing in the area is closed until further notice. -
"It's a little bit scary, because the more you learn, the more you realize how variable this is. But also, it doesn’t take much to switch that from no toxicity at all to a really high toxicity event," Steve Kibler, a scientist with NOAA who studies harmful algal blooms around Kodiak, said.
-
Alaska Republican Congressman Nick Begich III proposed a U.S. House subcommittee rollback parts of the landmark legislation to “modernize” it. Conservation groups warn that it’s a gutting that endangers already struggling whale populations around the state. -
President Donald Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill that passed earlier this month included reducing Medicaid spending in Alaska by up to half a billion dollars. Kodiak health care providers are still grappling with how they’ll be affected. -
Lexa Meyer and her husband Alf Pryor are the only ones actively operating a kelp hatchery on the island. These facilities nurture kelp seeds to juvenile plants before they are transplanted into the ocean and ready for large-scale cultivation. -
Tribal and federal staff collected baleen from the young gray whale that washed up on Surfer's Beach late last month in part to study it. The rest of the corpse is still on the beach near the parking lot. -
NOAA Fisheries has been dealing with substantial staffing cuts leading up to the surveys. The Alaska Fisheries Science Center lost roughly 50 employees since February according to reporting from KUCB Radio. -
Scientists suspect it was killed by an orca, much like another whale that washed up in the same area about a month ago. -
If untreated, infected dogs face an over 90% fatality rate, owners should look for symptoms like vomiting, loss of appetite, or fever. It's unknown how any of the animals contracted the virus. -
The whale washed up in late May, and biologists suspect it was killed by orcas a week before the corpse was found. It's the fourth dead whale reported around the archipelago this year and the seventh found around Alaska. -
Emperor geese populations have struggled across the state, but the ones nesting near Kodiak seem to be prospering. Biologists are working to verify the local flock’s growth in surveys. -
The latest wave includes firing some NOAA employees at the Kodiak Fisheries Research Center. Staff could not confirm how many people were affected in the state, nor what positions were cut.
