ADF&G Announces Open Comment Period and Listening Session for 2022 Yukon River Salmon Fishery Disaster Spend Plan

February 28, 2024 (Juneau) – The Alaska Department of Fish and Game (Department) is developing a spend plan for $1,594,841 recently allocated for the 2022 Yukon River salmon fishery disaster. The State supports an open and transparent process for distributing disaster relief and will work with affected fishery participants and NOAA Fisheries to identify funding priorities and develop the spend plan. The initial public comment period is open now and the Department will host a virtual listening session on March 11, 2024, to receive input on funding priorities from affected fishery participants.

The Department will draft an initial spend plan for this disaster based on input received during the listening session and through comments emailed to: dfg.com.fisheriesdisasters@alaska.gov. Comments must be sent by March 13^th, to be considered in the initial draft of the spend plan. Additional opportunities to comment on draft plans will be provided before the spend plan is finalized.

Fishery Disaster Spend Plan Virtual Listening Session

The Department will hold a virtual public listening session on Monday, March 11, 2024, from 12:30pm AKST to 1:30pm AKST. If you are unable to attend, or prefer to send written comments, please email comments to: dfg.com.fisheriesdisasters@alaska.gov.

We will attempt to provide all listening session participants with an opportunity to comment and appreciate your patience.

Session Link:

Join the Microsoft Teams meeting on March 11^th at 12:30pm Alaska Standard Time:

Click here to join the meeting

Meeting ID: 241 486 142 264

Passcode: YF5fZt

Or call in (audio only) +1 907-202-7104, 826637378#  Phone Conference ID: 826 637 378#

Guidance for submitting comments:

Disaster funds are intended to offset the harm incurred from a fishery failure. Disaster funds may be used to assess the economic and social effects of the fishery failure and for activities that restore the fishery or prevent a similar failure in the future. Disaster funds can be used to assist fishing communities affected by the fishery failure by helping commercial fishermen, processors, subsistence users, and infrastructure. See the NOAA Fisheries web site for additional information on fishery disaster assistance: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/funding-and-financial-services/fishery-disaster-assistance.

ADF&G intends to use the spend plan developed for the 2020/2021 Yukon River salmon disaster as a starting point for the 2022 spend plan pending public comments. Funds for the 2020/2021 Yukon River salmon disaster were included in the “Statewide salmon” spend plan which can be found on the following webpage: https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=fishing.2020_2021_salmon_disaster_relief_fund

To assist in development of the 2022 spend plan the State is requesting comments on potential changes to the following parts of the 2020/2021 spend plan:

• Funding categories: the 2020/2021 Yukon River salmon disaster spend plan provided funds for five categories: research, communities, subsistence households, permit holders and crew, and processors.

• Allocating funds among the categories: the 2020/2021 spend plan allocated 12% to research, 3% to communities, and 85% to commercial and subsistence participants. The spend plan used estimates of loss due to the fishery disaster to apportion funds between commercial and subsistence participants.
• Eligibility criteria for direct payments: the 2020/2021 spend plan provided direct payments to subsistence households based on number of people, payments to permit holders and their crew based on landings in 2019 and 2020, and payments to communities and processing companies based on location of commercial processing in 2019 and 2020.
• Research priorities: the 2020/2021 spend plan provided research funds to ADF&G for a structured evaluation of Yukon River Chinook salmon management strategies and for juvenile marine salmon surveys in the Bering Sea, including studies of food availability and diet.

Information on other Alaska fishery disasters, including spend plan development, can be found on the Department’s Fishery Disaster webpage: https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=hottopics.fisherydisasters