alASKA NATIVE FISHING RIGHTS ARE AT RISK!
Safari Club Takes Advantage of Sympathetic Trump Administration to Threaten Alaska Native Fishing Rights and Salmon
In May 2025, the Safari Club, a nationwide recreational hunting and fishing lobbying group , filed a Petition for Rulemaking with the Secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture to amend the regulations governing the Federal Subsistence Management Program, the Office of Subsistence Management, and the Federal Subsistence Board (FSB). The Safari Club petition asks the agencies to reduce the staff of the FSB to only seats held by federal agency heads (who are political appointees) and eliminate all public seats, including the three Tribally-nominated seats recently added to the Board.
The Petition is also a major threat to the Rule Subsistence Priority (RSP) under the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act which prohibits subsistence fishing for salmon and other species in rural areas except for local residents. Because the Petition also asked the Secretaries to order the FSB to defer to the State of Alaska in setting regulations, this would effectively eliminate the RSP because the Alaska Supreme Court has determined the Priority to be unconstitutional under the state Constitution and the State of Alaska cannot legally implement the RSP.
The Safari Club has also joined with the Dunleavy Administration’s attacks on the Katie John precedent that confirmed the RSP and that the definition of “public lands” with regard to ANILCA includes those navigable waters in which the United States has an interest by virtue of the Reserved Water Rights Doctrine. After the Ninth Circuit recently affirmed it’s original decision in Katie John and the U.S. Supreme Court denied an appeal by the state, the Safari Club has been working with the state and the Trump administration to come in through the back door in undermining federal subsistence protections not just on the Kuskokwim but on rivers throughout Alaska. Because it would open rapidly depleting salmon populations to more fishing pressure the SC’s attempts to eliminate the RSP, therefore, not only threatens Native fishing rights but also the fishery itself.
In order to ensure that it considers all the aspects of a potential new decision, the Department of the Interior has requested scoping comments in response to the Safari Club’s petition for rulemaking. Scoping comments are different from those provided in response to a proposed rule which will take place sometime in the spring of 2026.
Please Submit Comments:
Tell DOI and DOA how the FSB impacts your region and ask the Department to fully consider all potential impacts to your region from changes to the FSB, which could include the total loss of the rural subsistence priority. Comments are due by February 13, 2026, and can be submitted by email to subsistence@ios.doi.gov, or through www.regulations.gov, docket number DOI-2025-0170.
DOI will be holding Tribal Consultation sessions on this review with Tribes and Alaska Native Corporations state-wide, in-person and virtually, on March 10 and 17, 2026, at 1:30 - 3:30 p.m. Tribes and Alaska Native Corporations will be notified directly with more details. Make sure your Tribal government recieves this notice for consultation and if not, make sure to request the notice.
