NOME -- For four villages affected by this spring's poor walrus harvest, help is on its way in the form of 10,000 pounds of halibut.
Nearly 200 boxes of it were delivered to Nome on Wednesday, according to Donna James, a senior planner for the Bering Strait nonprofit corporation Kawerak. She said the delivery is being sorted and will soon be distributed to Diomede, Gambell, Savoonga and Wales.
The halibut is a donation from SeaShare, a Washington state nonprofit that supplies seafood to hunger relief efforts.
All four villages declared states of economic disaster after a spring harvest that Vera Metcalf called significantly worse than usual. Metcalf is the director of the Eskimo Walrus Commission and worked with the villages to declare their disasters. She said the commission reached out to the state and the governor's office for help through Rep. Neal Foster and Sen. Donny Olson.
"Their staffs were really good about following up with our concerns, making sure the communities were aware that the state of Alaska and Walker's administration were aware of the situation," Metcalf said. "And this halibut came around and it was available and it's free and the communities wanted access to that."
The U.S. Coast Guard brought the frozen halibut to Nome free of charge, and James said Kawerak is working with Bering Air, Erickson Helicopters and Ravn Alaska to organize free freight delivery to the four villages.
Although the donation is good news, Metcalf said it's only a temporary solution, as climate change makes hunting more difficult.
"In the event that another disaster is declared, what do we do? And how do we move forward? We need to come up with a long-term plan," she said.
For now, Metcalf said the donation will be a big help, even if it doesn't entirely solve the food shortages.
"I know it won't fill the nutritional value that a walrus or other marine mammals provide, but it's there and it'll be put to good use," she said.
The halibut will ship out as soon as Kawerak can coordinate delivery with the different airlines. Kawerak will then distribute the fish equally to households in each community.
This story was originally published by KNOM radio in Nome and is republished here with permission.