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Emmonak

The village was originally called "Kwiguk," a Yup'ik word meaning "big stream." Villagers call themselves "Kuigpagmuit," or "people from the Yukon River."

map of emmonak, alaska

Emmonak is located at the mouth of the Yukon River, 10 miles from the Bering Sea, on the north bank of Kwiguk Pass. It lies 120 air miles northwest of Bethel and 490 air miles from Anchorage, in the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge. See a larger map of Emmonak

Emmonak is a Yup'ik Eskimo village involved in commercial fishing, processing and subsistence activities. Residents of Chuloonawick, a nearby fish camp, also live in Emmonak. Emmonak Village, a federally-recognized tribe, is located in the community. Find out more about Emmonak, Alaska

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Scenes from the City of Emmonak. Photos are from the State of Alaska Community Photo Library.

Emmonak experiences a seasonal economy as a center for commercial fishing, purchasing and processing on the lower Yukon River. Yukon Delta Fish Marketing Co-op and Bering Sea Fisheries process and export salmon from Emmonak.

Subsistence activities, trapping and public assistance support income. The majority of the community travels to fish camps during the summer months to dry salmon for winter use. Moose, beluga whale, seal and waterfowl are also utilized.

Study goals of the Bering Sea Project in Emmonak

Read the Project Overview

This study is being done as part of a larger project which focuses on local traditional knowledge (LTK) in six Bering Sea communities: Akutan, St. Paul, Togiak, Nelson Island, Emmonak, and Savoonga. Some of the main research goals are:

  • To make a comprehensive record about how the people of Togiak understand, harvest, and use wild resources.
  • To document, characterize, and quantify local harvest practices and changes to better understand the relationship between the Bering Sea ecosystem and its communities.
  • To document and characterize local understanding of Bering Sea ecosystem structure and function to allow comparison with biological understanding and sharing of knowledge between both ways of knowing
  • To integrate the results of the above goals across the communities involved, identifying key similarities and differences as well as regional trends or associations with particular environmental features.