Alaska fishing communities support a traditional way of life, subsistence and personal use of marine resources critical to Alaska Native and local populations. Alaska Native peoples have continued to live and thrive along the coast since their ancestors arrived over 10,000 years ago, and are still sustained by the marine resources they have stewarded for millennia.
With the advent of western culture, Native communities were forced to adapt to and are now dependent on the commercial utilization of these resources as well. Sustaining and protecting diverse community access to Alaska’s resources is vital because of these intersection of traditional and commercial uses.