The Community of: Cordova

Hello Everyone

There are three major communities that surround Prince William Sound. This post will focus on Cordova, please see the attached map for visual.

Cordova is located in the southeast of Prince William Sound and is on the main land. Although the community is located on the mainland there are no roads that lead to or from the community, which can make it hard to leave when needed. But those who live in Cordova are connected to the outside world in ways that are culturally very different from the majority of other communities. They have schedules plane service to Anchorage and Juneau, which are larger cities within Alaska. But they also have something called the Alaska Marine Highway, which is a ferry service. The ferry allows connections to Valdez, Whitter, Tatitlek and Chenega Bay.

Cordova has a population of about 2,121 residents. With no roads into the community and relying strictly on ferries or planes, the economics of the community rely very heavily on what is surrounding it. Cordova is known as a hardworking fishing community as this is the main economic base.

Knowing that the main economic activity within the community is fishing, this brings forward many questions surrounding the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill in 1989. Questions like did the oil reach the shores of this community? Did any of the people get sick from the fish or the water? Did the fishing just stop? Did the company compensate any of the members of the community?

I am hoping to touch on some of these questions in coming posts.

-Alexis