As the whales' usual food source in the Arctic crashes, they're turning to places like Kodiak to get enough prey.

NOAA's Alaska Navigation Manager said these surveys aim to make the waters around the archipelago safer.

Coast Guard Base Kodiak is planning to begin the fourth and final phase of its member housing expansion later this year. That’s after roughly $81.8 million to build more than a dozen duplexes, and to replace the water storage tank on Aviation Hill, was awarded to a contractor for the project last month on May 27.

The high cost of diesel, fueled by the war in Iran, coincides with a projected weak salmon harvest for this summer.

Chris Hladick’s stint as Kodiak’s interim city manager ended last week. The Kodiak City Council picked a longtime city employee as the new interim manager as it continues searching for a permanent one.

On the morning of Memorial Day, May 25, Kodiak set a daily record low temperature of 31 degrees according to the National Weather Service.

The City of Kodiak is back pedaling on its plans to create two new parks on city property in separate locations – one downtown at St. Paul Plaza and the other at Gibson Cove. That’s after city officials say there isn’t enough money in the fiscal year 2027 budget to pursue potential designs for the two parks.

The fourth graders at Kodiak’s Main Elementary School released the salmon fry they’ve been raising since October into Island Lake on May 21. The release is part of a year-round “Salmon in the Classroom” program hosted by the Kodiak Regional Aquaculture Association, where fourth graders across the archipelago learn about the salmon life cycle in a hands-on way.Students got to name their fry, release them into the lake using a paper cup, and wish them well on their journey to the ocean.

About $13.8 million in taxpayer money is going to the Kodiak Island Borough School District after the Borough Assembly on May 21 set the final contribution for the upcoming fiscal year, FY'2027. That’s about half the increase school officials were hoping for, which means more school personnel cuts are coming.

The cancelations come at a challenging time for rescheduling. The Tustumena is slated for a chain run starting Wednesday, June 3, meaning that she will be headed to the Aleutian Islands and won’t return to Kodiak until the night of June 8.