Yukon-Kuskowkim and Cook Inlet fishermen who suffered low Chinook salmon runs in 2012 are getting more than $20 million in federal relief.
The Department of Commerce announced Wednesday that $20.8 million will come to Alaska for the fisheries failure. Alaska’s congressional delegation will work with the governor’s office to allocate the relief to affected groups throughout the state.
The low returns of Chinook salmon resulted in a continuation of the Yukon River commercial fishery failure from 2010 through 2012, as well as a Kuskokwim River commercial fishery failure from 2011to 2012. The Cook Inlet fishery failure came in 2012.
Commerce officials say the state has “broad latitude” in deciding how it will use the funds toward the goal of “(restoring) the fishery or (preventing) a similar failure in the future and to assist a fishing community affected by such failure.”
Sen. Lisa Murkowski credited a “Coastal Coalition” of 38 Congressional representatives working for fisheries relief with securing the money. The disaster areas include fisheries in New England, the Gulf Coast, and Alaska.
“When the Coastal Coalition was able to secure $75 million (in total funding) … that was the beginning of negotiations to make sure Alaska got its fair share,” Murkowski wrote in a statement. “Getting more than a quarter of that total for our state will assist thousands of Alaskans who were affected.”
The $75 million total came from Commerce officials working through NOAA, and used commercial fishery revenue loss as the common factor to calculate how much each disaster area would receive.
“It is the metric generally used to determine whether a commercial fishery failure has occurred (and) this metric is common among (all) disasters and is readily available,” said Robert Moller, Deputy Director of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs under NOAA.
Moller wrote in a release that spending can cover commercial or recreational fisheries, support industries like fish processors, as well as funds directly to communities affected by fisheries disasters.
He noted that past funding had been used for direct payments to fishermen, infrastructure projects, habitat restoration, vessel and permit buybacks and job retraining.
NOAA Alaska spokesperson Julie Speegle said it's still unknown how the money will be spent in Alaska or when funds will be used in projects or payments.