subject: Overview of Dutch Harbor Alaska [print this page] Overview of Dutch Harbor Alaska Overview of Dutch Harbor Alaska
Unalaska is a city located in the very west most islands of Alaska in the United States. It has a population of 3836. With an area of 212.3 square miles and an elevation of 13ft, Unalaska can be found in the Alaska Time zone of the United States (UTC-9). The location is the largest fisheries port in the United States, and receives a significant amount of tourism. The port in question, as well as all other port facilities, is on Amaknak Island, and is called Dutch Harbor.
Dutch Harbor Alaska is connected to Unalaska by bridge and is considered within the city limits. At a total 59 percent, Amaknak Island, which it is on, holds over half of the city's population. The location is called "Dutch Harbor" because the Russians who first arrived there thought that a Dutch ship had been the first one to enter the harbor. Dutch Harbor is also home to a United States National Historical Landmark, Dutch Harbor Naval Operating Base and Fort Mears, U.S. Army.
As discussed above, there are an enormous amount of fisheries and fishermen based in Dutch Harbor. A particular specialty of the area is the fishing of the Bering Sea king crab. (Though rapidly dwindling population numbers of the king crab have put this industry at risk.) In terms of volume of seafood caught, the Dutch Harbor port is the largest fisheries port in the United States. It also used to be the most highly ranked port in terms of the total value of its catches, but in 2000 it was overtaken by New Bedford, Massachusetts.
There is currently a project going on in Dutch Harbor to be added to their primary industries of fishing and seafood processing. This project involves making biodiesel from fish oil. The project is being worked on in conjunction with the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. As Alaska tends to be very dependent on diesel power, this is a very lucrative project. The factories working on it locally produce biodiesel from over 3.5 million tons of fish oil every single year.
In addition, the Deadliest Catch, a Discovery Channel show done in documentary format, features Dutch Harbor's crabbing fleet. Fishing for the king crab is an extremely dangerous profession, to the point where a king crab fisherman is approximately 90 times more likely to die than a regular working person. On average it can be said that during fishing season a king crab fisherman will die once a week. It's certainly a profession that would attract attention from a show called something like "the Deadliest Catch". The show has put a great deal of focus on Dutch Harbor in general since 2005, and much of the town is shown as well, not just the port and fishing fleet.
