Unalaska, AK – City officials from Unalaska teleconferenced this afternoon with representatives of the U.S. Coast Guard, state Department of Environmental Conservation and local tug boat operators and marine pilots to discuss what can be done to protect Unalaska in the wake of the near-disaster involving a drifting tramper ten days ago.

The Salica Frigo, a 443-foot Spanish-flagged ship, came within 3/10 of a mile of hitting Hog Island after it lost power in rough seas on March 9. The ship regained its engines about 15 minutes before it would've hit the north side of the island, which could have caused an oil spill in Unalaska Bay on the order of the Selendang Ayu wreck in December 2004.

The dangers of shipping in the Aleutians are no secret, and the Coast Guard and others are working to coordinate a risk assessment of the region, which falls along the North Pacific Ocean's heavily trafficked great circle route. But Mayor Shirley Marquardt said that that's a long-term process, and at this point the community can't afford to wait for it to run its course.

"I just don't see [the risk assessments] as being practical, real-time solutions to a problem that we've got right now on a fairly regular basis," she said.

Among other options, the city is considering the possibility of requiring that emergency response packages--which would aid tugboat crews--be carried onboard trampers that come into Unalaska Bay and Dutch Harbor, if the city has the legal ability to do so. That proposal will be discussed in a presentation at tomorrow's city council meeting, which will be held at City Hall at 7 p.m.