Daily Sitka Sentinel

ALFA Spearheads Food Relief to Villages

By Sentinel Staff

Some 49,000 pounds of wild salmon is on its way to families in Yakutat and Hydaburg who are reliant on subsistence salmon fisheries, the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association announced.

The distribution is the result of the cooperation of dozens of individuals, tribes, businesses and communities in Southeast Alaska to help both local residents and commercial fishermen experiencing a difficult season, ALFA said in a news release.

“It’s really an effort of Alaskans helping Alaskans,” said Linda Behnken, ALFA executive director and founder founder of Alaskans Own community support fisheries. “Connecting communities, supporting fishermen, supporting processors, and meeting the needs in communities.”

ALFA officials said the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on Alaska’s seafood markets and fish prices, coupled with lower-than-expected returns for several species of salmon, has been devastating for Southeast Alaskans, in particular commercial and subsistence fishing families.

“Pandemic precautions have forced closures and strict limits on capacity at restaurants, resulting in plummeting fresh seafood demand,” the announcement said. “According to the Alaska Sustainable Fisheries Trust 2019 SeaBank Annual Report, seven of the top 100 fishing ports by value in the entire country are in Southeast Alaska, so the impacts on fishing families and communities are being felt widely throughout the region. Meanwhile, salmon returns this season were among the lowest recorded in more than 40 years.”

From left, Kent Barkhau, Linda Behnken and Terry Perensovich unload fish at the Seafood Producers Co-op dock from the F/V Woodstock recently. Behnken, executive director of Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association, talked to the Sentinel about an ALFA program to distribute 49,000 pounds of salmon to villages affected by poor subsistence fish returns. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)

ALFA cited these figures: 2020 is the worst year since 1976 for pink salmon, the sockeye catch is among the lowest ever and 70 percent below 2019, coho is 50 percent behind last year’s count, and the king salmon catch is 14 percent below that of 2019. 

“Given Southeast’s low salmon returns, Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association through its community-supported fishery program, Alaskans Own, identified communities where families were unable to put up fish for the winter,” the news release said. “They successfully secured $250,000 in funding to distribute salmon to Angoon (8,000 round pounds); Hydaburg (8,000 round pounds); Kake (5,000 filleted pounds); Klawock (5,000 filleted pounds) and Sitka (5,000 filleted pounds). The salmon will be processed by Seafood Producers Cooperative and Northline Seafood and delivered to outlying communities by ALFA member fishermen with freezer trollers.”

The initial $250,000 grant came from the Alaska Community Foundation and Catch Together, a Massachusetts-based nonprofit that helps small scale fishing communities ensure long-term, sustainable fisheries. 

That initial grant was the beginning of a relief effort that eventually totaled $376,000, ALFA said.

Behnken, of Sitka, said that in the course of reaching out to communities, she realized the need was substantially greater than the original $250,000 could cover. 

She sought additional assistance from Anthony Mallott, CEO of Sealaska Corp., and the corporation quickly committed to donating another $126,000, providing 18,000 pounds of sockeye fillets from Sealaska subsidiary Orca Bay Seafoods. The Sealaska salmon donation includes 5,000 pounds for Haines and Klukwan; 4,000 pounds for Craig; 4,000 pounds for Hoonah; 1,000 pounds for Kasaan; and 4,000 pounds for Yakutat. 

“This initiative illustrated once again the strong commitment of local fishermen to provide food to families in need and the powerful connections between Southeast Alaska’s coastal communities,” Behnken said. “We were able to draw on the networks and connections of people throughout Southeast to really magnify the impact of this initiative and bring more Alaska salmon to more Alaskans.

“While the coronavirus pandemic has been a time of crisis, it’s also been a catalyst for these new partnerships that will make our region stronger and more resilient in the end.”

Alaska Community Foundation funds, supplemented by a donation from Hames Corporation, provided Sea Mart grocery gift cards to affected fishermen, Behnken said.

Some $1.2 million in funding has been raised by Alaska Sustainable Fisheries Trust so far to purchase and distribute fish.

Other grant-supported programs have:

– purchased 45,000 pounds of Bristol Bay sockeye in the round from Northline Seafoods, and donated to communities after the Chignik sockeye run failed. The donated fish will help meet subsistence needs in the Alaska Peninsula.

– purchased lingcod and sablefish that in a non-COVID year otherwise would have been sold to restaurants. The fish was purchased and donated to the WAVE for distribution to families in need in the Pacific Northwest. The distribution effort featured seafood from Alaskans Own, a joint program of ALFA and the Alaska Sustainable Fisheries Trust. The seafood was processed by Seafood Producers Cooperative in Sitka.

– purchased 30,000 pounds of bright troll-caught chum, with support from the Alaska Community Foundation; and 20,000 pounds in sablefish fillets with grants from Catch Together, for distribution to military families in the Anchorage area.