Officials with the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association say that a $189,100 federal grant award will be used to foster new partnerships in Alaska to help build a more resilient regional food system, with a focus on local seafood access and seafood industry workforce development.
“Thanks to this support from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, we’ll be able to work with a wide range of partners to access where the biggest needs and opportunities are for ensuring that our local food systems are better prepared for future disruptions such as COVID-19, and that we have the tools in place to encourage local employment in our seafood industry,” ALFA executive director Linda Behnken said.
As a “partnership” grant, ALFA’s project will rely heavily on engagement of diverse stakeholders. It will be guided by a formal steering committee with representatives from Alaska tribes, seafood distributors, national and state philanthropic and foundation leadership, chefs, community, policy leaders, and youth representatives. Steering committee members will include founding partners of the Seafood Donation Program, including Sam Schimmel from Kenai, who helped spearhead several salmon distributions to Alaska Native families in Anchorage and Fairbanks.
“We knew that these needs are not going away, so this project is an important opportunity for us to all come together, share information and figure out how we can ensure our Alaska Native communities continue to have access to the Native foods that keep us connected to our traditions and to our culture,” Schimmel said.
When COVID-19 spread to Alaska in the early spring of 2020, ALFA formed a statewide coalition of nonprofits, tribal and military organizations, local governments, foundations, fishermen and seafood processors to work on food security and workforce development issues. The coalition was funded through Catch Together, a nonprofit that supports innovative conservation endeavor and harvester-led efforts addressing long-term access to local fishery resources, and the Alaska Community Foundation. The Initiative, which became known as the Seafood Donation Program, provided stipends and workforce support to the seafood industry, and spent $2.5 million to purchase local seafood for distribution. The effort provided over 630,000 free Alaska seafood meals for those facing food insecurity.
ALFA’s project was one of 30 selected in 24 states to receive a Regional Food System Partnership grant as part of the agriculture marketing service’s Local Agriculture Marketing Program.
ALFA now plans to implement a two-year assessment of the Seafood Donation Program and the feasibility of expanding it into an ongoing program. The assessment will consider current seafood industry workforce development programs and issues within those programs that keep Alaskans from participating in the seafood industry. The project will culminate with development of a feasibility study for a 10-year statewide seafood distribution and workforce development plan, with emphasis on cultural relevance of seafood and serving marginalize communities, ALFA officials said.
