A new report compiled by the Alaska Sustainable Fisheries Trust (ASFT) in Sitka finds that Southeast Alaska communities are losing access to fisheries, but also identifies opportunities for implementing new ways to restore such access for the region. 

“Based on what we heard from the dozens of community members who participated in our survey, it is clear that Southeast’s communities, particularly Indigenous communities, are losing access to fisheries and their future access remains uncertain,” said Linda Behnken, ASFT board president. “However, it is also clear that we have some real opportunities when it comes to designing and implementing new tools to help restore this access and ensure that local needs are being factored into larger discussions and decisions concerning Southeast’s economy.” 

The report, released June 18, compiles findings of a regional survey ASFT distributed to area residents this spring in collaboration with the Sustainable Southeast Partnership (SSP) — proposing ways to address issues. The report was funded by the Southeast Conference through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Southeast Alaska Sustainability Strategy initiative.  

ASFT said the goal is to assist local communities by providing data and information for future dialogues and community development planning, increasing awareness and encouraging more funds for fishery access-related projects. Participating communities included Angoon, Craig, Haines, Kake, Ketchikan, Klawock, Klukwan, Juneau, Sitka, Wrangell, and Yakutat.  

Responses from these communities universally identified the fisheries as a crucial element of Southeast Alaska’s culture and economy moving forward. Respondents expressed concern about their ability to access and have a sustainable livelihood from local fisheries through traditional harvesting, commercial or recreational fishing. 

Respondents’ key concerns included the changing climate and environment of Southeast Alaska and a sense of unpredictability for the future of marine resources. They expressed a lack of confidence that current scientific approaches to fishery management will be adequate in light of significant changes affecting the region and its resources due to climate change. 

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The report also discussed existing systems of governance that challenge access to fishery resources, challenges with limited access management at the state and federal levels and loss of community infrastructure such as processors, fish buyers, cold storage, marine services and/or transportation often initiated with the trend in outmigration of fishery access in remote communities. 

Many participating area residents said the utmost priority is protection and perpetuation of a traditional way of life, with commercial fishing considered secondary, as a tool to bridge the traditional and cash economies. 

They discussed the rapid growth of tourism in Southeast Alaska as something feeding competition and tensions between local-commercial and traditional-use harvesters and non-local harvesters in the sportfish sector. 

The report included recommendations for building more equitable and accessible fisheries in Southeast Alaska, including incorporating climate change variability and unpredictability into fishery management tools to facilitate fishery access and to ensure that other industries, including tourism and mariculture, do not further limit fishery access.   

Recommendations also included establishing regional entities to hold quota/permits (such as regional Community Quota Entities and regional fisheries trusts) and more investment in community infrastructure. 
Behnken said that ASFT was grateful to everyone who shared their thoughts on this complex topic. 

“We hope that this report will uplift their voices and be a chance for the public, policy makers, and others to better understand some of the challenges that many Southeast residents are facing so that we can collectively find solutions and build a resilient and vibrant future for Southeast’s fisheries and communities,” she said. 

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ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – Summer weather continues to build in across the state, as a ridge is greatly influencing the weather across Mainland Alaska. Temperatures have been warming into the 70s and 80s through the Interior, while Southcentral has seen highs in the 60s and the 70s. This stretch of warm weather will remain through the week, accompanied by possibly thunderstorm development.

While hot and dry conditions have been building, the Aleutians are dealing with wet and breezy weather. This comes as a low near the Aleutians continues to lift to the north. Expect widespread rain through parts of this region, with the heaviest rain near the Pribilof Islands. Winds will gust anywhere from 30 to 65 mph. As the rain pushes to the northeast, it will run into ridging and quickly taper off into Wednesday. Some light rain showers look possible through parts of Southwest Alaska tomorrow morning, before the rain comes to an end.

Outside of the Aleutians and areas with thunderstorm formation, Alaska will remain on the drier side this week. While the ridge isn’t strong enough to cap thunderstorm development, it will prevent its widespread activity. It’s likely isolated to scattered storms will persist through the Interior and in Southcentral Alaska. A quick reminder that burn permits have been suspended in the Mat-Su Valley and Fairbanks due to the hot and dry conditions.

Any storms across Southcentral today will primarily impact western parts of the Matanuska Valley, the foothills of the Talkeetna Mountains and into the Copper River Basin. Storm motion will be to the north, so Anchorage and surrounding locations will largely stay dry. A rogue thunderstorm can’t be ruled out for the Kenai, but any precipitation will come in the form of spotty to isolated morning showers.

This hot and dry weather pattern continues through the end of June. Here in Southcentral, the weekend is once again shaping up to warm into the 70s.

Have a wonderful and safe Tuesday!

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ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – Summer is in full force across Alaska, and for many Alaskans, the past two weeks feel more like summer than most of 2023.

Anchorage reached 75° and above three times this month. We’ve only seen three days over 75° in June six times in recorded history. The overall average temperature for June is currently only about half of a degree above what is normal but is about 2 degrees above June to date of 2023. This month’s rainfall is also significantly lower than what most of Anchorage experienced last June. June of 2023 brought 17 days with measurable precipitation, this year, we’ve seen just four days with rain.

The dry stretch will continue with temperatures holding slightly above average for most of Southcentral this week. Be prepared for isolated thunderstorms near the Alaska Range and in the Copper River Basin on Tuesday.

The number of active wildfires in the state is up to 115 as of Monday evening, 21 of those are new in the past 24 hours. More than 5,000 lightning strikes were recorded in Alaska on Monday, following more than 6,000 on Sunday.

With high fire danger continuing, use extra caution to keep from adding any additional human-caused fires.

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