News

This will be the second year that Seattle-based E&E Foods is purchasing salmon from local fishermen in Kuskokwim Bay. Fishermen and fish buyers are optimistic that the Kuskokwim Bay commercial fishery will build on the success of last year. 

Bethel police are getting new body cams. In their June 8 meeting, Bethel City Council approved the purchase of 30 new body cameras for the Bethel Police Department. The funding comes from a grant that the department received from the state.

It is still very early in the season, but so far the Kuskokwim River king salmon run appears to be either late or low.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game is extending its ban on sport fishing for king salmon along the Kuskokwim River and its tributaries for most of the summer. The sport fishing ban will last through July 25 to cover the length of the king run. The ban originally ran from May 1 to June 11. 

On June 10, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced drift net openings on the federally managed portion of the Kuskokwim River for the same dates as the federal openings. Both state and federal openings are on June 12 and 15.

The Alpha variant of COVID-19 may be present in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, but it does not appear to be threatening in-person education at local schools this fall. That’s because public health officials have learned more about the COVID-19 virus. 

More mothers die in, or right after, childbirth in the United States than any other developed country, and that number is growing. Alaska has a lower rate than the national average, but still sees 6 to 13 maternal deaths each year, according to the Alaska Maternal Child Death Review Committee. Rates are highest among Indigenous mothers in Southwestern Alaska.

On the Yukon River, subsistence salmon fishing is being closed to protect king salmon as they migrate upriver.

On June 8, Bethel City Council voted unanimously to accept a $45,000 grant from the State of Alaska. The grant must be used to promote or incentivize the COVID-19 vaccine in unvaccinated individuals. The city has until the end of June 2021 to spend all the funds. City Manager Pete Williams has proposed offering $100 to those willing to get the vaccine, but he said that figure is just an idea.