In June 1991 the North Pacific council set aside a share of the Bering Sea pollock catch for villages rather than a fleet. Today 65 Western Alaska communities in six nonprofit groups hold ten percent of the quota by law and pay tens of millions in wages and scholarships. On the same coast, salmon runs have collapsed and tribal organizations have gone to court to rein in the pollock fleet.
Who's who
- Harold SparckAdvocate for Western Alaska's fishery share; the program bears his name
- Ted Stevens+4 more episodesAlaska senator who sponsored the 1996 law writing the program into statute
- Don Young+3 more episodesAlaska representative who sponsored the 1996 law
- Eric DeakinChief executive of the Coastal Villages Region Fund
- Vivian Korthuis+1 more episodeChief executive of the Association of Village Council Presidents
- Keith Criddle+1 more episodeUniversity of Alaska Fairbanks fisheries economist
- Robin SamuelsenBristol Bay development corporation chairman who defended the program
- Mike Williams Sr.Tribal leader from Akiak on the Kuskokwim
Where it happens
- Chevak, AlaskaHome port painted on the stern of the Northern Hawk
- Bering Sea+10 more episodesSource of the village-held pollock quota
- Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska+1 more episodeRegion served by the quota groups and tribal consortium
- Bethel, Alaska+5 more episodesWhere Harold Sparck began teaching in 1968
Timeline
- June 1991Council approves a 7.5 percent Western Alaska pollock share
- 1992Community Development Quota program begins with six groups
- 1996Congress writes the program into federal fisheries law
- 1998American Fisheries Act sets ten percent for the quota groups
- 2010Coastal Villages Region Fund takes the Northern Hawk in a settlement
- 2023Tribal organizations sue to force reassessment of pollock catch levels
Still debated
Whether the program has reduced poverty is uncertain, since village census data are too weak and independent research is limited. Whether the quota groups speak for villages on bycatch, and whether the 2006 shares are fair, are disputed. No study measures the health effect of the salmon closures.
