Subsistence: What "Subsistence" Means

Part 2 of a 4 part series

(Editor's note: This is the second in a series of four columns on the controversial subject of subsistence fishing on the Kenai Peninsula.)

Because subsistence fishing has a priority over all other kinds, it can shut down or restrict all other kinds.  For that reason and others, it's important to know just what "subsistence" means.

Two laws deal with subsistence in Alaska, one state, the other federal.  Below, I'll address only what affects fishing on the Kenai Peninsula and adjacent waters.

• All Alaska residents are entitled to subsistence.
• State subsistence fisheries are managed by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Division of Commercial Fisheries.  The Alaska Board of Fisheries creates subsistence regulations, with advice from local Fish and Game Advisory Committees.
• State subsistence law applies to all state-owned and privately owned lands, including those owned by Native corporations, and to waters on and running through these lands, as well as most marine waters.
• State law excludes subsistence uses in five "nonsubsistence areas." These include lands and waters around Valdez, Juneau, Ketchikan, Fairbanks and the Anchorage-Matsu-Kenai areas.  Nearly all Kenai Peninsula residents are in the Anchorage-Matsu-Kenai Nonsubsistence Area.  According to state regulations, a nonsubsistence area is "an area or community where dependence upon subsistence is not a principal characteristic of the economy, culture, and way of life of the area or community."  Only sport, commercial and personal-use fishing are allowed in a nonsubsistence area.
• In the Cook Inlet drainage, subsistence fishing under state regulations now occurs in only five places, all of them unconnected to the highway system.   About 10 miles of Cook Inlet beach in the Tyonek area is open to subsistence salmon fishing.  At Squentna, on the Yentna River, just upstream from the nonsubsistence boundary, subsistence salmon fishing is done by fish wheel.  On the lower Kenai Peninsula, subsistence salmon fishing is allowed in the Toyuktolik and Port Graham subdistricts, and in and near Seldovia Bay.

• Only federally qualified "rural" residents have subsistence rights.  On the Kenai Peninsula, the Federal Subsistence Board has ruled that only residents of Hope, Cooper Landing and Ninilchik have "customary and traditional" use of the fish in the Kenai River.
• Federal subsistence fisheries are managed by Alaska's five federal landlords, who sit on the Federal Subsistence Board.  This board, with advice from 10 Regional Advisory Councils, creates subsistence regulations for federal lands and waters.  Parts of the Kenai and Kasilof rivers lie within the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, which is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.  The upper Kenai River is in the Chugach National Forest, and is managed by the U.S. Forest Service.
• Federal subsistence law applies to nearly all federal lands and the waters within the boundaries of those lands.
• Federal law (ANILCA) gives Alaska's commonly owned resources only to "rural" residents.  ANILCA doesn't define "rural" or "customary and traditional," so the feds made up their own definitions.  These tend to be inclusive, which not only puts a strain on resources, but causes no end of bad feelings.

One major difference between state and federal law is the amount of clout held by the advisory groups.  The state's advisory committees are simply advisory to the boards of fisheries and game.  The federal subsistence advisory councils recommendations on proposals must be upheld by the Federal Subsistence Board unless they are damaging to subsistence, damaging to the resource, or not supported by evidence.

Opponents of the federal "rural" subsistence preference say that the state's subsistence law satisfies the "equal rights" provisions in the Alaska Constitution, while the federal law tramples on these provisions.

Personally, I think a rural preference — albeit much more exclusive than the existing one — is the best way to dole out resources, if and when they need to be doled.  If it were up to me, the entire Kenai Peninsula, excepting the two isolated Native villages on the southernmost end, would be classified as "non-rural."  Given that we have personal-use fisheries that provide for residents, and that local residents automatically have a "priority" of sorts, this is the best, most sensible way to maximize fishing opportunities for all.  

Part 3 - Fish Fight in the Offing