Southeast Village Fisheries Collective
Anchoring fishing rights in Southeast Alaska
About Us
We are an Alaska-based nonprofit organization with a mission to empower rural and Native fishermen in Southeast Alaska to access, use, steward, and invest in fisheries resources that benefit their communities. Fishing is vital to life in Southeast, and secure, collective access to sustainable fisheries resources is essential to economic development, community wellbeing, and Tribal sovereignty.
“When we have more Alaska Native people fishing, they can feed their families in these communities where the cost of living is exorbitant…. They can fuel those local economies within their communities, and continue to carry culture forward.”
– Jill Weitz, Central Council of the Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska
A mechanism for local ownership
We believe that fishing rights should be rooted in communities that value fisheries resources as providers of food, culture, connection, and economic resilience. As an approved Community Quota Entity (CQE), we are one of a few entities authorized by NOAA to purchase Pacific halibut Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) for the exclusive and permanent use of small, rural, coastal communities in the Gulf of Alaska. Many of these communities have lost access to the resource over time, degrading their economies, causing population decline, and reducing access to traditional fisheries and ways of life.
“It seems like a lot of these villages, Kasaan is no different, we’re kind of coming to a time of reckoning here where the older generations have made money off of industries that don’t exist anymore for younger generations.”
– Nang K’adangáas Eric Hamar, SVFC Board Member & Fisherman
Tribal Sovereignty
Southeast Alaska is the traditional home of the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian peoples. We are majority-Native-led and work closely with Tribal partners to ensure our work protects and promotes Tribal sovereignty. By increasing Native participation in the halibut fishery, we aim to provide a stronger voice for Native people in the fishery’s management and promote lasting stewardship.
