Pribilof Problems: A Bering Sea community with a troubled harbor in a battle against nature

摘要

St. George Island, part of the Pribilof Islands, is located in the Bering Sea, more than 320 kilometers (200 miles) north of the nearest Aleutian Island and equally distant to the mainland of Alaska. For nearly two centuries, St. George's primary economy was based on commercial fur seal harvesting. In the early 1980s when commercial fur seal harvesting halted, the community turned to a fishing economy. Despite being surrounded by productive fishing grounds, the community had no boat harbor and the geography of the island offered no natural protection from the unforgiving Bering Sea. Construction of a harbor started in 1984. Large rubble breakwaters were built to protect the harbor from the force of the sea, and the basin was dredged and blasted out of bedrock. Since the harbor's construction, the Bering Sea has pummeled the breakwaters with strong swells. This paper discusses the methods, results, and application of ongoing studies on harbor repair and improvements by the City of St. George, Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (DOT&PF), and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at St. George between 2013 and 2017. The data acquired during these studies have supported multiple projects including an emergency repair to the community's breakwater.