Akpatok Island#
![Akpatok Island Akpatok Island](/attach/Geography/America/Canada/Pictures/Factbook_Pictures/130ca/scaled-835x800-130ca.jpg)
Image courtesy of USGS., under PD
The island is uninhabited, except for a Dorset (paleo-Eskimo) settlement that was abandoned by 1900 and a defunct exploratory oil drill, built in 1971. The island is an important sanctuary for cliff-nesting seabirds including its namesake the Akpat or the Thick-billed Murre, which nests in the pock-marked cliffs on the northern and southern ends of the island.
Numerous ice floes around the island attract walrus and whales, making Akpatok a traditional hunting ground for native Inuit people.