Chignik Intertribal Coalition sues state, Board of Fisheries in Dillingham court

The Chignik Intertribal Coalition sued the State of Alaska, the Alaska Board of Fisheries, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game and Cori Mills, listed by the Department of Law as acting attorney general, on Tuesday in Dillingham Superior Court.

The court's daily cases-filed report lists only the parties. It does not describe the claims or what the coalition asks the court to order.

The lawsuit follows a dispute over Proposal 126, which the coalition brought to the board. The board adopted it by a 4-3 vote on Feb. 23 at its Alaska Peninsula and Chignik finfish meeting in Anchorage. The proposal cut commercial salmon fishing time and area in part of the South Alaska Peninsula.

The Aleutians East Borough, the Native Village of Unga, Area M Seiners Association and Concerned Area M Fishermen sued April 3 to challenge Proposal 126 and four other rules from that meeting. Mills voided all five in a May 19 Order of Corrective Action under the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act and disapproved them in a May 20 letter, according to an Aleutians East Borough release. The court report does not say whether the coalition's suit concerns that action.

The board designated Chignik River early-run sockeye a stock of management concern in April 2022 after the run failed to meet escapement goals over four to five years, according to the department's 2026 action plan.

Chignik king salmon escapement fell to 267 fish in 2023, against a goal of 1,300 to 2,700. The king run met its goal in 2025 for the first time since 2019, Alaska News reported Feb. 19.