St. Paul's passage.

• Author: Griffin, Judith Fuerst
• Position: Includes related article on Larry Merculieff - New port opens on St. Paul Island

St. Paul's Passage

Some who studied the history and people of St. Paul Island concluded that there was no hope for a future there. They recommended relocating inhabitants of the far-flung island that lies 300 miles north of the Aleutians and more thanV300 miles west of Alaska's mainland. But others was an opportunity, offered by the area's seafood resources, to create a new economic base to support the community after the forced closure of its fur seal industry.

Proponents of St. Paul's new destiny won, and a plan was launched to create a commercial fishing service center. On August 4, a celebration marks the official opening of the island's new port.

Literally casting their fate upon the waters, the people of St. Paul know this juncture will determine whether the hardship of their devastated economy has been averted or just delayed. Says John R. Merculief, mayor and public works director of St. Paul, "Our future depends on the fishing industry. It depends on how successful our harbor is and how we set up the infrastructure to attract vessels."

According to Vern McCorkle, city manager of St. Paul since 1983, the marine facilities represent $53.5 million in federal, state and local investment. "There's opportunity here for business, "he says. For every dollar of public spending, already there's been $1.25 in private investment, he adds.

Almost 600 people - more than 90 percent Aleut - live on the 44-square-mile island in the midst of the productive Bering Sea. "St. Paul is a community with incredible potential," says Jim Sanders, manager of the Alaska Department of Community and Regional Affairs' South Central Regional Office. "But there are problems in any transition. The community now is at a point when the transition is actually happening, and change is painful for any of us."

The federally controlled fur seal industry dominated the island's economy from 1867 to 1983, when further harvests of the northern fur seal were banned. Private companies under contract obtained and processed the pelts until the National Marine Fisheries Service took over managements of the industry and the people in 1910. Declared residents of a protected federal reservation in 1869, the Pribilof Islanders were made wards of the government.

One of the darkest moments in a history of domination by Russian traders and U.S. interests was the Aleuts' World War II internment from June 1942 to May 1944 at Funter Bay in Southeast Alaska. Although by the 1983 withdrawal of the federal government, a city government had taken responsibility for road maintenance and police and fire protection, new and costly duties were thrust on the city administration. Among them: maintenance of private homes and public buildings and construction of power, water and sewage facilities to replace aging systems and to prepare for demands of industrial development.

In 1983 amendments to the Fur Seal Act of 1966, separate trusts were established to enable the Pribilof Islands' municipal governments - St. Paul and St. George - to assume services previously provided by the National Marine Fisheries Service. Jay Gage, trustee for the St. Paul Island Trust and former president of Peter Pan Seafoods, explains the trust was originally conceived as a five-year stopgap until harbor facilities could be built.

The failure of a partially constructed breakwater in a November 1984 storm required a new design and delayed completion of harbor facilities. Twice, to tide the community over, Congress appropriated additional adding for the St. Paul trust, adding $3.3...