DOGE Alaska has uncovered a massive federal grant to the Sitka Tribe of Alaska so that its members can buy king crab and king salmon from local fishermen, with the stated priority of buying from commercial fishermen who are also tribal members. That way the money circulated back into the tribe.
The $2.4 million grant award came from the Department of Agriculture in a grant program intended to help “socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers.” The grant awarded to the Sitka tribe allows 1,000 tribal households the ability to buy king crab, Dungeness crab, shrimp, salmon, and halibut from local commercial fishermen through a contact by the Sitka Tribe. This is not subsistence, and it’s not SNAP benefits (although people can buy king crab with their EBT cards), but is supposed to ensure greater food security for the members of the tribe, by allowing them to get free seafood right off the boats.
Frozen king crab legs sell at Safeway in Juneau for about $80 a pound.
The Department of Agriculture food security grant indicates that commercial fishermen of Alaska fall into that socially disadvantaged category that the grant covers. Here’s the grant language:
“The purpose of this agreement is to purchase and distribute local food, targeting purchases from socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers. Through this program, Sitka Tribe of Alaska will contract with local fishermen (prioritizing local fishermen who are tribal citizens) and local processors, as needed, for the purchase and distribution of crab (king and Dungeness), shrimp, and fish (salmon and halibut).
“Provide up to 1,000 tribal households with crab, shrimp, and fish during the appropriate seasons in 2024 and 2025 by establishing contracts between Sitka Tribe of Alaska and local fishermen (prioritizing tribal citizens) and processors, as needed. Create a central and accessible location where tribal citizens can pick up minimally processed (only to the level of maintaining freshness/quality—sealed) crab, shrimp, and fish that is ready for storage or immediate use. The plans for distribution will be included in the contracts between Sitka Tribe and the fishermen, ensuring that staff of Sitka Tribe can provide any necessary support.
“Establish strong, lasting relationships between Sitka Tribe of Alaska and local fishermen, preferably local fishermen who are tribal citizens, in order to ensure Sitka Tribe’s support of our local business operators and allow for local fishermen to contribute directly to their tribe and elders—honoring cultural traditions and fostering relationships between citizens, and between citizens and Sitka Tribe.
“Quarterly performance reports will be submitted to capture the number of producers, socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers, distribution sites, and underserved locations, as well as funds expended for each category. Annual reports will provide percentages of new marketing opportunities and purchases distributed beyond current food distribution networks.
“The primary beneficiaries of this program will be the tribal households (up to 1,000 households) who will receive crab, shrimp, and fish during the appropriate seasons in 2024 and 2025, and the local fishermen we contract with to receive these goods. The recipient does not intend to subaward funds.”
Only one award per state was made out of the “Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program Plus (LFPA Plus)” grant that awarded $2.4 million to the Sitka Tribe.
Read more about the program here to click through all the associated grant documents.
DOGE Alaska is a group of citizens that are researching waste, fraud, and abuse. It is a project, not a formal organization. Read more about it at the link below:
So why are they the only people to get free crab??
Where’s MY $2,400 worth of king crab??
The fishermen should be able to support themselves or not be in the fishing business.
If we have to subsidize the natives one will that ever end because they don’t make any product to support themselves. Yes they are important part of our culture, but it seems like it’s a one-way flow of money.
Tax dollars definitely shouldn’t be used for that.
Just remember this ideology when it comes to your desire to log in the Tongass….
This topic has absolutely nothing to do with logging the Tongass. Every logger I met and worked with back in the day earned their paycheck.
Under qualified leadership the choice to log the Tongass will have nothing to do w/ any tit-for-tat trade you might envision, Holloway. An example of that would be when Trump 45 exempted the Tongass from the Roadless Rule policy you weren’t contacted.
The reason? Well, that would be for you to ponder.
Up until recently native cultures were conquered and assimilated. It absolved the superior culture of any need to even hear whatever nonsense might come from the freshly assimilated group. Modern Alaska Native cultures were spared that when they were bought and paid for as chattel during the Alaska Purchase. In the 70’s Natives were gifted recognition of a sort but that they might ever have been granted the authority to impede national progress is laughable. Your flawed logic is leading you in the wrong direction.
Recalculate.
The fishing industry itself is subsidized. The farm industry is subsidized. The oil industry is subsidized (massively). If you want to complain about 2.4 million, complain about the billions the oil industry gets.
Why do so many leftists not know what a subsidy is?
A subsidy is not taking money from a producer and then giving them a little bit of that money back. Government is in a parasitical relationship with oil.
Oil funds government all over the world, from the freest of markets to those with the tightest control.
Please give us just one clear and precise example of the US Government subsidizing the “oil industry.”
The US government doesn’t. Our so called representation in the Alaskan government does by giving the oil in our ground away for well below a proper return. And we don’t get more jobs, money(still laughing about this farce of a promise) production or anything
Sorry we do get something. A loss of revenue that could support our state in so many ways that has gone so far that we can’t even count on a dividend and will soon see the return of sales and income tax
Amen to that. There is only a handout of money to the industry with no return for us or our state. No matter what lies the puppets spew
Cheddar: So we should just turn a blind eye because “Everyone else is getting away with it”! That’s your logic? No thanks. Anywhere there is corruption and political payback, we need to root it out and crush it. Everywhere. There will be pain in this process and it is a much needed process.
Mark is correct. The Natives can’t seem to support themselves without the public giving them $$$. And what does the public receive in return:
.
Stay off their land, no trespassing.
Racist name calling.
No gratitude.
.
Little wonder the public is turned off by subsidies and hand-outs to the Natives.
I think that instead of bring jealous of human beings who have been almosr eradicated that receive pennies on the dollar to help them have some semblance of agriculture and sustainability, focus on corporations who are buying up real estate that drive up housing costs and lower available affordable housing for Alaskans. The Natives are not your enemy.
Tim ,nobody got any free king crab or shrimp. The salmon and white fish have a highly competitive charter and commercial fisheries. Very few of the locals are lucky enough to turn over a rock and find a free meal….
Tell me who was surprised?
Not I.
Well that isn’t right. I would like to know who authorized this.
Who has a native wife?
Federal money, so not Him. Sounds like Murky….
A growing number of Alaskans aren’t represented in the Senate. I hope that changes the allegiances of those who have voted for her in the past. Like Mary Peltola, Murkowski is not what Alaska needs in Washington. We need a “Groundswell” of Trump Supporters to encourage her to change to the Democratic Party; she has never been a Republican. She voted for virtually all of Biden’s trillion-plus dollar spending bills. She said she was done with Trump; most Alaskans support President Trump. Term limits would be a great solution to the Murkowski problem.
Might it be the “Princess” for the Native vote? Just suggesting as it came from a friend of a friend.
How does this foster and encourage preservation and continued growth of Alaska Native cultures? How does it instill pride and confidence in
individual Alaska Natives? This is nothing but grift. Free sh*t without expending effort. In short, welfare for the Sitka Tribe that cannot be afforded by most Americans, and even Alaskans. And they proudly link up for this? And the American taxpayer pays for this. Without their knowledge. Until now.
Ask the oil industry that gets billions
They produce billions.
Not for Alaska. We give them billions freely by letting them have the oil for well less than proper value. And we get zilch in return
Yeah not the same!
The oil industry produces oil and pays taxes last I checked. This on the other hand produces nothing, but more dependence, pays no taxes and it is discriminatory as it only appears to supports certain native fishermen. In my opinion it also reinforces the stereotype that native entities can not manage without outside help. A sentiment ANCSA specifically aimed to alleviate in giving tools to native corporation to be self-supportive.
Paid to buy their own crab and Salmon, with our Federal taxes?! That is definitely not using our taxes for the intended purposes! This kind of abuse must stop!
Maybe take a look at US farm subsidies, Cato Institute puts the figure at $30 billion per year! Now do big oil if you are sincerely concerned about federal and state tax dollars being squandered. Not that this king crab finding isn’t important.
C-Bass,
Sounds like you’ve got quite the mind for this whole DOGE thing, let’s get after those farm subsidies. While you are at it take a look at how much funding big oil provides to all levels of government, and try to wrap your mind around the impact of not having the revenue provided by big oil to government would have…since big oil subsidizes all levels of government I have no doubt it would be a real eye opener for you.
Another piece of Democrat racism.
.
“They and the dinosaurs were here first. Therefore, they get the King Crab……..and everything else, including the Budweiser.”
Crab cakes and a Bud. Tribal energy for those long-distance snowmobile rides to McDonalds and Papa Johns.
These comments are tone-deaf and show a lack of critical thinking. They don’t contribute any meaningful insight to this discussion.
Really? I think these comments are reflective of years and years of the theft of taxation and the angst of watching the money being piddled away by petty politicians and bureaucrats. And don’t you dare say anything about the way we redistribute your wealth or we call you a racist and cancel you. No, these comments are a dose of reality for you.
lol.
What? The villages don’t have take-out?
No drone drops?
What ever happened to muktuk and a Bud?
So much more Alaskan. And more critical thought.
LOL
What do they mean by “socially disadvantaged”? Everyone knows that Alaska natives get first pick of everything, including jobs. I see no disadvantage for them anywhere.
Including bids on federal jobs, state hiring, fishing and hunting, etc.
Keep digging for the truth about … “Waste – Fraud – Abuse”
This is the type of stuff that needs to be highlighted publicly!
Keep going DOGE. I can’t stand Trump but this is good.
If it were not for Trump this would never be found better change your tune
I think Liz is saying she doesn’t like Trump on a personal level, but sees that he is doing things good for our nation.
He needs to curb the current upwards trend of inflation before changing any tunes.
He is only human and it will take awhile for prices to drop.
I would rather have the money laundering taken care of first then the prices. It will take some time for prices to drop but what could help is a recession with 1 million government workers layed off.
How does that help? How does reducing the safety nets of the federal govt, which include your ability to have clean water, helpful to inflation?
Rooting out the waste and fraud and stopping it will help in easing inflation. The only cause of inflation is government spending not consumer spending.
He’s only been in office for how many weeks now? Give the guy a chance. Did you express these same sentiments towards creepy Joe too? Or was inflation under his corrupt watch ok with you?
I guarantee that if Biden did the things that Trump and Elon are doing now, y’all would be flooding the airwaves with protests. MAGA Republicans would be up in arms. This current Administration is literally the cabinet from Idiocracy. Comacho Brown has more sense, empathy and compassion than Elon and Trump combined.
I would imagine the Natives would prefer the white people simply leave instead of receiving $$$$
Frank, I’m native American, I was born here.
According to a study conducted back in 2016 between 30% and 60% of coastal Alaska Natives aren’t all that Native anymore (less than 1/4 blood quantum). A generation later since those numbers were reported this has likely increased even more. So, which Natives are you referring to? Anecdotally, I know some white-skinned, red-haired, Alaska Natives (by minimum blood quantum) here in Southeast; they didn’t get that way without a rather significant amount of white in the recipe.
Prior to Trump, this would rate as a “Racist” post. Now viewed as a common observation, pleasently quietly noted by many,
Cheers,
Frank, I’m Eskimo. The whites are welcome, but the illegal immigrants and refugees can go home.
I don’t doubt there are some, however there’d be a lot fewer natives with a much much harder way of life and I imagine the vast majority wouldn’t be willing to give up all of the things that the evil whiteman brought with them.
white folks leave? Ok and take their teachers, oil production facilities, ports, hospitals, courts and law enforcement.. I guess those frost heaves in the road will just heal themselves. And manage fisheries, yeah, sure.
what is an ak native and of course they must be 100%
Oh “ Frank”….
Bad, even by your low standards. Lead by example and give everything you own to a native of your choice.
Then return to wherever 23 & me says you’re from.
But you won’t.
How 1867 of you Frank!
The big push to expose wasteful spending is interesting in a lot of ways. I can’t help but wonder how much of all this money comes from tax dollars, and how much comes from someone “creating” money by entering ones and zeros into a computer.
How about the rest of us Alaskan folks, do we deserve less? Sure could use a few million bucks for us old folks; us without fishing boats or free land.
Where’s Murkowski on this?
Ever heard the saying”Don’t bite the hand that feeds you “ that’s where the RINO is at.
So start applying for grants
Start with this governor Dunleavy and work back. Hope you scrape right to the bottom of the barrel and don’t forget the payouts from the Permanent Dividend Fund. That would be the big one for embezzlement.
Pilot bread, Velveeta, and spam… while watching satellite TV on the flat screen, after a day playing on the four wheeler, boat, or snow machine? When this becomes too boring, have your 12 year old daughter fake some abdominal pain so the entire family gets an all expense paid shopping, I mean medical, trip to Anchorage? Just asking.
Only one escort on Medicaid. The whole fam would have to buy their airfare.
Meanwhile in a small village in Interior Alaska, the typical evening meal is Pilot Bread, Velveeta and a slice of Spam.
No real good reason for that, since nearly all Natives can claim food stamps, and other programs. Honestly, no white folks took anyone’s job in the interior, they just offered federal assistance, and some Natives decided it was easier to quit subsisting. Lots of white folks decided that, too, during and after Covid. If you can’t make a living where you are, go to where you can. That was true of subsistence, and it’s true now.
and beer
Hopefully this is the first of many scams you uncover and are able to stop.
Wow! It’s amazing that 1 little article, with no real understanding of the people and their lives or context, can get people so butthurt and jealous. So many opinions on a subject y’all literally know nothing about!
That’s nice, now instead of insulting all why not explain it??
Isn’t it better to give insight, so we can gain the understanding you claim we lack?
Go ahead we’ll wait……
Actually half of us have been to rural AK.
We know what we see there.
Growing up and living many years between 2 large Indian reservations (that went from rags to riches), I can tell you that government throwing money at them does nothing. In fact, it just creates more hopelessness and despair. But, could that be the plan? The Democrats always need a dependent underclass.
This must be the systemic and structural racism the wokesters were talking about.
$2.4 million for 1000 families for food – 2.67 folks per family (state average) —> $899 per person for 2024 and 2025 or $450 per year each.
Meanwhile the state of AK paid out $1702 per each in the form of PFDs to 624,489 individuals disadvantaged or not in 2024. Some of those folks’ have net worth in the MILLIONS of dollars, even tens of millions. Just saying something about a molehill blown into a mountain.
Sour grapes are hard to swallow aren’t they..
I love that the pfd is an equal share for all citizens no matter who you are, how young, how old, your race, your employment status. And it is based on the performance of our money in the stock market from the sale of our natural resource, in our state. I really feel a sense of ownership because of it and want to protect this investment for myself and my future Alaskan family.
If only homeschool families had equal access to the BSA! Whereas Family partnership receives over $8,0000 per student to “educate them” (ahem… I educate them!) I get less than half of that in compensation for my materials only. And they dictate what I can and can’t spend the money on. Plus, it’s even more lopsided with all the other programs. Talk about hog heaven for them! If we’re going to have a discussion about government spending, let’s discuss how school choice is litigated, legislated, and discriminated into the back corners of society, all while the education magnates take in our state and federal tax dollars to support “administration” costs.
Welfare programs from the government are not the same as the pfd by any stretch of the imagination. And if you want your state dollar to count, maybe show some passive concern with our severely broken education system, rather than seeking a new piggy bank to plunder on behalf of the unions and “teachers” in correspondence programs who don’t teach anyone.
The PFD is a bit of interest off of income “given” back to citizens, this situation is tax payer dollars taken from working families around the country given to select groups of other families.
How about cut these programs and leave money in the pockets of the earners? Then maybe they can buy some king crab to support the fishermen who can work for the dollars.
As a kid, growing up in the village of west Fairbanks, I loved fried Spam sandwiches on toast with mustard. I thought that it was pretty cool that my parents (mom mostly) let me make my own when I was 8 or 9 years old.
Yeah. Let me exercise my “white privilege” a bit more and get taxpayers to buy me some kings, both crab and salmon. What a crock. We’ll just call it what it is: Reparations.
Sitka isn’t the only village, we lived in one where all the tribal members were getting cases of salmon and steaks plus they had their snap cards. I hope that not only does DOGE shut down the grift but I hope the DOJ investigates the villages for fraud as we’ve seen plenty of that from FEMA to the COVID $$$.
And don’t forget when the incarcerated natives were served King Crab and moose due to their need to keep in touch with their culture… paid by US dollars.
Wait until you all find out how much the State and Feds give away to oil and metals companies that don’t pay taxes in any way lol
Burt,
Please do tell, since apparently you are in the know. Do you also know how much oil and metals companies fund all levels of government, if so feel free to share that information as well.
Giving back money that was taken is not a subsidy. When I file my taxes at the end of the year, if I am sent a refund it is not a subsidy, it is the government returning the money I paid.
My, aren’t we a bit off topic Burt.
Lots of good comments here! Ak DOGE look into NSEDC/Nome
AND KAWAREK!
For the record, if the Sitka Tribe is meeting the conditions of their grant agreement, then there’s no waste, fraud, or abuse happening. The money is being spent as intended with transparency. Now we can debate if these are the types of causes we want fund as a society, but it’s really inaccurate and meant to rile people up, when you call it waste fraud and abuse.
For the record the grant IS the waste, the grant IS the fraud, and the grant IS the abuse of tax payer funds.
No comment subsistence king crab fishing in Ak . I think a person is allowed 5 king Crabs per day . Maybe just buy the folks crab pots . I was hunting down in Kodiak thirty years ago we were eating fresh king crab . It was everywhere in the community . Personal use fishery .
“Commercial fishermen of Alaska fall into that socially disadvantaged category that the grant covers.
WHAT A LOAD OF PURE C—
This STEALING and nothing more
This just makes me crabby…!
Will anything actually be done?
Big Government Spending? Please. In a state where the feds will drop over $16.5 billion in 2024 (‘https://www.usaspending.gov/state/alaska/2025?utm_source=chatgpt.com), people are suddenly clutching their pearls over 0.01% of that going to a tribal food security program? If this is where you’ve decided to take a stand against government waste, you might want to take a walk outside and look at, well, literally anything else the federal budget touches. If you’re fine with billions in federal spending propping up the state but outraged over a few million going to indigenous communities, you might want to ask yourself why.
I wouldn’t sit by the phone waiting for the Pulitzer Committee to call. But if you want to know how it would feel, give the folks over at the ADN a ring, as they have lots of experience with them.
There you go again, maligning the author instead of debating the topic. Kinda sad!
The ADN and their ProPublica handlers certainly have a knack for only reporting certain stories and half of them are from the Associated Press and the Washington Post anyway.
It’s a chickensh*t story. Hard-hitting exposé for sure, but definitely not Pulitzer material.
Anyone, regardless of ethnicity, is only “disadvantaged” if they lack the universal economic equalizer. Money.
We have to pay the fishermen to feed their own people? Why aren’t they willing to feed their own people themselves and why do we have to pay for it? Just another money grabbing scam from the working class, who cares about them-just take their money.
Commercial industries have been depleting Alaska Native resources for decades, profiting off traditional food sources while many Native communities struggle with food insecurity. It only makes sense that a grant like this helps tribal citizens access the seafood that was once abundant and central to their way of life. Giving back to Native communities isn’t a handout, it’s a step toward restoring what was taken.
Good point.
But Native communities have received substantial largesse from the US over the years.
They now want education for their children, freedom to travel by modern means &, in Sitka’s case, a commercial fishery.
I don’t know what kind of fantasy world you’re living in, “Alaska”, but this bizarre notion that we have two classes of citizens with an eternal and heritable debt owed by one class to the other needs to be trashed like the warped and un-American affront to all that it is.
I really shouldn’t have to explain it to you but those who you’re pretending are owed something by the rest of us are lucky enough to have had White people come along with civilization in the first place and no amount of hand-me-down story-telling or crying in one’s beer negates that simple fact.
Y’know, carrying on like an aggrieved and entitled beggar might suit you well but you’re doing a gross disservice to any young Natives you might interact with if you don’t keep the entirety of this delusional garbage you’re lugging around to yourself.
Nobody owes you or yours anything at all, Sonny. Let that sink in.
There are no Alaska Native resources and undermining public trust in support of an artificial food insecurity issue is sensible only to those gaming the system. You are talking about a community with a legacy of eating beach carrion (wait until the milt is white) and suggest that others should pay for them to eat what the rest of us can’t. Speaking from a position of entitlement won’t be enough. What else ya got?
It wasn’t taken. Alaska was bought from Russia. If there is a beef about taken land then go argue with Russia. World history repeats with those than conquer and those that are conquered. While we are on the subject, it is statistically improbable that those who claim to be Alaska natives didn’t conquer the former occupying people who lived here before them.
Please include me
They used to make fun of the proposal to build a bridge to the Ketchikan airport. Small dollars compared to the waste to nowhere in particular.
So each household gets roughly $1200 in a year via this grant. The grant was over a two year span for 1000 households. I am fine with my tax dollars doing this, we spend money on far worse things than feeding people.
You may have missed a meeting, Lav. This isn’t about whether or not public money may have been squandered more extravagantly in other areas; it’s about eliminating irresponsible and extravagant spending in every sector.
When I read this I thought it impossible. The insanity of the government, both state and federal is beyond understanding.
I don’t see any waste, fraud, or abuse here.
I only see native-hating racists despising a program that helps disadvantaged natives get fed and their communities funded.
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