Today (November 10th, 2023), the Alaska Federation of Natives participated in a field hearing called by the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs in Bethel titled, “The Impact of the Historic Salmon Decline on the Health and Well-Being of Alaska Native Communities along Arctic, Yukon, Kuskokwim Rivers.”
Committee Vice Chair Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) took testimony from eight witnesses, including AFN’s Executive Vice President and General Counsel Nicole Borromeo, before opening the floor to public comments. In referencing resolution 23-01, which was adopted at the 2023 Annual AFN Convention, Executive Vice President Borromeo advised that Alaska Natives are “calling on the Biden Administration and the U.S. Congress to do everything in their power to protect subsistence, including amending ANCSA to reinstate terminated aboriginal hinting and righting rights and ANILCA to strengthen Alaskan Native protections.”
Vice President of External Affairs Ben Mallott was also in attendance to advance AFN’s work on the fish crisis, including protecting the Katie John holdings through U.S. v. Alaska — a case in which the State of Alaska is once again challenging the federal rural fisheries subsistence priority.
