Federal disaster aid is on the way for some commercial fishing permit-holders in Haines and throughout the state, though many may be too wrapped up in the current season to apply for it right away.
Applications for crew and subsistence users are currently available online. Unique applications for permit-holders and processors from the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission were mailed out on June 26 and are due August 24.
The commission says those who have not received a hardcopy application by July 15 should email them at [email protected] to request an electronic copy. Once completed the application can be mailed back to the commission or uploaded online.
Fisherman Matt Davis is still waiting to receive an application. Davis was crouched on the deck of his fishing boat, Aftermath, pumping fuel early on a recent Saturday morning. He was moored alongside the Haines fuel dock, waiting to maneuver his way through the other boats crowded into two lanes– each waiting for supplies and ice before they head out for a long weekend of commercial fishing.
Davis is headed south for hatchery chum salmon.
Fishing is not Davis’ primary source of income, he’s also a teacher in Haines. That has been a factor when he’s applied for aid in the past and it’s the first thing he thinks of when asked about applying for a portion of the statewide salmon disaster relief aid available after 2020 and 2021.
Davis said 2020 was a hard year for people in this community, and to add insult to injury – it was a terrible year for fishing too.
“It’s weird that the fish seemed to be affected by COVID,” he joked.
Alaska’s Department of Fish and Game estimates that Southeast Alaska commercial fisheries lost nearly $62 million in chum, coho, pink and sockeye salmon that year.
It wasn’t just Southeast Alaska that saw a crash. The Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission is distributing federal disaster awards for salmon fisheries in Chignik, Yukon & Kuskokwim, and Norton Sound for that same year. Altogether, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is putting $55,928,849 into the salmon fisheries disasters.
Despite his uncertainty about the process, Davis said he’ll apply.
For permit holders, like Davis, the application does some of the work in advance — identifying which of four tiers of aid amounts permit-holders are likely to qualify for and telling them the base payment they’re likely to receive from the more than $5,686,000 available for gillnetters.
For Southeast Alaska gillnet permit holders, it estimates how many are likely eligible for each tier based on what their gross revenue was from chum, sockeye and coho landings between 2017-2019:
- 44 are eligible for $32,307.38
- 73 are eligible for $19,472.94
- 99 are eligible for $14,358.83
- 155 are eligible for $9,171.12
Each permit holder in the tier will receive equal payment which means there’s the potential for it to increase based on the number of eligible applications for aid.
While Davis hasn’t seen his application yet, Gregg Bigsby, who fishes from The Rustler, said he’d already gotten his.
It comes in a nondescript, white envelope with a small red stamp on it identifying it as an application for aid. That’s something Haines fisherman Norm Hughes said could be a problem this time of year when most fishermen are in and out of their homes, stopping in for fuel and supplies and then heading out on multi-day trips. They may not have time or energy to check their mail as it stacks up.
There’s also aid for vessel crew, and those applications are not due until September 28, but they may be harder to find. They’ll also need an affidavit from the permit holder or vessel owner they worked with to apply.
Crew members must have had a commercial crew license or commercial fisheries entry commission permit for any fishery. They’ll split funds according to their fishery and how many people apply:
- Southeast gillnet crew will split $1,003,430
- Seine crew will split $2,581,489
- Troll crew will split $207,434
Several captains on the dock said they planned to fill out their own applications and then reach out to their current or former deckhands to make sure they know they can apply. But, that could be tricky in some cases.
Joel Pasquan, who fishes the Hungry Jack, said he knows he had crew in 2020, but isn’t sure he could locate them.
“I can’t remember who they are,” he said. “I think one of them I had is dead. I think the other one is in jail.”
Applications must be mailed to the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission in Portland or uploaded to its online portal by the deadline dates of August 24 for permit holders and processors or September 28 for crew.