Akutan Harbor Project: Delineation of Wetlands on Akutan Island, Alaska

The work described in this technical note was done at the request of the Regulatory Branch and the Planning Division of the U. S. Army Engineer District, Alaska, as part of a feasibility study for the potential development of a harbor on Akutan Island in the Aleutian Island chain. Akutan Bay is a steep-sided, glacially scoured, natural inlet on the eastern end of the island Figure 1. The village of Akutan and a major seafood-processing plant cling to the narrow fringe of level ground at the edge of the fjord. Ocean-going container ships use moorings in the deep water of the bay as they wait to load the frozen catch and transport it to markets throughout the Pacific. But the bay has no natural harbor for the smaller fishing vessels that unload at the facilitys dock. The proposed project would excavate a harbor basin in the broad alluvial plain at the head of the bay and would fill and grade adjacent uplands and wetlands to create level areas suitable for harbor-side facilities and associated infrastructure.