State officials are seeking millions of dollars in financial relief funds for six salmon fisheries disasters in 2024, including one in Prince William Sound.
In his letter of Jan. 28 to Acting Commerce Secretary Jeremy Pelter, Gov. Mike Dunleavy noted that there was an unexpectedly large decrease in the harvest of pink and chum salmon in 2024 in the Prince William Sound salmon fisheries.
The harvests of 9.95 million pink salmon and 1.70 million chum salmon were below the recent five-year averages by 75% and 57% respectively.
Preliminary data estimates the financial value of the 2024 Prince William Sound pink and chum salmon fisheries were also below the recent five-year average – 78% to 88% respectively – and that estimated losses totaled more than $85 million.
The federal government has already acknowledged the request for funding for the Kotzebue area and more acknowledgements are anticipated for requests for Prince William Sound pink and chum fisheries, Lower Cook Inlet pink salmon, Kodiak pink salmon, and Alaska Peninsula sockeye and South Peninsula pinks.
These requests are all pending until final review data is available to make a decision, said Karla Bush, extended jurisdiction program manager at the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G).
“These requests will all be pending until final revenue data are available because the secretary typically waits for final revenue data before making a determination,” Bush said. “In Alaska, final data are the CFEC (Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission) gross revenue estimates provided in September each year for the previous calendar year. Therefore, final data for all the 2024 requests will be sent in September 2025.”
Then the clock starts for the secretary to make a determination. If the secretary finds there was a fishery resource disaster due to an allowable cause, then Congress can appropriate funds.
“This part of the fishery disaster request process is expedited when there is no fishery harvest (e.g. when a fishery is closed) because then there’s no need to wait for final revenue data,” Bush said.
Based on preliminary 2024 ex-vessel prices, revenue losses for the 2024 fishery disaster requests as compared to the previous five-year average are as follows:
- Prince William Sound pink and chum salmon: $67.74 million;
- Kotzebue Sound commercial chum salmon: $0.95 million;
- Alaska Peninsula sockeye salmon and South Alaska Peninsula pink salmon: $24.58 million;
- Chignik salmon: $4.36 million;
- And Kodiak pink salmon: $11.89 million.
In September of 2024 the state’s congressional delegation announced the receipt of $277 million in relief funds for fisheries disasters in 2022-2023.
