With the alarmingly low rate of salmon returns within Western Alaska, calls have been growing for tribes to get an increased say in how fisheries are managed. Many feel they believe that recent appointments of 3 Alaska Native members to the panel that advises the highest local federal council on fisheries might be an important move towards the direction of good governance.
A recent press release from the Arctic-Yukon-Kuskokwim Tribal Consortium, representing 98 tribes directly impacted by salmon crashes in Western Alaska rivers, said that it was encouraging to see more Alaska Native faces than ever before on the North Pacific Fishery Management Council’s Advisory Panel. The press release also criticizes members of the panel for being a the status of having a “voting majority that has an economic stake in the trawl fleet,” as well as an absence in Alaska Native representation.
“It’s something has been fought for, and begging for for a long time. The battle against Alaska Native subsistence rights is getting lots of attention now, since things are going downhill,” said Eva Dawn Burk who was elected to a three-year stint on the advisory committee, having its first ever designated Alaska Native seat.
“I am a member of at least the minimum of four Alaska Native advisory councils, and I’m like I’m an advisor however, I don’t have any the ability to make decisions,” Burk said.
Burk is a Dene Athabascan, a native of Nenana in the Nenana region and Manley Hot Springs, and currently serves as an advisor to each of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game as well as the Federal Subsistence Board. She also has led numerous educational initiatives in her region that aim to preserve the traditional culture and making sure that food security is secure.
“It sort of came naturally that this was the next step to combine all the perspectives,” Burk said.
The first person appointed to the seat that is now held by Burk was Shawaan Gamble which was Lingit as well as Haida of Kake. He quit the seat a few months after being chosen due to sexual assault allegations arising from an incident in the year 2019 that occurred in Washington state.
There are a few exceptions. Alaska Native members of the advisory panel are young faces. Mellisa Johnson has been a member of the panel since the year 2020 and was elected to a three-year period at the end of December in 2023. Mellisa Johnson is Inupiaq and is a participant in the Nome Eskimo Community. In 2023 she was rejected by Governor. Mike Dunleavy for a voting seat on the council of 11 members she currently serves as a consultant.
3. Alaska Native appointee is newcomer Tiffany Andrew, assigned a one-year term. She is a tribal Yup’ik council member from Alakanuk, which is located in the Lower Yukon River village of Alakanuk and oversees administrative affairs in the Yukon Delta Fisheries Development Association which is a non-profit organization with a direct stake with respect to its Bering Sea pollock fishery.
This is due to an ongoing Federal community development quota program that aims to improve the socio-economic potential for Western Alaska communities. The program provides a proportion of the commercial catch that is allowed of federally managed fisheries to non-profit companies such as Andrew’s.
According to her profile, Andrew is a lifelong subsistence harvester who grew up fishing for salmon along the river which in recent times has been completely shut off to fishing salmon. However, she is also a member of an CDQ group that has demonstrated outcomes in boosting the economy of the region due to its participation in a fishery that is that is accused of contributing to the crisis of salmon. She also said that bringing together diverse views is essential.
“There’s an abundance of subsistence requirements not being satisfied, and CDQ issues are afoot and we have to look at from different angles,” Andrew said.
