Native America Calling: The changing landscape for subsistence hunting and fishing

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Tuesday, March 25, 2025

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The changing landscape for subsistence hunting and fishing

The unpredictable availability of salmon and other fish in Alaska is putting additional pressure on the practice of subsistence fishing for Alaska Native residents.

A federal board just opened up subsistence fishing and hunting — something reserved only for rural residents — to all 14,000 residents of Ketchikan. The designation was sought by the Ketchikan Indian Community, a federally recognized tribe.

Meanwhile, the state of Alaska is fighting the Federal Subsistence Board’s approval of a COVID-era emergency subsistence hunt for citizens in Kake. The ongoing legal effort impacts the rights of the Organized Village of Kake, a federally recognized tribe.

Meanwhile, stakeholders are closely watching a legal conflict over fishing on the Kuskokwim River that has implications for decades of legal precedents over subsistence fishing access.

Salmon harvesting at a business in Ketchikan, Alaska. Photo: roger smith

Guests on Native America Calling

Ilsxílee Stáng / Gloria Burns (Haida), president of the Ketchikan Indian Community, a federally recognized tribe in Alaska

Nathaniel Amdur-Clark (Citizen Potawatomi), partner at Sonosky, Chambers, Sachse, Miller, and Monkman, LLP, a law firm with offices in Alaska, California, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington, D.C.