WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs this week held an oversight hearing to focus on promoting traditional subsistence in Native communities through testimonies from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Indian tribes regarding tribal subsistence activities and federal regulatory structures or circumstances which impede these activities. During the hearing U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), a member of the committee, introduced Alaskan Mary Sattler Peltola, Executive Director of the Kuskokwim Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, to testify in the hearing.
KYUK: Kuskokwim Tribes Commit To King Salmon Conservation This Summer
On the Kuskokwim River, it’s not an easy decision to travel during breakup. There are chores to be done to prepare for summer, and flooding is a constant risk that keeps people close to their homes, standing guard. But on Monday and Tuesday, a group traveled to Bethel from nearly every village along the river to discuss how to protect the fish that swim by.
Thirty-three tribes live along the Kuskokwim and share all the fish within it. Four years ago, the tribes came together to form the Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission. It was a historic agreement that allowed tribes to co-manage the Lower Kuskokwim salmon under federal jurisdiction alongside federal managers at the the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Kusko Fish News: April 12, 2018
As the days grow longer, our thoughts naturally drift toward planning for salmon fishing this summer.
The summer of 2017 was unusually challenging with the extremely low water in the Kuskokwim watershed, and warm water temperatures in May and June. The king salmon run timing was the latest most of us have ever seen. And, the kings were running so deeply that their presence was difficult to detect. When the kings finally began showing up in real numbers, the chums and reds were already running, the best drying weather had already past, and the rainy days had set in.