We are in a pandemic! Alaska is in the beginning stages of this.
We in Bristol Bay are very concerned about the huge influx of people coming into our area during the summer fishing season. Our small community area grows from less the 1,000 people to 12,000 to 15,000 in a matter of weeks. From processors to fishermen, they come from around the world. They all live in small very close knit facilities without any possibility of “social distancing.” Our little health clinic has no way to deal with the numbers of patients it could potentially see.
No one wants to think about the possibility of not having a salmon season this year because of the interruption in the food supply, but we also do not want to be in the middle of the potentially the largest outbreak area in the state of Alaska. The state authorities need to be demanding thorough and detailed plans of how this is going to be handled by either each processing facility or jointly. We also need the same thing from the fishermen who are all independent from the processors.
Without such plans, a cancellation of the “normal” fishing season needs to be considered.
Our villages in Bristol Bay are more important to us than the salmon season.
— Gene Sanderson
Naknek
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