Longtime resident Peggy McLaughlin has been selected as the City of Unalaska’s new ports director. She will be replacing Alvin Osterback, who left the department in December.

McLaughlin first came to Unalaska in 1993. She worked as a pollock processor on a factory trawler, and later joined Horizon Lines’ local office. She stayed with the company for 13 years, running its cargo operations. City of Unalaska Human Resources manager Kelly Stiles says that some of McLaughlin’s big selling points were her familiarity with Unalaska’s industry and its community.

“There has been a lot of community support for her,” says Stiles. It always makes us feel good when we make decisions that make the community happy, too. So it sounds like it’s a win-win for everybody.”

The ports position is one of the city’s nine director jobs, and McLaughlin will help devise a long-term strategy for the city’s marine operations. Stiles says that it’s a job that comes with a lot of responsibility given the Port of Dutch Harbor’s importance to the fishing industry and potentially to oil production in the Arctic.

“It is a heavy duty job, because of course we’re the number one fishing port in the county,” says Stiles. “Since we’re part of the Alaska Marine Highway, too, there’s ferry coordination, there’s Coast Guard coordination, there’s cruise ship coordination. So, there’s a lot going on.”

McLaughlin is scheduled to start as ports director on May 16, according to the city.