Tlingit & Haida will continue to distribute the purchased seafood to more than 3,000 tribal citizen households (approximately 12,000 individuals) in 18 rural Southeast Alaska communities, most of which are not connected to the U.S. highway system and experience food security concerns.
But, under the amended proposal, the distribution will continue well beyond the incredibly successful single roe on kelp harvest that took place in April 2023. Next year we plan on nearly doubling the roe on kelp harvest while pursuing other seafood harvests: shrimp; king salmon; and sockeye salmon.
These are traditional foods for the Tlingit and Haida peoples and are an invaluable locally produced source of calories and nutrients. For example, the roe-on-kelp harvested this year is produced annually during the Pacific herring spawn in early spring; a small group of fishermen harvest, preserve, and export the product out of the state on a small commercial scale. As many local communities no longer have ready access to herring spawn on kelp in their vicinities due to a decrease in Pacific herring spawning area over several decades, we established a local market. This amended project will further support local Alaska Native food producers who will harvest not only roe on kelp, but also shrimp, and salmon. The amended project will boost the roe on kelp market, which has begun to serve as a template for other food security initiatives as our plan grows from seasonal to year-round while by providing the highly nutritious traditional food directly to tribal citizens.