For native communities in Alaska that depend on subsistence fishing and hunting to survive the winter, it's been a long one - and it's far from over. Many families are struggling to survive due to poor salmon runs last summer, and everyone in rural Alaska is wrestling with steep living expenses: heating fuel and diesel in some areas is close to $9 a gallon. The choice between heating your home and feeding your family is no choice at all.
While these difficulties have attracted media attention over the last month, matters haven't improved. Aid is slow to arrive in remote areas with neither airports nor roads connecting them to other cities. The state government's response, as chronicled by various U.S. news outlets, hasn't been swift.
I caught up yesterday with Jack Schultheis, general manager for Kwik'pak Fisheries in Emmonak, a tiny Yup'ik village on the Yukon River Delta. The community-based supplier of Yukon king and chum (keta) salmon employed about 300 local residents either full- or part-time last year. The 912 locals are struggling to get by, said Schultheis from his Anchorage office.
But these unfortunate circumstances could have been avoided, he added, if only the native people were allowed to fish. Because that's essentially all they want: to provide for themselves.
"We need fish. If we don't get fish, we got problems," said Schultheis. "These people have been able to take care of themselves for generations because of their fishery. They didn't have one last year."
Last summer, he said, the Alaska Department of Fish & Game allowed the harvest of only about one-tenth of the salmon it had forecast for the Yukon Delta region. People went into winter with very little cash and not nearly enough salmon.
"[The DF&G] made some major judgment errors on what was in the river to fish," said Schultheis. "Telling us in October that we could have harvested another million chums didn't do much for us."
The seafood community, as always, is showing support. Louisiana Foods of Houston, Texas, which distributes Yukon kings and ketas, is seeking donations to help Yup'ik fishing families - the same people who quietly donated $40,000 to Hurricane Katrina victims in 2005.
Elliott's Oyster House in Seattle donated 25 percent of the proceeds from every keta salmon entrée ordered during February. That promotion culminated last week in a fundraising dinner and presentation by seafood promoter Jon Rowley, who told me yesterday that a salmon fishery is "vital to the existence of [the Yup'ik] culture."
Jeremy Anderson, director of operations for Elliott's parent company Consolidated Restaurants, said the promotions raised $5,000 for a fuel fund so the people of Emmonak could go hunting. "It's hard for anyone to give right now," Anderson noted. Flying Fish restaurant in Seattle also helped out.
The proud Yup'ik people don't want sympathy or handouts. They are grateful for the help they've received, but are uncomfortable with the media attention, Schultheis said. Theirs is a one-resource economy dependent on adequate access to salmon; as Rowley notes, their entire way of life depends on it.
This year another poor run of kings is expected in the Yukon Delta, but the keta run should improve. Will it be enough to carry them through another long winter?
Thank you,
James Wright
Associate Editor
SeaFood Business
March 4, 2009
