Sitka’s seafood donation network connects abundance with scarcity in Western Alaska

Posted by Robert Woolsey, KCAW | Jul 25, 2023

A seafood donation program that began in Sitka during the pandemic is still growing. Now called the Seafood Distribution Network, the program is supplying sockeye to families on the Yukon and Chignik rivers, whose traditional salmon runs have crashed. 

The market shift in seafood during the COVID pandemic created a problem for the industry: Unlike many other sectors, the supply – the fish – was still there. How to connect those fish with people when traditional markets vanished? 

For Linda Behnken, director of the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association, it was about connecting the dots.

“So we worked with the local processors here to figure out what fish was stranded by markets being closed, by restaurants being closed, the supply chain disruptions,” Behnken said. “We raised money, bought fish from fishermen that was stranded product, and then started distributing it to people in town that told us they were in need. So it was really ‘You let us know if you need seafood, we’ll provide it.’”

And that’s how ALFA’s Seafood Donation Program got started in 2020. Basically, a processor-to-doorstep delivery service for people who were having trouble getting by. It didn’t take long for word about the program to get out.

“And then we started hearing from people outside Sitka that there was a need and people really wanted seafood,” Behnken continued. “So we did a distribution with Sealaska, for example, that reached every community in Southeast Alaska. And we did distributions in the Lower 48 to Tribes along the Columbia River, to Anchorage military families, to communities in Western Alaska. Where we heard there was need, we found partners to work with to make that happen.”

Behnken credits Sitka-based processors Seafood Producers’ Coop, Sitka Sound Seafoods, and Northline Seafoods, along with Tribes and tribal organizations across the state for helping make the connections that kept the program going.

On paper, it sounds like an impossible undertaking – delivering 645,000 seafood meals across the Pacific Northwest and Alaska, but Behnken says it conformed to basic Alaskan values.

“Alaska is a big state, but we’re also a small state and communities really care about other communities,” she said. “And we have a lot of relatives in different parts of the state, and that there is clear reason for us to share between those areas that have a lot and those areas of scarcity, but the infrastructure isn’t really there. So that’s what we’re working on developing is that infrastructure in Alaska so Alaskans can benefit from Alaska’s fish,

A grant from the Alaska Community Foundation got the Seafood Donation Program rolling; a regional food systems grant from the US Department of Agriculture helped ramp it up. But just the energy of regular Alaskans is helping fuel things now. In a pilot project in Dillingham this June, ALFA organized a drive to collect subsistence sockeye for communities affected by the crash in chinook and chum stocks.

Natalie Sattler is the program manager for ALFA.

“We worked with a lot of community members and locals in Dillingham and the Bristol Bay area to help us collect seafood and it was all subsistence donations,” Sattler said. “And within one week, we were able to collect 5,000 pounds of sockeye and folks rallied support, they went down to their setnet sites – kids, families, everyone just you picking fish and donating it and getting it ready to ship out.”

This year, the sockeye will be going to communities on the Yukon and Chignik rivers. And besides providing food, Behnken says the fish are intended to keep food traditions alive.

“What we’ve heard from people in these communities that aren’t able to harvest fish themselves right now because of scarcity is that they really wanted round fish because being able to process that fish as a family – and as a community – is really culturally important,” Behnken said.
The pandemic and the salmon crash have been a one-two punch for many communities in Western Alaska. In a news release, Rep. Mary Peltola said programs like ALFA’s Seafood Distribution Network were a critical part of the rebound. “Low salmon abundance is an issue that needs to be addressed at every level, from the federal government down to individual communities, and efforts like this are an important piece of that larger goal,” Peltola said.

Bristol Bay community members collect over 5,000 pounds of donated salmon for Yukon and Chignik communities

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

July 18, 2023

Dillingham, AK - In June, Dillingham-area residents harvested and collected over 5,000

pounds of subsistence-caught sockeye salmon that will be distributed to families in the

Yukon and Chignik unable to harvest their own local salmon due to low salmon returns.

The salmon donation was coordinated through the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s

Association’s (ALFA) Seafood Distribution Network with the help of local partners,

including Northline Seafoods, Bristol Bay Native Association, Grant Aviation, and Bristol

Bay Native Corporation.

In June before Bristol Bay’s commercial fishery opened, local Dillingham residents

helped ALFA collect subsistence salmon from families who were fishing at Dillingham’s

Kanakanak Beach. Northline Seafoods - a new seafood processor in Bristol Bay that

specializes in processing and freezing whole fish - helped oversee the cleaning and

freezing of the salmon. The salmon was frozen whole in response to requests from

Yukon and Chignik communities for whole fish so that they could fully utilize the salmon

and practice their food traditions. In addition, each salmon was labeled with the name of

the family that donated it -

In the coming weeks, Grant Aviation will help fly the salmon to Yukon and Chignik

villages, including Alakanuk, Pitkas Point, Saint Mary’s, Chignik Lagoon, and Chignik

Bay. The fish will also be used by the Yukon River Drainage Fishermen’s Association

Educational Exchange program where several youth will travel to communities on the

Yukon and share their experiences around salmon.

“This salmon donation project was a bit of an experiment for us; we didn’t know how

many people would be willing to contribute a portion of their subsistence harvest for

families that they didn’t know. When people heard that we were collecting salmon for the

Yukon and Chigniks, they jumped at the chance to contribute and help other Alaskans -

especially those who depend on subsistence for their diet and culture. We were thrilled

by the positive responses and were able to collect our target of 5,000 pounds of salmon

much quicker than anticipated,” said Natalie Sattler, Program Director for the Alaska

Longline Fishermen’s Association. “We couldn’t have done it without the generous

support of our partners, especially Bristol Bay Native Association, Grant Aviation, and

Northline Seafoods.”

“Our company was first approached in 2020 to help address the growing shortage of

salmon in Alaska’s rural communities and have been involved in the Seafood

Distribution Network ever since. Making sure local Alaskans have access to high quality

seafood is incredibly important to us and we are committed to supporting the Network’s

ongoing efforts to build the infrastructure and distribution systems needed to improve the

resiliency and sustainability of Alaska’s local food system,” said Ben Blakey, CEO of

Northline Seafoods.

“At a time when so many communities are struggling with low salmon returns and facing

another summer of empty smokehouses and freezers, I am filled with hope to see local,

grassroots efforts like this salmon donation project in Dillingham. This project not only

embodies what subsistence is all about, but it is also an example of Alaskans at their

best: sharing and taking care of each other during times of need. Low salmon

abundance is an issue that needs to be addressed at every level, from the federal

government down to individual communities, and efforts like this are an important piece

of that larger goal, ” said Alaska U.S. Congresswoman Mary Peltola.

The Seafood Distribution Network emerged through ALFA’s Seafood Donation Program,

which was started in March 2020 in response to COVID-19 and its impacts on local

fisheries and families. Since then, ALFA’s Seafood Donation Program has provided

more than 645,000 donated Alaska seafood meals to families experiencing food

insecurity in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest. With funding from the USDA, ALFA is

currently undergoing a Regional Food System Partnership planning process in which it

will develop a more long-term plan for the Seafood Distribution Network and future

seafood donation efforts.

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We Are Going Fishing!

Posted by Linda Behnken Jul 6, 2023 Commercial Fishing, Featured, Salmon, Sustainable Seafood, Working Waterfronts Leave a Comment on the Marine Fish Conservation Network page

After months of fighting to save Southeast Alaska’s Chinook salmon troll fishery from a misguided lawsuit filed by the Wild Fish Conservancy (WFC), our fleet is going fishing!

On June 21st the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the District Court’s May decision to close the fishery while the National Marine Fisheries Service addresses technical issues with its Endangered Species Act documents. We are deeply relieved that the appeals court followed the science.

The WFC lawsuit alleges that the Alaska troll fishery is a threat to Southern Resident Killer Whales (SRKW), a pod of salmon eating orca that live most of the year in Puget Sound. The substantial body of science on the topic establishes that the real threat to the SRKW is habitat damage from urbanization, industrial pollution, and noise disturbance in their home range–not fisheries. Even if fisheries were a threat, it takes twisted logic to identify the small boat, low volume, hook and line troll fishery operating over 800 miles away from the orcas’ home range as the problem. Closing Southeast Alaska’s troll fishery would not benefit SRKW or the salmon they depend on, but it would destroy the rural and indigenous families and villages that depend on the troll fishery. As the appeals court opined, the documented socioeconomic costs are not justified by the speculative environmental impacts claimed by the WFC.

The Ninth Circuit decision is also a testament to the groundswell of support that Alaska’s trollers received from tribes, conservation groups, businesses, local communities, the Alaska’s State Legislature, and Alaska’s Congressional delegation. From a scientific, cultural, and social justice perspective, this lawsuit is a misfire–and a major distraction from the crucially important work to recover Puget Sound orca.

Salmon, orcas, and our planet would be better served if we worked together to address the complex issues that threaten the future sustainability of our fisheries and coastal ecosystems: dams, urban pollution, mining, and climate change. Transferring the conservation burden and cost onto fishing families isn’t the answer–as experts assert. Lynne Barre, who has led the SRKW recovery program at the National Marine Fisheries Service since 2002, points out in her October 2022 written declaration that the WFC oversimplifies and overestimates the impacts of shutting down Southeast’s troll fishery, failing to account for the mobility of both Chinook and orca populations and their fluctuating migratory pathways.

The hard truth is that there are no shortcuts when it comes to restoring wild salmon. We have seen everywhere else in the world that without healthy habitat and free-flowing rivers, we cannot have healthy wild salmon. Alaska trollers understand this. We work to protect salmon habitat to protect our way of life, our communities, and ocean health.

If nothing else, I hope that our legal battle to save our small boat fisheries, communities, and way of life in Southeast Alaska can be a reminder to both fishermen and non-fishermen around the country that we need to work together to ensure our fisheries are sustainable and our oceans are healthy for generations to come.

An Alaska fishery has been pitted against orcas. Can both survive?

July 1, 2023 at 6:00 am Updated July 1, 2023 at 6:00 am

By Isabella Breda

Seattle Times staff reporter

In early May a Seattle federal judge put the brakes on this summer’s troll fishery in Southeast Alaska, ruling that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration must amend its 2019 report on the impact of the fishing on endangered southern resident orcas who prefer to eat the same Chinook. But the ruling was put on hold last month by a U.S. appeals court, which allowed the fishery to reopen, citing economic harm.

Shutting down salmon trollers won't save endangered orcas

June 25, 2023

By Tim Bristol

Special to The Seattle Times

Wild Fish Conservancy’s lawsuit accusing Southeast Alaska’s troll fishery of harming the southern resident orca population is not only an abuse of the Endangered Species Act, but it will not save Chinook nor those beleaguered orcas. Fishery experts and scientists at the National Marine Fisheries Service and elsewhere have concluded that Southeast Alaska and other Chinook fisheries are not likely to impede the orcas’ recovery. In fact, experts at NMFS say that Wild Fish Conservancy’s theory that Southeast Alaska’s troll fishery is to blame is scientifically weak, outdated and exaggerates fishery impacts. There is overwhelming evidence that other threats are affecting the residents, including pollution, industrial toxins, urbanization and habitat loss; this explains in part why the southern resident population is struggling while Northern and Alaska resident orca populations have doubled since 1980.

Tim Bristol is the executive director of nonprofit advocacy organization SalmonState. He is based in Homer, Alaska.

Alaska’s fishermen and communities celebrate court’s decision to allow Southeast Alaska’s Chinook troll fishery to open on July 1st

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 21, 2023

Sitka, AK - Southeast Alaska’s fishermen and communities welcomed the U.S. 9th District Court of Appeals’ decision on June 21st to keep Southeast Alaska’s Chinook troll fishery open while the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) addresses a technicality in its 2019 Biological Opinion for Southeast Alaska’s salmon fisheries. In its order, the federal appeals panel shared that there was ample evidence submitted showing that the impacts of shutting down the Alaska salmon fishing industry would “outweigh the speculative environmental threats” of keeping the fishery open.

“The court’s decision is a huge relief for hundreds of small-boat fishing families that rely on this fishery for their income,” said Linda Behnken, Executive Director of the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association. “We are relieved that the court followed the well-documented science establishing that Southeast Alaska’s troll fishery is not a threat to the Southern Resident Killer Whale population and that shutting down the fishery would do more harm than good.”

“We are deeply grateful for the countless hours and hard work that the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, National Marine Fisheries Service, and Alaska Trollers Association have put into defending our fishery from Wild Fish Conservancy’s reckless lawsuit,” said Jeff Farvour, commercial fisherman and board member for both the Alaska Trollers Association and the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association. “Thanks to them and the tremendous support from Alaska’s Congressional Delegation, State Legislature, Southeast Alaska tribes, communities, and conservation groups we can go fishing this summer.”

“The outpouring of support for Alaska’s salmon troll fishery through this ordeal has been heartening,” added Behnken. “Alaska definitely had our back. We have more work ahead to successfully conclude this lawsuit and to restore Washington’s salmon habitat, but today we are celebrating–and getting ready to go fishing!” 

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Updated: In "major victory" for Southeast Alaska trollers, federal appeals panel reverses fishery closure

June 21, 2023

By Nathanial Herz

The Southeast Alaska troll chinook fishery will open as scheduled July 1, after a federal appeals panel reversed a lower court ruling that would have kept the $85 million industry off the water.

'It'll be a disaster': Southeast Alaska fishermen fear looming closure of king salmon fishery

Anchorage Daily News

By Sean Maguire, Michelle Theriault Boots

June 8, 2023

State officials are scrambling to open the fishery after it was effectively closed by a federal judge — but damage has already been done.

More than 100 salmon trollers packed a Sitka meeting Wednesday night with sharp questions about the future of an iconic Southeast Alaska fishery, facing what could be an unprecedented full shutdown of this year’s chinook trolling season.

Full article here

Alaska fishermen respond to judge’s decision on troll fishery

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 3, 2023

Juneau, AK - On May 2nd, U.S. District Court Judge Jones submitted his decision to adopt U.S. Magistrate Judge Michelle Peterson’s recommended order to suspend Southeast Alaska’s Chinook troll fishery.  The closure is driven by the Wild Fish Conservancy’s misguided claim that Southeast’s troll fishery poses harm to Washington’s Southern Resident Killer Whale population.

“The court’s decision is disappointing, not only because it puts the future of Alaska’s small-boat fishing families in jeopardy, but it distracts from the larger, more urgent issues that are causing the continued decline of the Pacific Northwest’s Chinook and orca populations,” said Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association Director, Linda Behnken. “The science and data clearly shows that habitat loss, dams, climate change, water pollution, and urbanization are harming salmon and orcas in the Northwest - not our hook-and-line fishery that operates almost 1000 miles away and has done so sustainably for over 100 years.”

Southeast Alaska’s troll fishery directly employs 1,500 fishermen, with 85% of troll fishery permit holders living in Southeast Alaska, and is consistently one of Southeast Alaska’s top three most valuable fisheries, providing renewable income for fishing families living in the region’s rural, isolated communities. Prized around the world for its premium quality salmon, the troll fishery generates $148 million annually in economic outputs that include restaurant sales, consumer purchases, transportation jobs and other benefits accruing throughout the West Coast of the U.S. and beyond. 

“The Wild Fish Conservancy continues to miss the mark when it comes to salmon conservation; instead of attacking local communities and families that rely on wild salmon, they could be supporting meaningful action that leads to real solutions,” said Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association Board Member and commercial fisherman, Jeff Farvour. “Our fleet and organization will continue to fight Wild Fish Conservancy’s spurious lawsuit and do everything we can to protect the salmon that our fishery and families depend on.”

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Media contacts:

Linda Behnken, Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association - 907-738-3615

OPINION: To save Alaska’s salmon, we must maintain and restore habitat

Anchorage Daily News

By Heather Hardcastle and Linda Behnken

Updated: April 9, 2023Published: April 9, 2023

For more than 100 years, trollers — small-boat, hook-and-line salmon fishermen — have been integral to Southeast Alaska’s economy and way of life. Southeast’s trollers have the highest state residency rate and live in nearly every Southeast Alaska community. This year, however, instead of preparing for the coming fishing season, trollers are fighting to save their jobs, their communities and the future of wild salmon.

Washington-based Wild Fish Conservancy has filed a lawsuit against the National Marine Fisheries Service over salmon management. The Wild Fish Conservancy alleges Alaskans are catching too many of the chinook salmon that Washington’s southern resident killer whale population depends on. Should the Wild Fish Conservancy be successful in court, hundreds of Alaska fishing families will lose their livelihoods, as will the processors and marine businesses tied to the troll fleet.

Wild Fish Conservancy’s claim is misguided and completely ignores the salmon’s complex life cycle — which, for species like chinook, can cover thousands of miles. Instead of addressing the actual causes of wild salmon decline — dams, large-scale mines, urbanization, water pollution and vessel traffic in the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia — the lawsuit tries to place the conservation burden on Alaska. Thankfully, Alaska’s elected officials at the municipal, state and federal levels have taken a strong stand in support of Southeast trollers; they understand the fallacies and dangers of this lawsuit. The Alaska State Senate recently passed House Joint Resolution 5, formalizing the Legislature’s support for trollers with a call on state and federal agencies to do everything they can to fight the lawsuit and protect fishing families.

For decades, Alaska, British Columbia, and the Pacific Northwest have debated who’s catching whose fish, which is why the Pacific Salmon Treaty was formed in 1985. The treaty, which is renegotiated every 10 years, creates a system for allocating salmon harvest between the U.S. and Canada and for conserving regional salmon stocks. Wild Fish Conservancy’s lawsuit perpetuates the false narrative that salmon originating in the Northwest belong to the Northwest.

The reality is Pacific salmon don’t belong to anyone; we are all tied to their life cycle and they depend on us all doing our part to protect the basics they need to survive: cold, clean waters for spawning and rearing and enough food in the ocean. That’s why Alaska fishermen have long been on the frontlines of efforts to protect and restore critical salmon habitat in Alaska, along Alaska-British Columbia transboundary rivers, and along the Pacific Northwest’s Columbia River. That’s also why Southeast’s trollers have cut their chinook harvest in recent decades to help protect chinook stocks originating from the Northwest.

Alaska is in a unique position to lead our southern neighbors in more productive dialogues around the current and future health of Pacific salmon, and not allow groups like Wild Fish Conservancy to continue framing Alaska fisheries as the problem. History and science have shown that ignoring salmon habitat loss will only lead to the continued decline of chinook and all that depend on them. Instead of provoking fights over salmon declines, all of us closely linked to wild salmon have a responsibility to work together to maintain or restore the habitat they depend on.

The Wild Fish Conservancy’s lawsuit highlights that it’s time for the U.S. and Canada to reimagine the Pacific Salmon Treaty to account for the salmon’s entire life cycle and address the root causes driving salmon declines. If we continue to only focus on cutting harvest and passing the blame onto Alaska fishermen, Pacific salmon will soon disappear completely. With them will disappear the Alaska and Pacific Northwest salmon way of life.

Heather Hardcastle was born and raised in Juneau and is a former co-owner of the direct-to-consumer seafood business Taku River Reds. Heather is the advisor for the Salmon Beyond Borders campaign at SalmonState.

Based in Sitka, Linda Behnken is the Executive Director of the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association, the 2020 recipient of the Heinz Foundation environmental award, and has been commercial fishing since 1982.