Unalaska, AK – Next week Unalaskans will have a chance to weigh in on where ships should be taken if they run into trouble around Unalaska Island.

Consultants from Nuka Research and Planning Group will be in Unalaska on Wednesday night to get feedback from local residents on what the best places of refuge in the area are. The idea is to compile a plan that local, state and federal authorities could use in the event of a maritime emergency, and this is an opportunity for Unalaskans to make sure local concerns and knowledge are included in it.

"Local people can have the input now as well as at the time when [an emergency] is happening," said Nuka's Mark Janes.

The question of where to anchor distressed vessels came up most recently during the recovery of the car carrier Cougar Ace last summer. While tugboats towed the ship towards Unalaska Island, city officials and Coast Guard officers spent several days haggling over the details of where exactly the ship would be taken, and addressing the city's concerns about the hazards of bringing it into Unalaska Bay, where it eventually was moored for repairs.

Janes said that was a rare case in which responders had the luxury of time to debate those issues, and that compiling a list of agreed-upon ports of refuge before the next emergency will make those decisions easier under more pressing circumstances.

"These tools would hopefully be used in a situation where the decision has to be made quicker," he said.

Wednesday's forum is part of a project funded by the state Department of Environmental Conservation. Nuka has done similar surveys for the state in Prince William Sound, Cook Inlet and the Kodiak area.

The forum will take place at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Unalaska City Council chambers in City Hall.

DEC information about the project:

Aleutian Subarea Potential Places of Refuge
Aleutian Subarea Geographic Strategies