The year-end Omnibus Appropriations Package, which won final passage Friday, included aid to Alaskan fishermen, companies, and communities.
The funding of $300 million comes in the wake of official catastrophe declarations last week by Gina Raimondo, U.S. Commerce Secretary. These were for salmon and crab fishery problems in Alaska dating back up to 2020 as well as salmon declines in Washington State dating back to 2019.
“This will provide relief for commercial, recreational and subsistence harvesters who were directly affected by the fishery stock crash,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski in an online news conference.
The disaster aid will also support research and communities that have lost their fish-tax revenue. It includes the Fishery Resource Disaster Improvement Act that aims at improving disaster funding administration and getting money to the affected parties.
“We know that it is one thing to declare a disaster. The funding is another matter. Murkowski stated that it was yet another step to get funding to the people who were impacted.”
One fishery group said that the money was a relief for those who are affected.
Jamie Goen, executive Director of Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers stated that the $300 million in total disaster assistance “is a great starting point for much-needed funds to help fishermen and their communities pay their bills,” in a statement. We commend Secretary of Commerce, NOAA Fisheries and members of Congress, especially the Alaskan and Washington delegations for their quick action and attention to this matter that affects so many hardworking Americans and family-owned fishing businesses.
The first ever closure of the Bering Sea crab fishery, and the second consecutive closure of the Bristol Bay red-king crab fishery, has affected Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers. Both cases have resulted in stocks that are not sufficient to support harvesting.
Apart from disaster relief, the bill includes money for fishery initiatives such as research and monitoring in Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers drainages, and in Bering Sea, areas where fish returns are extremely low.
These provisions were part of more than 130 Murkowski-endorsed Alaska project that total nearly $500 million. They were included as “congressionally directed expenditure,” which was previously known as earmarks. Murkowski was the only member in Alaska’s three-person delegation that pushed for these projects. Her office dealt with all requests from the rest of the state because she was the only one. ‘
Murkowski stated that she narrowed down the 1,600 requests to find the most urgent needs. These included water, sanitation, and trash management.
She said that her message to the communities was simple: “We want you to concentrate on the things which make your community safer and healthier.”
The projects related to water in rural Alaska were among the most successful. These included water, wastewater, and garbage-handling improvement in the Pribilof islands, water, wastewater, and drinking-water improvements in Nome, and upgrades to wastewater treatment on North Slope.
The Omnibus bill contains many Arctic-specific provisions, including $5 million for Ilisagvik College to design a new campus in Utqiagvik. Some of these funds also meet the National Defense Authorization Act’s needs, such additional funding for Ted Stevens Center Arctic Security Studies.
Updates to the 19th-century-era Electoral Count Act are included in the Omnibus Package. Murkowski was part the Electoral Count Reform, and the Presidential Transition Improvement Act. She stated that they will “make certain that we never have another January 6” and that there will be no uncertainty about the role of the vice-president in verifying an electoral election or the threshold for challenging the state’s electoral submissions.
This story first appeared in the Alaska Beacon.
