Alaska lawmakers don't include tribal seats on Seafood Task Force after intense debate

A passionate debate within the Alaska Legislature about tribal sovereignty and a task force to course-correct the state’s seafood industry economic and ecological collapse resulted in last weekend’s final passage of a temporary eight-member Seafood Industry Task Force to spearhead recovery initiatives.

The state Senate bill passed its final legislative step with a 39-to-1 majority in a vote on the House floor, and the upper chamber unanimously approved it the same day. However, an amendment introduced by Republican state Rep. Louise Stutes only allowed eight elected officials and excluded five other fishing, fish processing, and community representatives. The three tribal seats that Democratic state Rep. CJ McCormick had advocated for were not included.

“It took us until 2022 to finally recognize tribes. We have them here in this bill, and now we’re taking them out,” said Democratic state Rep. CJ McCormick in open debate on the House floor. “It felt pretty monumentous to finally have representation from tribal members.”

The 26-year-old legislator then called the public’s attention to footage of an April 25 House Fisheries Committee meeting in which he argued that tribal governments are rightful co-governing stakeholders in the Alaskan commercial fishing industry. “It just gives me a little bit of pause that [after] adding them on there, now all of the sudden ‘the commission’s too big,’” said Rep. McCormick.

Fishing, fish processing, and community representatives and three state commissioners are now excluded, including the three tribal seats that McCormick had advocated for.

The bill’s original language called for “two public members who are representatives of the United Fishermen of Alaska or the Pacific Seafood Processors Association,” along with two senators, two representatives, and the fish and game commissioner.

The measure would have allowed members to be represented by someone they designate, as many work in the seafood industry or are at sea while the task force meets. The changes to the resolution also allow seafood processors to have out-of-state representatives, as many of the larger seafood processing companies are Seattle-based.

Republican state Reps. Kevin McCabe and Sarah Vance opposed McCormick’s amendment, which designated three tribal seats to match legislator additions. In the April 25 committee meeting with a Republican majority, Vance and McCabe argued that subsistence was outside the resolution’s focus on market conditions and the economy.

“I’m not so sure that we need to put [in] all races and all colors.. and I’m not so sure we need to get into the politics of that,” while saying that McCormick was implying that non-Alaskan Native members couldn’t represent Alaskan Natives.

“Twenty percent of the people in Alaska are Alaska Natives; they are not co-equal governments. You’ve said that before, and that is simply not true. I think that there needs to be representation from all facets of the industry, but where do we end,” asked Rep. McCabe

“I have a mouthful of blood right now, I’m biting my tongue,” said Rep. McCormick.

“There is a lot of factually inaccurate information that was just stated on the record. First of all, a tribe does not necessarily indicate ‘Alaskan Native.’ A tribe is, in fact, a political subdivision. It is a government entity; that was the purpose of the 2018 law that recognized tribes. This statement that it’s a racial designation is inaccurate; they are a political subdivision,” said Rep. McCormick, referencing the Tribal Recognition Act of 2018.

Alaska’s youngest legislator added that the Republicans were “making this a subsistence issue when in actuality tribal governments do engage in the commercial fishing industry, and that is why I want them to be a part of this resolution because they are stakeholders in the seafood industry.”

Republican state Rep. Ben Carpenter ultimately supported McCormick’s amendment, acknowledging the impacts that the commercial fishing industry has on subsistence, but still related it to a subsistence issue, saying, “I don’t see that it is necessarily represented in the language of the bill,” while adding that “they’re just trying to live” and aren’t always directly connected to the economic benefits.

The other Republicans disagreed, saying that the resolution included three representatives of fishing-dependent coastal communities and that those seats would likely be filled by federally qualifying tribal members, but the positions were not specifically tribal seats.

President Joe Biden signed an Executive Order in December 2023 that affirms that “Tribal governments must be treated as permanent, equal, and vital parts of America’s overlapping system of government.”

“As much as I would like to take the word of this body that there will be tribal representation, there is a lot of history that says that will not happen. There’s a systemic and historical rejection of tribal representation,” said Rep. McCormick.

In public testimony on fisheries bycatch regulations, or laws that restrict commercial fishermen from keeping prohibited species of incidentally caught fish, that were heard in the same meeting, Julian Ramirez, a salmon and clean water organizer at the Alaska Center, said, “Actions that we support include 100% 24-hour observer coverage in the Gulf of Alaska Bering Sea trawl fisheries to allow for the thorough and accurate documentation prohibited species catch.”

“We support calls for the governor to nominate a tribal member to a designated seat on the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council,” added Ramirez.

Soldotna residents David Bought and Carl Holman both testified that a legal loophole allows fishing trawlers to disrupt important habitats for crabs and other species.

“The most important action is to get trawlers off the bottom,” said Bought.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Alaska lawmakers cut tribal seats on Seafood Task Force