Alaska Native leaders expect the push for rural subsistence hunting and fishing rights to resurface this week as a major theme at the state's largest gathering of the state's indigenous people.
Consider the signs:
In Juneau, the regional Native corporation is calling for an overhaul of the federal subsistence board. Too many bureaucrats and not enough people who hunt and fish for their food, Sealaska Corp. argues.
In Bethel, the head of a non-profit representing 56 Yukon-Kuskokwim villages says the communities won't honor government fish and game management plans unless local tribes play a larger role in setting the rules. This after a village police officer was cited by federal officials for taking part in an illegal subsistence-fishing trip to protest restrictions this summer on the Yukon River.
And then there's state Sen. Albert Kookesh, also the co-chairman of the Alaska Federation of Natives, who is fighting a $500 subsistence fishing ticket of his own and demanding major changes to the way hunting and fishing is regulated in Alaska.
Read the full story at adn.com.