by AVCP Staff
The Association of Village Council Presidents (AVCP) leadership, testified at today’s (November 10th, 2023) historic field hearing to urge federal lawmakers to help end the ongoing devasting salmon crisis in Alaska. AVCP leaders believe it is time for the Federal Government to step in and help fix broken fishery management practices while congress always has the power to adjust Federal law to protect Alaska Native subsistence rights.
The Field Hearing entitled- The Impact of the Historic Salmon Declines on the Health and Well-Being of Alaska Native Communities Along Arctic, Yukon, and Kuskokwim Rivers, drew a number of concerned people in Bethel.
“We are at a tipping point – if the State and Federal agencies don’t start acting on things within their control, our salmon are not going to recover. I see today’s hearing as turning point in this crisis, because it signals the committee’s willingness to support our region, and Our Way of Life,” says AVCP Chairman Thaddeus Tikiun, Jr.
The State Board of Fisheries’ unwillingness to take any action to reign in intercept fisheries, while salmon returns are at historic lows, is one example of what needs to change. The State’s refusal to recognize Federal management on the Federal waters of the Kuskokwim is another example. The Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) guarantees a rural subsistence priority in these waters, yet the State is ignoring ANILCA and is trying to erase this priority in current litigation.
Federal management is also disjointed. Western Alaska communities work with the Department of Interior on in-River fisheries management. But from 3 to 200 miles offshore the Department of Commerce and the North Pacific Fishery Management Council have ultimate control over salmon fisheries management.
Tikiun adds, “It is time to amend ANILCA to protect, once and for all, Alaska Native and rural subsistence rights, and consider amendments to the Magnuson-Stevens Act or other legislation that will prioritize salmon recovery, include our Traditional Knowledge, and honor the test responsibility that the United States government owes to our tribal communities.”
AVCP Chief Executive Officer, Vivian Korthuis is grateful the Committee led by Senator Murkowski made the trip to Bethel to hear for themselves the impact, pain and suffering the salmon crisis is having on upwards of 100,000 Alaska Natives.
“What’s happening in our villages is unfair – our subsistence fishing has the least impact on the salmon crash, yet we are the only ones being restricted and prevented from practicing our Way of Life. No one else is being asked or told to make changes. We need immediate action to find solutions to this crisis. That won’t happen unless both the Federal Government and the State Government are willing to listen to and partner with Tribes,” says Korthuis, adding “It won’t happen unless the Federal and State Governments are willing to listen to and work with each other. It won’t happen unless the different departments and agencies within the State and Federal Governments talk to each other.”
AVCP leaders urged the Committee and other government officials to start listing listen to Tribes while including Traditional Knowledge in the decision-making process.
Today’s hearing is believed to be the first such field hearing held in Bethel since the 1970s-a sign that AVCP leadership believes means the organization’s voice is being heard all the way to Washington.
Chairman Tikiun’s full written testimony to the committee can be viewed at https://www.indian.senate.gov/hearings/field-hearing-titled-the-impact-of-the-historic-salmon-declines-on-the-health-and-well-being-of-alaska-native-communities-along-the-yukon-and-kuskokwim-rivers/.
