Unalaska, AK – More than two years after the wreck of the Selendang Ayu, federal and state authorities are considering what work can be done in Unalaska to compensate for the disaster.

In a notice in the Federal Register today, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says it's beginning the process of planning restoration work on the island, where the more than 300,000 gallons of fuel oil that spilled from the vessel wreaked considerable environmental havoc.

Jenifer Kohout, the regional coordinator for the agency's Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration Program, said that work has a different aim from the cleanup operation that took place for two summers following the spill.

"The idea with the cleanup is you're trying to get as much oil out of the system as you can," Kohout said. "The natural resource damage assessment and restoration process is about trying to restore the environment and compensate for the injuries that weren't addressed when you took the oil away. So the fact that we had seabirds killed and sea otters killed, and other resources injured by the spill, is something the responsible parties have a legal obligation to address."

The restoration ideas in the federal notice have nothing to do with the Selendang Ayu spill itself, and run the gamut from rat removal to salmon restoration to cultural education. Kohout said these are preliminary suggestions, and hopes that more will come out of community meetings as the project moves along.

Kohout said the federal and state agencies involved in the restoration work will be holding public hearings in Unalaska as part of the assessment, which she envisions as a more formal extension of the discussions that took place at the 2005 Aleutian Life Forum here. That event brought together community members, scientists and representatives of the Coast Guard and government agencies to discuss the aftermath of the spill.