Daily Sitka Sentinel

Gov Adds SE to List For Fish Disaster Aid

By Sentinel Staff

Gov. Walker has added Southeast Alaska to the commercial fishing areas covered in his request for federal disaster funding because of this year’s poor pink salmon run.

Walker announced his decision Wednesday in a letter to Sitka’s Rep. Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins and Rep. Dan Ortiz of Ketchikan, responding to a letter they sent to the governor last Friday.

In that letter they asked the governor to consider adding Southeast Alaska to the regions Walker had listed in a Sept. 19 request to U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker seeking disaster funding under the Magnuson-Stevens Act because of the poor pink salmon run in the Gulf of Alaska. The areas specifically listed in Walker’s request were the Prince William Sound, Chignik, Lower Cook Inlet and Kodiak areas.

Under the federal guidelines, if revenue from a fishery has fallen 80 percent from the average of the latest five even years it automatically qualifies for disaster status, If revenue has fallen between 35 and 80 percent the fishery is eligible to be considered a disaster “upon further evaluation by the executive branch.”

In their letter to the governor last Friday Kreiss-Tomkins and Ortiz said that by using public data from the Department of Fish and Game they calculated that “the Southeast pink salmon fisheries suffered a 51.1 percent loss of revenue in 2016,” and therefore should be considered for inclusion in the disaster area.

“We are the legislators for 30 rural towns in Southeast Alaska: commercial fisheries are the economic backbone of our districts,” the legislators said in their letter to the governor. “With pink salmon fisheries across the state facing near historic lows, our constituents have not gone unaffected. We have fishing families that are facing huge losses through no fault of their own.” 

In his letter to Kreiss-Tomkins and Ortiz Wednesday Walker said he found their case “a compelling one,” and that after consulting with the lieutenant governor and the commissioner of Fish and Game “I have come to the conclusion that the poor pink salmon returns in Southeast Alaska warrants inclusion of these fisheries in my request for federal disaster relief.

“Therefore I am amending the State of Alaska’s request for a disaster declaration for the pink salmon fishery of 2016 to include the Southeast Alaska region.”

Walker said current data from ADF&G as of Oct. 21 indicated a 36.1 percent decrease in 2016 from the average revenue from pink salmon in Southeast for the even years 2006-2014.

“This is within the eligibility threshold of a 35-80 percent loss, thus allowing the National Marine Fisheries Service to consider disaster relief funding,” Walker wrote.

Last month Walker issued a memorandum to Alaska Department of Commerce Commissioner Chris Hladick asking that the department expedite consideration of loan waiver requests from fishermen affected by the poor pink salmon run.