Tribal groups seek $1.1M in fees after beating Alaska on Kuskokwim fishing rights

The Association of Village Council Presidents and the Alaska Federation of Natives are seeking more than $1.1 million in combined attorneys' fees from the State of Alaska after prevailing in a federal case over who controls subsistence salmon harvests on the Kuskokwim River.

AVCP filed its renewed motion on June 12 in United States District Court for the District of Alaska, seeking $632,240.56 in fees and costs, broken down as $629,101 in attorneys' fees and $3,139.56 in costs. That total includes $302,603 for district court work and $174,200 for the Ninth Circuit appeal, plus additional amounts. The Alaska Federation of Natives filed a separate motion seeking $494,423, including $144,399 for district court litigation and $196,822 for the appellate phase. The Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission was among the intervenor plaintiffs in the case, though the fee filing in the record is from AVCP and its member tribal plaintiffs.

The Underlying Case

The underlying case, United States v. State of Alaska, Case No. 1:22-cv-00054-SLG, established that the federal government holds management authority over gillnet salmon harvests on the Kuskokwim within the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge, not the State of Alaska. The U.S. Supreme Court denied Alaska's petition for review on January 12, 2026, leaving the lower court rulings intact.

The AVCP motion states that its plaintiffs are prevailing parties and are entitled to an award of attorneys' fees and costs in the amount of $632,240.56, plus reasonable fees incurred in submitting and defending the application.

The State's Opposition

The State filed oppositions to both motions on June 18. Against AVCP, Alaska argued that "The Court should hold that the AVCP's request for fees is barred under the Eleventh Amendment" and asked the court to "significantly reduce the amount awarded to AVCP—by at least 50%—for the reasons provided." Against the Alaska Federation of Natives, the State sought denial or sharp reduction of the fee request on similar grounds.

The Eleventh Amendment argument raises a threshold question of sovereign immunity. The State's oppositions contend that large fee awards would burden state finances and set a precedent for future tribal-federal litigation over fishery management authority, according to the court filings.

AVCP represents dozens of federally recognized tribes in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. The organization has been publicly engaged on what it describes as an ongoing salmon crisis in the region. The Kuskokwim litigation sits inside that broader context of declining runs and contested management authority.

The federal court has not yet ruled on the fee motions.