July 20, 2012 — On the heels of poor Chinook salmon runs on the Yukon and Kuskokwim Rivers, Gov. Sean Parnell has asked federal officials to declare a fishery disaster for the kings on both rivers.
Parnell said July 14 that he also alerted Acting U.S. Secretary of Commerce Rebecca Blank that the Cook Inlet region is experiencing low Chinook salmon returns and may also qualify for an economic disaster declaration once the season has ended.
The governor said that the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act authorizes various forms of federal assistance through the National Marine Fisheries Service when the Secretary of Commerce determines there is a commercial fishery failure due to a fishery resource disaster. He did not specify what forms of assistance there might be, but he did acknowledge that a federal disaster declaration alone would not bring assistance, and that a federal appropriation was needed to provide funding.
Read the full story at the Cordoba Times.