The impact of the historic salmon declines is profound on our communities.

I would like to thank U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski and the US Senate Committee on Indian Affairs for holding this Field Hearing

Again, it is not going to be a perfect solution, but hopefully it is a stepping stone in the right direction.

I would just really encourage Senator Lisa Murkowski and the Committee on Indian Affairs that you please govern us for the health and well-being of our people.

I have actually been challenged on this, on even having this field hearing here in Bethel.

Do it now, because you don't want Alaska to be the next devastating American dust bowl.

What do we do to replace wild food sources, like salmon, when they are in such states of collapse?

The burden of conservation is borne primarily by those who live along the coast.

I think we recognize, as important as your Federal delegation is, and we all work hard on these issues, Federal legislative changes are just tough.

Failure to do so will be a death blow to my river, to my people, and our survival, before we go extinct.

There are no permanent protections for that co-stewardship.

We must work together, because ultimately the loss of salmon threatens your ways of life.

Help me end suicide. Help me protect our Native rights. Help me restore our resources for future generations. And most of all, help me save Alaska.

We bear the brunt of the conservation. We, the end users, the little people, the people that matter, have been silenced, we have been ignored, we have been marginalized by the very government that is here to protect our interests as…

This is not the time or the place to develop the world's largest open pit mine on the backs of the tribal nations of this region.

Because again, what we set this up to do was to facilitate exactly that, to get the local knowledge incorporated, to have the voices truly listened to.

When you rely on salmon for your food source, it is not just because it is what is on sale. It is because it is what you have.

Congress needs to amend ANILCA to protect, once and for all, Alaska Native and Rural subsistence hunting and fishing rights.

We can never thank enough those who have stood to defend us and our Country's freedoms.

Our subsistence way of life must have unconditional Federal support, and the State of Alaska must show willingness to seek a different path forward other than litigation.

Let's have a demonstration project on co-management. Let's fund it.

So, one of the things that I often hear is that on Federal lands and waters, our subsistence resources and habitat are not being actively managed to ensure viable resource populations.

It is so important that your connection to this resource be shared in a way that people from Washington, D.C. and other parts of the Country may not be able to quickly grasp.

To the rest of the Country, we are located on the edge of the map.

Stop allowing the status quo so as to not affect industry harvest to the extent practicable in fisheries management.