Feds sending $99 million in aid to address three declared Alaska fishery disasters

Bering Sea snow crab, with two specimens seen in this undated photo, support an iconic Alaska seafood harvest. A crash in population triggered two consecutive years of closures, starting in late 2022. Federal officials are now providing $75.2 million in aid for the lost Bering Sea snow crab harvest in the winter of 2023-24, part of an aid package for recent fishery disasters in Alaska, Washington state, Oregon and California. (Photo provided by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)

By Yereth Rosen

Alaska Beacon

Alaska has been allocated about $99 million in new fishery disaster assistance, making up the majority of the $123.6 million in aid that federal officials on Wednesday said is headed to Alaska, Washington, Oregon and California.

In Alaska, the money is to address previously declared fishery disasters for Bering Sea snow crab and Chignik and Cook Inlet salmon harvests, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Fishery service said.

For the lost snow crab harvest of the 2023-24 winter, the second year that the usually lucrative fishery was canceled because of low stocks, NOAA Fisheries is allocating $75.2 million in aid. That follows a 2024 allocation of $39.5 million in aid for the lost harvest in the winter of 2022-23.

Snow crab harvests have now resumed, though at much lower levels than in past years.

For the Chignik salmon disaster that occurred in 2022, the agency is allocating $18.5 million in aid. For the declared disaster for the 2023 Upper Cook Inlet east side setnet salmon harvest, the agency said it is allocating $5.8 million in aid.

Other aid announced on Wednesday was for salmon disasters in 2023 and 2024 in California, Oregon and Washington state.

“Fishery resource disasters have devastating effects on local communities and our economy,” NOAA Administrator Neil Jacobs said in a statement. “This disaster funding provides much needed assistance to our fishing industry, and we will work with the affected communities to help them recover. This action demonstrates our continued commitment to hardworking American fishermen and to the president’s vision to uphold the United States as the world’s dominant seafood leader.”

Under federal law, NOAA Fisheries may provide aid to address disasters affecting commercial seafood harvests and losses to subsistence harvests. However, aid distribution depends on appropriations from Congress; there is no standing fund for NOAA to use for its disaster assistance program.

While aid amounts are now on their way for the three named 2022 and 2023 harvests, there are 13 pending disaster-assistance requests for various Alaska harvests that were plagued by problems in 2024 and 2025. Those fisheries are in multiple locations around the state, from Kotzebue in the northwest to the Yukon River in Interior Alaska to Prince William Sound in the eastern part of Southcentral Alaska.

In a joint statement, Alaska’s two U.S. senators said they were grateful for the assistance to harvesters and communities coping with multiple fishery disasters.

“Our fishing industry is part of the beating heart of coastal Alaska, but seemingly every fishery over the last decade has been hit hard by disasters beyond their control,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said in the statement.

Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, used similar wording: “Alaska’s subsistence harvesters, commercial fishermen, and fishing communities have endured a series of fishery disasters and stock collapses beyond their control, threatening livelihoods and entire coastal economies.”

• Yereth Rosen came to Alaska in 1987 to work for the Anchorage Times. She has been reporting on Alaska news ever since, covering stories ranging from oil spills to sled-dog races. She has reported for Reuters, for the Alaska Dispatch News, for Arctic Today and for other organizations. Alaska Beacon is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.