Staff Building on St. Paul, Pribilof Islands

Contact us:
Gary Stanley
Pribilof Facilities Reservations
Gary.Stanley@noaa.gov
(907) 789.6416

The Pribilof Islands, located in the Bering Sea off the coast of Alaska, have been a center for biological research since 1919. Called the ‘Galapagos of the North’ as a result of the diversity present in a small area, these four islands are noted for their abundant fur seal, snow crab, and seabird populations. The shallow, nutrient-rich waters result in an extraordinarily rich habitat for Steller sea lions, harbor seal, whales, and an estimated 70% of the world’s fur seals as well as 2.8 million nesting seabirds.

NOAA Fisheries has management responsibility for the northern fur seals that use the Pribilof Islands where NOAA Fisheries National Marine Mammal Laboratory also conducts extensive research on Steller sea lions and northern fur seals. Research projects are designed to assess the status of these species under the ESA and MMPA and to improve knowledge of their ecology and behavior. In addition, research on these species is directed at gaining a better understanding of the role that these species play in the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska ecosystems in order to provide advice for management of human activities that may affect the conservation and recovery of these species. Researchers collect data on fur seal abundance, fine-scale foraging behavior of adult females in the Bering Sea, and age-specific vital rates of females on St. Paul Island. To accomplish this mission, NOAA Fisheries owns lands, facilities, personnel accommodations, laboratory space, and vehicles on St. Paul and St. George Islands with the Alaska Fisheries Science Center as the steward of these facilities.

Reservations

NOAA Staff Quarters on St. Paul and Cottage "C" on St. George are federal facilities, and the housing needs of federal agencies are a priority. Beds are available to non-federal agencies and organizations on a space available basis. However, non-federal reservations are subject to cancellation to accommodate the needs of federal agency personnel. NOAA has a commitment to green operations and to preserving the ecological nature of this delicate ecosystem. All residents in the NOAA facilities are asked to take this stewardship seriously and help maintain as small a footprint as possible.

The NOAA facilities are to be maintained by the guests who stay at the facilities. The Guest Use, Vehicle, and Network policies are provided on separate pages for your reference. Please review them prior to your arrival on the island and as needed during your stay. Agreement and compliance with NOAA policies is mandatory.

St George, Pribilof Islands

It is not the position of NOAA to deny lodging to any entity, federal, state, academic, or contractors working at the behest of the government who have that written into their contract, at the NOAA Staff Quarters if they are on official business. There may be situations where the directors of AFSC, NMML, or ABL may not desire for a group of personnel to stay at the Staff Quarters. However, it is not the position of the ABL Facilities Staff to make that decision, or enforce that decision. Should a question arise, personnel will be accommodated for the night or weekend if space is available, and the appropriate organization will be contacted to work out the details on the next business day.

All reservations at the ABL Staff Quarters on St Paul, as well as the Cottage "C" on St George are to be made through John Kimball (contact info provided above). To stay you need a reservation. In the future, we intend to go back to a web based reservation system. Until that happens, the only way to make reservations is to contact John Kimball. If you arrive at the staff quarters without reservations, you will be accommodated as space is available. Some rooms will be taken out of service as work is accomplished in the staff quarters, and based upon scheduled need. If you arrive and rooms are not available because they are out of service, it is not our position to scramble to put rooms back into service.

Cancellations

Accommodations on St. Paul and St. George Islands are extremely limited, especially during the busy field season. Please consider cancelling your reservations as early as possible to allow others to use the space.