Management Overview
Since 2015, the Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission has brought Yup’ik and Athabaskan Dene voices and experiences to Kuskokwim fisheries management. Through KRITFC, the 33 tribes of the Kuskokwim watershed – 28 of which have submitted authorizing resolutions and have voting Fish Commissioners with KRITFC – work collaboratively with federal and state agencies to sustainably and equitably manage the fisheries along the river.
The KRITFC management team includes the seven Executive Council members and five In-Season Managers. These Council members and In-Season Managers, elected by all Fish Commissioners at our annual meetings, represent Kuskokwim communities from the mouth to the headwaters. Each of these leaders brings their experience as Traditional Knowledge holders and lifelong Kuskokwim salmon fishers to strategy and management meetings, and each of them knows how important and challenging it is to balance subsistence fishing needs and protecting our spiritual connections to salmon with conserving salmon for future generations of Kuskokwim fishers.
Our management team works with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Staff (USFWS) at the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge and the Alaska Department of Fish & Game (ADF&G) to manage salmon within the entire Kuskokwim River watershed. Since signing our MOU in 2016, our In-Season Managers collaboratively manage Kuskokwim salmon populations with USFWS within the bounds of the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge. Outside of these federal waters, we work with ADF&G as they manage salmon in other parts of the watershed.