Alaska Fish and Game attempts to effectively
starve out Villagers

"Who needs smallpox blankets, we can starve them out !"

AF&G says screw you to the villagers ... Yup'ik elders say ..   Right back at ya !!

In another demonstration of their colossal arrogance to the native peoples in Alaska, AF&G  extended the closure of the Kuskokwim River after a near unanimous vote to re-open it by all .. except the one lone representative of the commercial fishing industry objected.  Despite the empty fish houses and prospects for a rough winter without the staple most folks there (Akiak) live on, apparently Cora Campbell of AF&G and Lisa Murkowski decided that the commercial fishing interests were far more important then people starving this winter.

And this is when Yupik leaders did what leaders do ... They said "Go get the fish !! Go do what we must do for the survival of our village."

Villages fish for Kings despite closures ... (KYUK)

"Subsistence fishing for King salmon is happening on the Kuskokwim River even though closures are in place. Several villages and dozens of boats participated today. Yup’ik elders have been meeting with village fishers and telling them that they should fish for their families. A handful of tribes put out resolutions saying they have the right to fish as sovereign governments. "Then it was on !   Alaska Wildlife Troopers and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service invaded the small Alaska village and seized (and destroyed !) 21 nets and 1,100 pounds of salmon along the Kuskokwim River Wednesday. They also handed out 33 citations to fishermen protesting the subsistence King salmon closures.

Then the seized fish was donated to local charities !!!   (Where down in Anchorage?)   That is obscene !!!

Now let me get this straight ...  The State of Alaska is coming in and telling the natives and villagers about conservationism !!!   Please give me a break !

My dad once said to me "It's not really as important what people say .. but watch what they do !" and never was it truer then today.  I listened to Lisa Murkowski and other representatives of the STATE as they wringed their hands and expressed all that 'concern' about the folks in Akiak  .. then I looked at how they expressed that 'CONCERN'  !!

A) They invaded the village and using armed  agents (presumably) and issued some 33 summonses with the attendant fines to people who can least afford to have whatever small financial assets they have managed to save, drained off.

B) They seized or destroyed some 21 nets so that the folks there could not use them to fish (legal or not !)

C) They then confiscated the FOOD (yes, fish is food !) and decided to give it away to someone else .. while the folks who worked for it starve this winter !

Does this sound like the actions of someone who is concerned with the welfare of the people of Akiak ? !!   I think not !

 I salute the people of Akiak and the Yu'pik leaders who said "Enough !"  Perhaps it's time for the rest of us to take a hint and start pushing back at a government that has grown fat and arrogant while feeding off the taxpayers and citizens like a tick on a dog ..

Bill 'Grizzly' Adams

Wasilla AK.