PORTS & HARBORS

City of Saint Paul
Message to Crab Fleet​

October 28, 2025
The City of Saint Paul does not currently have a dedicated harbormaster.  City staff take turns serving this function. In an effort to assist the crab fleet and reduce the number of calls, the information at right is helpful:

  • As boats enter the harbor, the City will still respond to vessels on VHF Channel 16.
  • Depending on how many boats come at once they can either go to the TDX/Trident dock or City Dock.
  • The City now has security/surveillance cameras in the harbor and can remotely monitor what boats are docked there and can communicate with the boats on which dock to go to.
  • TDX stores the crab pots for boats here on the island. Boats needing to pick up their crab pots can contact TDX at 907-546- 4121 or email Chelsea chelseas@tdxcorp.com or Charles jerimiahs@tdxcorp.com with TDX to arrange picking up their pots.

The Pribilof Islands

The Saint Paul Harbor is on a narrow peninsula on the southern tip of Saint Paul Island, the largest of the five Pribilof Islands located in the middle of the Bering Sea of Alaska. The extremely remote and rural Saint Paul Island is 47 miles north of the nearest other inhabited Saint George Island, 240 miles north of the Aleutian Islands, 300 miles west of the Alaska mainland, and 750 miles west of Anchorage. The Pribilof Islands are situated on important migration routes for nearly all fish, birds and mammals that populate the rich Bering Sea. The marine infrastructure of Southwest Alaska supports one of the richest fisheries ecosystems in the world. Six of the top ten fishing ports, by value, are in the Southwest Alaska region. Strategically located ports capable of supporting harvesting and processing of fisheries resources are spread across the region, and Saint Paul Island is one of them.

Saint Paul Island

Over the past three decades, U.S. fisheries resourc¬es in the Bering Sea have been managed by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to give preferential access and harvest rights to recognized Native Alaskan communities along the Bering Sea coast. Saint Paul Island is one such community. This preferential access has occurred through allocation of 10% of all harvest rights (and if applicable, co-joined processing rights) for all species to these communities through the Western Alaska Community Development Quota (CDQ) Program. An additional effort to provide economic stability in these isolated, Indigenous communities led to crab processing rights being geographically specified to require processing in the Pribilof Islands area. These regional percentages consist of more than 2% of red king crab and over 46% of snow crab allowable harvests. Together with CDQ allocations, the result is that about half of all snow crab harvested in the U.S. is processed in Saint Paul, along with other crab and halibut.

Saint Paul Harbor

Saint Paul Harbor consists of the main harbor and a small boat harbor. In the main harbor there is the main breakwater and a detached breakwater, the City South and North Docks and Piers, a Harbormaster Office, a barge off-loading area, and a dock and processing plant that is leased to Trident Seafoods. Saint Paul Island is home to the largest crab processing facility in the world, processing 500,000 pounds of crab daily and employing up to 400 workers in peak season. Saint Paul Harbor consists of an outer breakwater and additional wave barrier protecting a three-part moorage basin. Immediately behind the breakwater is the large vessel mooring infrastructure, City South Dock.

Environmental Conditions

Climate

Saint Paul Island has a northern maritime climate. August is the warmest month with average daily high temperatures of 51.5 degrees Fahrenheit. February is the coldest month with average daily high temperatures of 28.5 degrees Fahrenheit. The highest temperature on record is August 26, 1987 at 66.0 degrees Fahrenheit. The coldest day on record is March 14, 1971 at –19 degrees Fahrenheit.

Precipitation on Saint Paul Island is minimal with an average annual rainfall of about 24 inches. There is some ground snow accumulation in the winter months with annual snowfall averaging 61.7 inches. The island area has periods of persistent and high winds throughout the year. Average year-round winds are 15 MPH. Frequent storms occur from October to April, often accompanied by gale-force winds to produce blizzard conditions.

Tides
DatumElevation (feet)Notes
Max Tide5.08Observed 12/08/2006
HAT4.01Highest predicted tide
MHHW3.24 
MTL1.96 
MSL1.88 
DTL1.62 
MLW0.92 
MLLW0.00 
LAT-1.58Lowest predicted tide
Min Tide-2.28Observed 12/13/1985
Waves

There have been studies of the wave climate for the design and construction of the breakwaters. The General Reevaluation Report Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact Saint Paul Small Boat Harbor Saint Paul, Alaska February 2006 outlines the following regarding the wave climate:

The existing harbor in Village Cove is in direct alignment with deep-water waves approaching between the west-northwest and southwest sectors. Deep-water waves approaching from the south and southeast sectors are partially sheltered by Saint George Island and Otter Island and would diffract around Reef Point before impinging on the project site. Southerly and southeasterly deep-water waves therefore undergo considerable energy reduction before affecting the project site. Village Cove is in the lee of Saint Paul Island for waves approaching from northwest clockwise through southeast. Waves in the Bering Sea are extremely large, and around the shallower waters of Saint Paul Island, their heights are depth limited during numerous events each year. Maximum wave height to be expected near the entrance to the present harbor is 27 feet.

Wave heights in the present harbor are greatly modified by the breakwaters and spending beaches. Waves are expected to be attenuated to less than three feet by existing protection. Wave energy enters through both the east and west entrances with the dominant energy entering through the west entrance (the navigation channel).

The original 1982 USACE breakwater project was based on a design wave height of 16.5 feet and 9.7 seconds period for a fifty-year storm.

Waves occasionally overtop the existing breakwater. The wave climate in the entrance channel can be extreme, and the harbor is periodically closed due to weather events. The wave climate regularly forces closure of the City North Dock. The inner harbor wave climate has also resulted in broken mooring lines at the City South Dock and at Trident Dock.

Sea Ice

The General Reevaluation Report Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact Saint Paul Small Boat Harbor Saint Paul, Alaska February 2006 outlines the following regarding sea ice:

The icepack in the northern Bering Sea occasionally moves south and surrounds the island during periods of prolonged north and northeast winds between January and May. Mariners are warned by NOAA charts against the possibility of entrapment in Village Cove. Ice conditions could possibly preclude the use of the proposed day fishery mooring facilities during the months of January through May and could require vessel removal for short periods in some years.

Contact Us

Harbormaster/Harbor Office
The City of Saint Paul does not currently have a dedicated harbormaster.  City staff take turns serving this function. As boats enter the harbor, the City will respond on VHF Channel 16.

907-600-4366 (office)
VHF Channel 16