Households that rely on subsistence and were negatively impacted by salmon crashes on the Kuskokwim and Yukon rivers during the 2022 fishing season can now apply for federal disaster relief funds.
This comes after the United States Secretary of Commerce declared a disaster for the 2022 fisheries, setting aside roughly $1.6 million for the Yukon River and $330,000 for the Kuskokwim River.
The vast majority of the funds have been designated for subsistence relief. Eligible households are those whose ability to access subsistence salmon from the Kuskokwim River or Yukon River was impacted as a direct or indirect result of the 2022 fishery disaster.
Only one application may be submitted per household. Applicants must be Alaska residents and at least 18 years old. People who don’t live directly on the rivers but subsistence fish there can still apply.
The deadline to submit applications for disasters on both rivers is 12:00 p.m. on Feb. 23, 2027.
It’s not clear how much money households may receive. The final amounts are based on household size and the number of applications that are approved. Checks may take a year or more from the application deadline to be mailed out. Relief checks issued earlier this year for the 2020 Yukon and Kuskokwim salmon fisheries took around 16 months to process.
Learn more and apply online at the Pacific States Fisheries Marine Commission website.
Email questions to AKFishDisaster@psmfc.org or call 888-517-7262.
You can also contact the Alaska Department of Fish and Game at dfg.com.fisheriesdisasters@alaska.gov or call 907-267-2593 for more information.
