Our communities are experiencing extreme food insecurity and are on the verge of famine due to a multi-decadal, multi-species salmon crash: our nets, our tables, our freezers, and our stomachs will—again—be empty.

Salmon is a critical food source for our communities. Together, subsistence foods account for roughly a quarter of our annual food intake. We cannot simply replace the calories and nutrients from salmon with calories and nutrients from other food sources. We have sustained ourselves on wild foods since time immemorial, but our cash incomes are some of the lowest in the country. Paired with the extremely high cost of living in rural Alaska, and the absence of grocery stores in our communities, this means we cannot replace the missing salmon (or the salmon we are not allowed to catch) with store-bought foods, nor can food purchased in a store substitute for the relationship our communities have had with salmon for millennia. Our survival depends on subsistence hunting and fishing.

Of course, salmon—to us—means far more than calories. Salmon is a part of our identities. Our traditional practices and ways of life center on deep and enduring respect for what the ocean provides. Our core values include avoiding waste, taking only what we need, sharing food with and beyond our communities, and listening to Elders who carry the Traditional Knowledge gathered by our Peoples since time immemorial. We believe that respectful actions are rewarded by hunting and fishing success; disrespectful actions will result in the loss of wild foods. Hunting, fishing, and gathering are not just central to our values; they are also means by which we transmit those values. We have extensive networks for sharing subsistence foods between family members, within communities, across regions, and beyond, and these networks are integral to maintaining and building relationships, knowledge transmission, food security, and more. We share our stories, skills, and traditions at our fish camps; in many of our communities, a young person learns to share their first catch with an Elder to demonstrate maturity, respect, and belonging.

Without salmon, our communities—which already experience the highest rates of diabetes in the country—lose access to one of the healthiest protein sources available. Without salmon, our communities—which already experience the highest rates of serious financial and psychological distress in the country—lose ceremony, spirituality, and connection. To state it plainly, our salmon are not replaceable. We are asking the Federal Government, led by the Federal Task Force to work with the Tribal Advisory Council to take all steps necessary, leaving no stone unturned, to identify ways to protect and restore our invaluable salmon resource.

​

A Salmon Rehabilitation Plan would embrace a “whole-of-government” approach that engages all relevant federal agencies and authorities to develop a comprehensive plan to help ensure the return of abundant, wild salmon in our oceans and rivers, and safeguard our communities’ traditional relationship with salmon, including subsistence harvest and other cultural and spiritual practices. While we understand that the collapse of Western Alaskan salmon is due to multiple factors, a meaningful Salmon Rehabilitation Plan help develop and implement actionable solutions to address the devastating declines in the Bering Sea.

Below we outline key components of our vision for development of a Salmon Rehabilitation Plan:

Plan Development Process

• Development of a Salmon Rehabilitation Plan must be grounded in a co-production approach that brings together our different knowledge and management systems. This approach must be based on equity, deliberate and intentional decision-making, and a strong relationship of trust between the TAC and the BTF.

•  Development and implementation of the Salmon Rehabilitation Plan should include a formal protocol and process for incorporating Tradition Knowledge into the management and decision-making framework for all federal actions that bear on salmon.

• The Salmon Rehabilitation Plan should incorporate other federal plans, programs and projects that bear on the Northern Bering Sea, such as the National Strategy for the Arctic Region, National Climate Resilience Framework, and Arctic Research Plan.

• To establish a comprehensive approach to addressing the salmon collapse, the Salmon Rehabilitation Plan should meaningfully address all aspects of salmon management, including policy/regulatory, legislative, scientific, physical and mental health, equity,  social justice, etc.

• The Salmon Rehabilitation Plan should be the first step in developing a broader, comprehensive management plan for NBSCRA.

Core Plan Elements

• Advancing Tribal co-management of salmon in the Northern Bering Sea, including shared decision-making, Indigenous-led monitoring, protected areas and subsistence fishery management. (e.g. Guardian programs in Australia and Canada.)

• Increasing the roll of the TAC in federal fishery management through direct engagement with the National Marine Fisheries Service, including meaningful consultation and development of co-stewardship measures.

• Substantive improvements to federal fisheries management aimed at minimizing the adverse impacts of federal fisheries on the Bering Sea ecosystem, including meaningful reductions in salmon bycatch, time/area closures, habitat protections and conservation of important forage species. (i.e. herring, capelin, squid, etc.)

• Co-production of a salmon research and monitoring plan with the BTF and all relevant federal agencies.

• Improving the substance and timeliness of Tribal consultations on all federal actions that may impact salmon and the salmon life-cycle. (ACOE, USFWS, BLM, BOEM, etc.)

• Social programs in the region to address the community-level impacts of the salmon collapse, including physical and mental health, nutrition, and community well-being.

• Work with the U.S. Department of State to advocate for and/or negotiate a reduction in Asian hatchery production.