Shishmaref is located on Sarichef Island in the Chukchi Sea. Shishmaref is surrounded by the 2.6 million acre
Bering Land Bridge National Preserve. The original Eskimo name for the island is "Kigiktaq," but when a supply center was established to serve gold mining activities on the Seward Peninsula, the village was renamed.
Today, villagers rely on fish, walrus, seal, polar bear, rabbit, and other subsistence foods. In July 2002, residents voted to relocate the community after storms caused severe erosion.