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Jay Barrett/KMXT There is another delay with work on the State ferry Tustumena, but according to the Alaska Marine Highway office, it shouldn’t prevent the 50-year-old ship from returning to service on October 20th, as previously announced. The re-launching of the Tusty in Seward was tentatively scheduled for today (Friday). In an e-mail this morning, ferry system spokesman Jeremy Woodrow …

Jay Barrett/KMXT The one-boat-at-a-time bait herring fishery around Kodiak Island opened today (Friday) at 10 a.m. The guideline harvest level in the two open districts is 99 tons for the South Afognak District and 180 tons in the Uganik District. The districts will remain open until further notice and be closed by emergency order by Fish and Game or when …

Brianna Gibbs/KMXT Last night the Kodiak Island Borough Assembly decided to postpone a vote on its capital improvement projects priority list. An eight item list was before the assembly as a resolution, but concerns over one of the projects on the list, and the absence of three assembly members, led to its postponement until the October 3 regular meeting. Assemblyman …

Jay Barrett/KMXT There’s a limited sports schedule this weekend for Kodiak High School athletes, comprised of a pair of cross country races and a home football game. The Bears will welcome the Colony Knights to the Fort Abercrombie trail this evening, with the girls racing at 5 p.m. and the boys at 5:45. Tomorrow at 9 a.m., the two schools …

Jay Barrett/KMXT The reductions in halibut bycatch passed by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council last year have been codified and NOAA is looking for some input. “Amendment 95,” as it’s called, would implement bycatch reductions in both hook-and-line and trawl fisheries, according to Obren Davis, a fisheries management specialist with the National Marine Fisheries Service in Juneau: “In June …

Brianna Gibbs/KMXT Kodiak Area Native Association is opening its doors to a new kind of client these days. The organization, which typically only provides services to Alaska Natives and Native Americans, recently added veterans to its clientele. Rick Epperson is the Rural Health Program Manager for Alaska Veterans Affairs and said the service expansion is the result of a sharing …

Coming up this week, Southeast fishermen get extra time to target coho this month, NOAA wants your feedback on Amendment 95, we’ve got a review of this summer’s Yukon fisheries, and the backlash over a cartoon, all on the Alaska Fisheries Report. We had stories from KYUK’s Angela Denning-Barnes in Bethel, and KFSK’s Joe Viechnicki in Petersburg.

Brianna Gibbs/KMXT A new class offered at Kodiak College will give students a chance to blur the line between their left and right brains. Switgard Deusterloh will teach this fall’s introduction to marine science through experiments and art, a new class that pairs her two passions: science and art. Deusterloh spoke on KMXT’s Talk of the Rock on Tuesday and …