NOAA Fisheries has recommended more than $16 million in funds for 13 tribal priority fish passage projects, including ones for the Eyak Corporation, Chickalook Native Village and Sealaska Corporation in Alaska.
For the first year, $309,088 is allocated to the Eyak Corporation, with up to $2,872,614 allocated over three years for planning and implementing fish passage and connection restoration projects in partnership with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Copper River Watershed Project. The work will support salmon species of profound importance to Native and rural subsistence users, recreational anglers and commercial fishermen.
Chickaloon Native Village has been allocated $1,558,006 to remove fish passage barriers within traditional ancestral lands and to develop a Fish Passage Working Group for the Matanuska-Susitna Borough. The group will help increase the knowledge and capacity of tribal staff members to oversee fish passage restoration planning, design and implementation.
Sealaska Corp. was allocated $425,920 to assess and prioritize stream-crossing barriers on Prince of Wales Island and to create designs for 10 individual barrier projects. The island is one of the most productive areas for salmon in Southeast Alaska, supporting coho, chum, pink and sockeye, which have been important to inhabitants for millennia.
