NOAA awards Bristol Bay fishermen's group $499,400 to push sockeye into restaurants and schools

The Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association is getting nearly half a million federal dollars to put more sockeye salmon on restaurant, school and hospital menus. NOAA Fisheries awarded the association (BBRSDA) $499,400 through the Saltonstall-Kennedy grant program, which puts duties on imported seafood into marketing and research for U.S. fisheries. The project, "Wild Alaska Sockeye Salmon in Food Service," runs from Sept. 1, 2026, through Aug. 31, 2028, or about $249,700 a year.

BBRSDA, founded in 2005, represents about 1,800 drift permit holders, the people licensed to drift gillnet salmon in the bay, and more than 8,000 small-boat fishermen. It funds its work through a 1% assessment on salmon driftnet landings.

"This grant comes at an especially important time for Bristol Bay's fishermen, as the seafood industry continues to navigate a challenging and highly competitive market," said Lilani Dunn, the association's executive director.

The association announced the award Sept. 11. NOAA has not: its published list of recommended Saltonstall-Kennedy projects ends with fiscal 2024, and the grant has not yet appeared in federal spending records. The association calls this its first Saltonstall-Kennedy award; federal records list a $95,250 award to it from the same program in 2010.

A 2023-2025 report to the Alaska Board of Fisheries put the three-year average price at $1.03 per pound and average ex-vessel value, what processors pay fishermen at the dock, at $192.6 million. The state's preliminary 2025 ex-vessel value for all Bristol Bay salmon came in at $215.3 million, 7% above the 20-year average of $200.7 million. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game forecast a 44-million inshore run for 2026 and has not published a season summary, so no state figure for this year's value exists yet.

Some fishermen and market participants question whether demand-building campaigns move ex-vessel prices quickly, or whether federal money would do more as direct economic stabilization or infrastructure investment. Others, through BBRSDA, back expanding into new sales channels as the way to lift the value of their catch.

BBRSDA is taking project proposals through Oct. 1 for priority consideration in next year's budget. The process is open to permit holders, municipalities, nonprofits, private companies, research institutions and state or local agencies, with reimbursement against milestones rather than money up front.