As salmon disappear, battle for Alaska Native fishing rights intensifies

Salmon are all but gone in western Alaska in 2021, putting thousands of people in the region at risk. Rural families have lost an important source of food. Commercial fishermen find themselves without a primary source of income. Alaska Native children no longer learn how to catch, cut, dry and smoke fish, a tradition passed down since the time of their ancestors.

Behind the scenes, the salmon shortage is also fueling a long-running legal battle between Native stakeholders, the Biden administration and state governments over who can fish on Alaska’s vast federal lands.

At the heart of the dispute is a provision in a 1980 federal law, the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, which gives rural Alaskans priority over urban residents for fishing and hunting on federal lands. Most rural families are Native, so some lawyers and advocates see the law as key to protecting the rights of Alaska Natives. However, state officials believe the law has been misinterpreted as giving federal regulators authority over fisheries owned by Alaskans, thereby infringing on state rights.

Now, a lawsuit alleges the state has overstepped its authority. Federal officials argue that state regulators are trying to usurp control of fisheries along the Kuskokwim River in western Alaska, where salmon account for about half of the food produced. The lawsuit, originally filed by the Biden administration against the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in 2022, escalated this fall when state lawyers effectively called on the federal government to end regulation of fisheries in much of Alaska. Native leaders say the state’s actions threaten Alaska Natives across the state.

Vivian Korthuis, chief executive of the Association of Country Council Presidents, said it was about our future. The association, a coalition of more than 50 First Nations in western Alaska, is one of four Alaska Native groups supporting the Biden administration in the case. What is at stake is our children. At stake are our families, our communities, our tribes.

The lawsuit is a microcosm of how climate change is exacerbating fishing disputes around the world. While tensions over salmon management in Alaska are not new, they have been exacerbated by recent marine heat waves in the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska, as well as rising temperatures in rivers such as the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers, which have led to sharp declines in king, chum, and coho salmon populations. This tension. In warmer waters, salmon burn more calories. They are more likely to be malnourished and less likely to reach freshwater spawning grounds. As fish populations decline in areas like western Alaska, the question of who should manage them and who has access to them has become more pressing.

The Alaska dispute erupted in 2021 when state regulators in Kuskokwim issued fishing restrictions that conflicted with regulations set by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. People along the river, mainly Yupik people, are forced to follow conflicting rules about whether and when they can legally fish, exacerbating a disastrous season caused by the coronavirus pandemic and a historic salmon shortage. Pain and frustration.

Ivan M. Ivan, an elder in the village of Akiyak Yupik, said in the affidavit that if we make a mistake, we may face huge penalties and fines.

The conflict continues into 2022, following another disastrous year for salmon stocks, with state and federal regulators once again issuing conflicting restrictions. Alaska officials blame the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for opening fishing too early, before salmon begin their upstream migration, and for a clear lack of concern for species conservation. The Biden administration has filed a lawsuit claiming the state is illegally enforcing its own rules in the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge, a federal reserve of wetlands, spruce and birch forests that surrounds more than 30 First Nations Community.

The fight had been going on quietly for more than a year, until in September, state prosecutors filed a brief explicitly asking the court to overturn legal precedent widely seen as a safeguard for rural, mostly Native, salmon-dependent families. The move led Alaska’s largest Native organization, the Federation of Alaska Natives, to join three smaller Native groups intervening on behalf of the federal government.

The groups fear the state is looking to overturn a series of court decisions dubbed “Katy John” The cases argue that rural Alaskans prioritize fishing for food in rivers that flow through federally protected areas, including long stretches of the Yukon, Kuskokwim and Copper rivers. Alaska Native leaders worry that removing this priority would endanger salmon stocks and limit access by opening fishing to more people.

That does put a lot of pressure on the stock market, said Erin Lynch, an Anchorage-based attorney for the Native American Rights Foundation, which represents the Association of Village Council Presidents.

Such concerns are not limited to western Alaska. Ahtna Inc., a company owned by Native shareholders in the Cooper River region about 500 miles east of Kuskokwim, also supports the Biden administration. Attner’s attorney, John Sky Starkey, said without federal protections for the Copper River, Attner’s anglers risk eviction.

There are only so many fish.There are only so many places [to fish], Starkey said. This is a major danger.

State officials have different views on the issue. They say there’s no threat of overfishing or competition between urban and rural residents, in part because rivers like the Yukon and Kuskokwim are difficult to access from cities like Anchorage. They point out that state law clearly protects the right to exist of all Alaskans, including Alaska Natives. They also accused the federal government of being provocative and taking the issue to court.

Alaska Fish and Game Director Doug Vincent-Long said the lawsuit was not filed. We prioritize survival and we take that seriously.

Lawyers for the state also claim the federal policy is unfair to Alaska Natives who move to cities because it prohibits them from fishing with relatives in rural areas. Some Aboriginal leaders also believe it is flawed, but they disagree with the government’s solution. Instead of eliminating federal management, they called on Congress to strengthen protections for Alaska Natives.

The case is currently pending in the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska and is likely to heat up further in the coming months. A ruling is expected in the spring.