Subsistence Fishing and Food Security

Alaska fisheries provide seafood for the nation and international market, while supporting vital subsistence needs for Alaskan communities. Alaska communities rely on a range of marine resources for subsistence uses which have significant social, cultural, and economic value. Alaska Natives have harvested and shared traditional foods for thousands of years, and doing so is vital to their physical, mental, and spiritual wellbeing.12 Given the importance of subsistence to social sustainability and wellbeing, additional information is included in ACEPO to provide context.

In 1978, the State of Alaska enacted its first subsistence law allowing the Board of Fisheries (BOF) and the Board of Game (BOG) to adopt regulations governing subsistence (AS 16.05.251 for BOF and AS 16.05.255). Once the two boards have determined the status of customary and traditional use, they must set “the amount reasonably necessary for subsistence uses,” (considering the sustained yield principle), which prioritizes subsistence over recreational and commercial uses. This is often referred to as the “ANS”.34 In 1990, the Federal government began managing subsistence hunting, trapping, and fishing on Alaska’s Federal public lands and non-navigable waters.56

Subsistence fishing supports the food security and sovereignty of many households through the nutritional, economic, and cultural benefits provided,7 comprising 56% of statewide subsistence harvest (cite). Subsistence practices provide critical nutritional requirements for many rural residents,8 and support invaluable social and sharing networks,cultural identity, and knowledge transfer pathways.910 Furthermore, the cost of foods to replace subsistence fisheries represents a substantial portion of household income and would be unsustainable for many residents.11

Food security exists, “when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences in order to lead a healthy and active life.”12 Food sovereignty is a complementary concept to food security and describes “the right of Peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems.”13 Maintaining both food security and sovereignty supports community resilience to stressors, including climate change and large social disruptions, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, by ensuring that communities can still access sufficient nutritious food when global supply chains are disrupted or ecological changes impact certain sectors.

  1. Heeringa, K., Huntington, O., Woods, B., Chapin, F. S., Hum, R., Brinkman, T., & Participants, W. (2019). A Holistic Definition of Healthy Traditional Harvest Practices for Rural Indigenous Communities in Interior Alaska. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, 9(B), 115–129. https://doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2019.09B.009↩︎

  2. Fall, J. A. (2018). Subsistence in Alaska: A Year 2017 Update. Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game Division of Subsistence.↩︎

  3. Alaska Department of Fish and Game. (n.d.). Subsistence in Alaska: Amounts Reasonably Necessary for Subsistence. https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=subsistence.reasonable↩︎

  4. Alaska Stat. § 16.05.258 (2023).↩︎

  5. Developing a Research and Restoration Plan for Arctic-Yukon-Kuskokwim (Western Alaska) Salmon. (2005). National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/11080.↩︎

  6. McGee, Jack B. (2010). SUBSISTENCE HUNTING AND FISHING IN ALASKA: DOES ANILCA’S RURAL SUBSISTENCE PRIORITY REALLY CONFLICT WITH THE ALASKA CONSTITUTION? Alaska Law Review, 287(2): 221-256.↩︎

  7. U.S. Department of the Interior. (n.d.). Federal Subsistence Management Program. https://www.doi.gov/subsistence/federal-subsistence-management-program↩︎

  8. Loring, P. A., Gerlach, S. C., & Harrison, H. L. (2013). Seafood as Local Food: Food Security and Locally Caught Seafood on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, 3(3), 13–30. https://doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2013.033.006↩︎

  9. Wittman, H. (2011). Food Sovereignty: A New Rights Framework for Food and Nature? Environment and Society, 2(1). https://doi.org/10.3167/ares.2011.020106↩︎

  10. Trainor, A., Gerkey, D., McDavid, B. M., Cold, H. S., Park, J., & Koster, D. S. (2021). How Subsistence Salmon Connects Households and Communities: An Exploration of Salmon Production and Exchange Networks in Three Communities on the Yukon River, 2018–2019 (Technical Paper No. 481; p. 298). Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game Division of Subsistence.↩︎

  11. Fall, J. A. (2018). Subsistence in Alaska: A Year 2017 Update. Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game Division of Subsistence.↩︎

  12. Peng, W., & Berry, E. M. (2019). The concept of food security. In P. Ferranti, E. M. Berry, & J. R. Anderson (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Food Security and Sustainability (pp. 1-7). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-100596-5.22314-7↩︎

  13. LVC (La Via Campesina). (2007). Declaration of Nyéléni. Nyéléni, Sélingué, Mali. Retrieved October 15, 2024, from https://nyeleni.org/IMG/pdf/DeclNyeleni-en.pdf↩︎