Photo courtesy of Desiann Pavila
Press Statement regarding U.S. v. Alaska Fishing Rights Victory
Monday, January 12, 2025
Contact: Kevin Whitworth, Executive Director | kevinwhitworth@kritfc.org | 907-574-0388
The U.S. Supreme Court Declines to Revisit the Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, the United States, and Alaska Native Rights Advocates’ Victory in Protecting Subsistence Fishing Rights and Defending the Katie John Cases from Attack by the State of Alaska
KUSKOKWIM RIVER, AK | This morning, the United States Supreme Court denied the State of Alaska’s petition for certiorari, ending the State’s latest bid to deny the right of rural and Alaska Native subsistence fishers to priority for fishing on Alaska’s major rivers. The Supreme Court’s denial of certiorari leaves in place the Ninth Circuit’s thorough and well-reasoned opinion affirming the Federal District Court for the District Court of Alaska’s permanent injunction blocking the State of Alaska from repeating its unlawful actions on the Kuskokwim River. That opinion rejected the State of Alaska’s attack on federally protected subsistence rights, and held the Katie John precedents were not overruled by the Supreme Court in Sturgeon. As the court stated: “Although Katie John, the Ahtna woman who advocated for subsistence fishing rights on behalf of Alaska Natives, has since passed away, the precedent that bears her name lives on.”
In the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA), Congress recognized the fact that subsistence fishing is a key element to maintaining Indigenous ways of living for the people of our region, and mandated a subsistence fishing preference for rural residents whenever it becomes necessary to restrict fishing to conserve fish populations. However, because the State of Alaska continues to refuse to comply with federal law, it falls on the United States, in partnership with KRITFC, to regulate fishing on the portion of Kuskokwim River that lies within the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge (Refuge).
In recent years, the communities that depend on the Kuskokwim River for food, well-being, and culture have experienced the devastating effects of a severe, multi-year, multi-species salmon crash. Federal and KRITFC managers have been forced to implement ANILCA’s rural subsistence priority in the Refuge, and Alaska Native communities of the Kuskokwim River watershed have voluntarily reduced their customary and traditional harvests to allow for salmon to spawn and rebuild stocks. However, in 2021 and 2022, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game directly interfered with federal-Tribal co-management and issued emergency orders that purported to open the river to fishing by all.
The United States, joined by the KRITFC and later other Alaska Native subsistence rights advocates, filed a lawsuit to stop the State from undermining federal and tribal fisheries management efforts. In response, the State of Alaska expanded its attack on federally protected subsistence rights by directly challenging ANILCA and the Katie John line of cases.
This victory ends the State of Alaska’s most recent attempt, through litigation, to strip rural and Alaska Native subsistence fishers of federally protected rights. However, the State, along with powerful outside sport-fishing interests, are currently pushing regulatory changes to gut the Federal Subsistence Board and remove rural and Alaska Native voices from management of our subsistence fisheries. The Fish Commission will continue to advocate for sustainable stewardship, cultural vitality and food security in the Kuskokwim region, and it is critical that all stand up against the continued attempts to erode our rights both in court and in other venues.
“Our Fish Commission is very pleased with this historic victory in favor of the people of the Kuskokwim River. The victory not only upholds rural subsistence rights in Alaska, but upholds the participation of local people, elected by the Tribes, in the co-management of Kuskokwim salmon. We are encouraged that the courts have recognized our Tribes’ role in the sustainable stewardship of Kuskokwim salmon, which have provided for our families’ food security, culture, and well-being for tens of thousands of years, and will continue to do so in the future,” said KRITFC Chair, Martin Andrew.