ANCHORAGE, ALASKA—The Arctic-Yukon-Kuskokwim Tribal Consortium (AYK TC) applauded the recent appointment of three western Alaska Tribal members to the North Pacific Fishery Management Council’s (the Council’s) Advisory Panel, leading to more Alaska Native representation on the 19-member panel than ever before.
“The North Pacific Fishery Management Council has substantial impacts to western Alaska, so it should have substantial representation. It’s encouraging to see an increasing number of Alaska Native faces on the Advisory Panel,” said AYK TC Government Affairs and Policy Director Mellisa Johnson, who was re-appointed to the panel.
AYK TC congratulated Nenana Tribal member Eva Dawn Burk for her appointment to the Advisory Committee’s Alaska Native Tribal Representative seat for a three-year term. Burk was supported by Tanana Chiefs Conference, which nominated her for the position; Bering Sea Elders Group; Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission; The Central Council of Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska; Kawerak, Inc.; and the Yukon River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission. She grew up subsistence fishing and is also a commercial fisherman.
Tiffany Andrew, a member of the Alakanuk Traditional Council, grew up traditional and subsistence fishing and is a Yukon River commercial fisherman. She was appointed to a one-year term on the Advisory Committee. She was supported by the Alakanuk Traditional Council.
Mellisa Maktuayaq Johnson, a Tribal member of Nome Eskimo Community, was re-appointed to the Advisory Panel for a three-year term.
While AYK TC celebrates new and improved Alaska Native representation in the Advisory Panel, it’s important to note that the panel is non-voting. The Council itself, which has enormous impact on western and interior Alaska Tribes, still contains zero Tribal members and a voting majority with an economic interest in the trawl fleet.
The Arctic-Yukon-Kuskokwim Tribal Consortium (AYK TC) is composed of the Association of Village Council Presidents (AVCP), Tanana Chiefs Conference (TCC), Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission (KRITFC) and Yukon River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission (YRITFC), representing 98 Tribes and communities in the Arctic/Norton Sound, Yukon, and Kuskokwim regions of Alaska. Its mission is to restore, maintain and conserve the health and biodiversity of the Bering Sea ecosystems, rivers to seas, including a focus on restoration of abundance of wild salmon returns, all to provide for our subsistence way of life and other sustainable uses for this and future generations.
