JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski says Alaska’s share of $75 million for federal fisheries disasters nationwide will be about $21 million.
The money is meant to address the 2012 disaster declared for Alaska Chinook salmon fisheries in the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers and Cook Inlet. A Murkowski spokesman says a plan for spending the money will now be developed between the state and affected parties.
More than three dozen members of Congress, including Alaska’s delegation, sought $150 million for fisheries disasters that have been declared since 2012. The final total included in an omnibus spending bill was $75 million.
Murkowski, in a release, called the funding news “a great beginning to making our fishing communities whole.” She said she would work to get the funding to Alaska as quickly as possible.
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