page_title: Cordova, Alaska
section_title: Economy
hierarchical_section_title: Cordova, Alaska / Economy
caption_attribution_description: A distant shot of an area of Cordova, Alaska
context_page_description: Cordova is a small town located near the mouth of the Copper River in the Valdez-Cordova Census Area, Alaska, United States, at the head of Orca Inlet on the east side of Prince William Sound. The population was 2,239 at the 2010 census, down from 2,454 in 2000. Cordova was named Puerto Cordova by Spanish explorer Salvador Fidalgo in 1790. No roads connect Cordova to other Alaskan towns, so a plane or ferry is required to travel there. In the Exxon Valdez oil spill of March 1989, an oil tanker ran aground northwest of Cordova, heavily damaging ecology and fishing. It was cleaned up shortly after, but there are lingering effects, such as a lowered population of some birds.
context_section_description: Commercial fishing is the main industry in Cordova. Half of all households in Cordova have at least one person involved in commercial fishing or processing. The fishing fleet mainly fishes the Prince William Sound and Copper River Delta area. There are various fisheries in the area, the most economically important of which is the salmon fishery.
  All Pacific salmon species except for the cherry salmon are caught. Fishermen use either a purse seine, drift gillnet, or set gillnet to catch the fish. All fisheries are regulated by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. The fisheries in Alaska have a limited entry permit system. The first fish processing plant near Cordova opened in 1887. In 2009 there were 159 purse seine, 511 drift gilnet, and 27 set gillnet permits fished in the Prince William Sound and Copper River Delta area.
caption: A view of the Cordova hillside from the boat harbor
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS 20D", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS2 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2009:07:10 11:05:41", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image XPTitle": "[67, 0, 111, 0, 114, 0, 100, 0, 111, 0, 118, 0, 97, 0, 32, 0, 51, 0, 0, 0]", "Image XPComment": "[67, 0, 111, 0, 114, 0, 100, 0, 111, 0, 118, 0, 97, 0, 44, 0, 32, 0, 65, 0, ... ]", "Image XPAuthor": "Julie St. Louis", "Image XPKeywords": "[67, 0, 111, 0, 114, 0, 100, 0, 111, 0, 118, 0, 97, 0, 44, 0, 32, 0, 65, 0, ... ]", "Image XPSubject": "[67, 0, 111, 0, 114, 0, 100, 0, 111, 0, 118, 0, 97, 0, 44, 0, 32, 0, 65, 0, 108, 0, 97, 0, 115, 0, 107, 0, 97, 0, 0, 0]", "Image CustomRendered": "Normal", "Image ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "Image WhiteBalance": "Auto", "Image SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "Image ExifOffset": "756", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1490", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "6650", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/320", "EXIF FNumber": "8", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "400", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2005:07:14 07:27:30", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2005:07:14 07:27:30", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "272693/32768", "EXIF ApertureValue": "6", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "70", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2464", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1643", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "233600/59", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "233600/59", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2"}