Discreet 24/7 Biohazard Remediation in Shishmaref, AK

Shishmaref is a city in the Nome Census Area, on Sarichef Island in the Chukchi Sea, just north of the Bering Strait and five miles from the mainland.

Shishmaref's Inupiaq name is Qigiqtaq, meaning island.

The 2020 census counted 576 residents in 154 households in Shishmaref, and 96.4 percent of residents were American Indian and Alaska Native.

Shishmaref first appeared on the 1920 census as an unincorporated village and formally incorporated on July 13, 1969.

The city was named in 1821 by explorer Otto von Kotzebue, of the Imperial Russian Navy, for Gleb Shishmaryov, who accompanied him on his exploration.

Shishmaref lies within the Bering Land Bridge National Preserve and is sometimes called the friendliest village in Alaska.

Residents rely heavily on a subsistence lifestyle, hunting and gathering bearded seal, other seals, walrus, fish, birds, caribou, and moose, and the village is well known in the region for its high-quality seal oil.

Local artists carve sculptures from whalebone and walrus ivory that are sought after by galleries in Alaska and the Lower 48 states.

Erosion is Shishmaref's defining challenge, as melting permafrost and shrinking sea ice have left the shore receding at an average rate of up to 10 feet per year.

Residents voted in 2002 and again on August 16, 2016, to move the town to the mainland, and a site on the mainland called West Tin-Creek Hills was selected in 2016.