First ever subsistence fishery closure at Port Clarence causes hardship at Teller, Brevig

After experiencing an unprecedented closure of subsistence salmon fishing, the Port Clarence district, including Teller and Brevig Mission, is now open for fishing.

The Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game closed the Port Clarence district to set net fishing— excluding Pilgrim River — from June 15 until July 1; then two 48-hour fishing periods per week were opened until Monday, July 15, when subsistence fishing was allowed seven days per week.

According to ADF&G Area Manager Kevin Clark, the closure was a conservation measure, and the only tool the fish managers had to protect a “dire” escapement count of sockeye salmon in the district.

Beach seining was allowed, however, this is not a common practice in the area. Seining is considered safe for the situation because any caught sockeye could be immediately released.

This was the first time that subsistence closure was implemented upon the villages of Teller and Brevig-Mission.

Subsistence users of salmon in both villages were unanimously dismayed by closure.

Subsistence users suffer

“The bottom line is the dinner table is affected,” said Joe Garnie, a lifelong Teller resident, fisherman and famous dog musher.

Garnie explained that traditionally during those two weeks in June, subsistence users fish a lot because it’s the time of year that the weather best allows for the drying of fish. As of last week, a multi-day survey of all the fish racks on the beaches around Teller indicated that most of them were empty, and those that had fish were scantly filled, a manqué ambiance marking the air.

Since the July 1, it has been one of the wettest periods in recorded history for the region. Regional climatologist, Rick Thoman, said that as of July 23 at the Nome airport was 5.61 inches and that there have only been four Julys in the past 116 years that have had five or more inches of rain.  

“It’s just impossible to dry fish,” Garnie said. “We dry fish on racks, and even if the racks are covered there’s moisture in the air. It turns fish sour.”

Dried fish is one of the biggest food staples for village residents throughout the winter, and a valuable bartering commodity.

“Those whaling villages that set aside muktuk for bartering won’t have dried fish either this year. Nobody will,” Garnie lamented. It didn’t sit well with Garnie that ADF&G opened commercial fishing in the Nome subdistrict while their subsistence fisheries remained closed at the end of June.

Frieda Southall, a Brevig Mission resident, relayed similar fears: “It is really going to affect our people and our communities. When they don’t have food put away, I’m scared it’s going to create a domino effect in which people will have to choose between buying food and buying heating oil to stay warm. Both communities of Teller and Brevig are heavy, heavy subsistence users.”

Janelle Menadelook of Teller was also upset about the closure.

“Fishing is just so healing,” Menadelook said. “If I don’t do our subsistence activities, I tend to get depressed.”

Menadelook decided the situation was worrisome enough that she wrote Representative Neal Foster. In her email, she encouraged Foster to investigate the harm the proposed Graphite One mine may have on salmon returns, as well as supporting legislation against trawlers.

While there are no trawlers in Norton Sound, Representative Foster pointed in his response to a political problem. “The big problem has been commercial fishing has a majority of the votes on the Board of Fish,” he said in an email to Menadelook. “And Governor Dunleavy appointed people in the Fish [board] who are supportive of commercial fishing more than subsistence fishing.” Foster said that Governor Dunleavy is trying to destroy subsistence priorities by taking an anti-subsistence case all the way to the Supreme Court. “As the co-chair of the financial committee, I intend to take the funds he needs away so he can’t fight this battle,” Foster wrote.

Fishing is on

There were several 48-hour openings at the Port Clarence district before the full opening on July 15. Gilbert Tocktoo, a Brevig Mission subsistence fisherman, said that the openings seemed to come right when bad weather appeared, frustrating subsistence harvesters trying to dry their fish.

Then, on July 13, ADF&G announced strong sockeye escapement numbers and announced that the catch limit would be waved on the Pilgrim River. The escapement goal for the Pilgrim River weir is 6,800 – 36,000 sockeye fish. The Pilgrim River fish counting weir was set up and operational from July 8 until July 13, when high murky water caused by heavy rain caused the project to become inoperable. As of July 13, the sockeye count was 14,953 fish.