On January 22, 2022, the U.S. Secretary of Commerce made a disaster determination for the Alaska Norton Sound, Yukon River, Chignik, Kuskokwim River and Southeast Alaska Salmon Fisheries, 2020 and 2021 Yukon River Salmon Fisheries under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act in response to March 8, 2021, and September 14, 2021, requests from Governor Dunleavy. On May 6, 2022, NOAA Fisheries allocated $55,928,849 million to address losses to the affected management areas.
In September 2022, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) posted an initial draft spend plan for public comment and received 27 written comments. ADF&G revised the plan based on public comments and posted a second draft plan for public comment in February 2023. Fifteen additional comments were received.
On April 14, 2023, the final spend plan was forwarded to Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission (PSMFC) for administration, and once the grant is approved, PSMFC can begin the fund distribution process.
The link to Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission (PSMFC) disaster relief can be found here: https://relief.psmfc.org/current-disasters/
We anticipate that application forms will be available on the PSMFC website no later than early next week. We will send out an email to our fishery disaster contact list once the PSMFC website has been updated with application information.
Commission’s staff helping with Alaska fishery disasters can be reached at: AKFishDisaster@psmfc.org or (888)517-7262
ADF&G staff helping with fishery disasters can be reached at: dfg.com.fisheriesdisasters@alaska.gov
Karla Bush, (907)465-6153
Darion Jones, (907)267-2593