ALASKA'S RURAL PORTS SPUR ECONOMIC GROWTH.

• Author: SWAGEL, WILL

Ports take center stage in rural communities across Alaska.

In tiny Atka (pop. 99), at the western end of the Aleutian chain, people look to the sea for sustenance--both as traditional fishermen and hunters, and now, with a good stake in the cash economy. Since the early 1990s, Atka residents have been buying fishing vessels and building processing facilities to develop their community's allotted share of the halibut and black cod fisheries. There's also work from servicing crab vessels that use the new 120-foot city dock that juts 300 feet from shore.

"(The maritime business) has had incredible economic impact; it has been a real positive situation for the whole community," says Bill Shaishnikoff, who manages the six fishing vessels owned by the Aleutian/Pribilof Island Community Development Association. "We have people who work in the (processing plant) --they're all local. We have people running the boats and fishing on the vessels--they are probably 75 percent local. Prior to the plant and the vessels, Atka was a pretty sleepy little town. You might say it has woken up."

Archeological evidence has indicated that people have lived in Atka since prehistoric times. During World War II, Atka residents were evacuated to Ketchikan and the city was burned to the ground to deter the advance of Japanese troops. The community was later rebuilt and the people returned for the same reasons their prehistoric predecessors did: to take advantage of Atka's natural port--its protection and respite from the sea.

Atka is only one of many rural ports in the state that provide economic benefit to their surrounding communities.

Westward Giants

About 500 miles to the east of Atka, giant Dutch Harbor has, for more than a decade, topped the list as the number one fishing port for seafood volume in the entire United States. The International Port of Dutch Harbor serves both fishing vessels and international freight--the massive facility lies only about 50 miles north of the Great Circle Shipping Route from major U.S. West Coast ports and the Pacific Rim.

There are 10 major docks in Unalaska-Dutch Harbor-and more than a mile of wharfage and another 1,200 feet of floating dock. Everything from bulk fuel to repairs of all ships' systems is available in dockside facilities that stretch for miles. Unalaska-Dutch Harbor's (pop. 4,300) economy is almost totally defined by the community's access to, and protection from, the sea.

The Port of Adak (pop. 100), only 90 miles west of Atka, should play a key role in Alaska's future. Adak played such a role as a staging area for U.S. forces to mount their...