Alaska to get nearly $132 million for fisheries disasters

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The U.S. Commerce Department is allocating $131.9 million to Alaska for fisheries disasters that occurred between 2018 and 2021, according to Alaska’s U.S. senators.

States may request federal assistance for fisheries after hurricanes, oil spills and other types of natural and manmade disasters that harm a commercial fishery.

The funding for Alaska is for a series of fisheries disasters, including for the Yukon River salmon fishery the last two years.

The money comes from a total of $144 million for fisheries disasters nationwide, a statement from Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan said.

The department says the funds can be used to help affected fishing communities. NOAA Fisheries used commercial revenue loss information to allocate funding across the eligible disasters and took into account traditional uses, such as subsistence uses, that were affected, the department said in a release.