SEITC and WCA Launch Critical Seafood Survey Amid Escalating Concerns Over Alaska's Water Quality

WRANGELL, Alaska — The Southeast Alaska Indigenous Transboundary Commission (SEITC), in partnership with the Wrangell Cooperative Association (WCA), is launching a year-long initiative to survey seafood consumption rates among Wrangell residents. Alaska’s water-quality standards, based on the outdated assumption that people consume just 6.5 grams of fish per day, vastly underestimate the reality of Indigenous subsistence diets. This outdated standard allows more pollution in waters that serve as vital food sources for communities.

“Fish and seafood are central to our way of life,” said Esther Aaltseen Reese, SEITC president and WCA tribal administrator, whose family relies on salmon. “And current consumption rates do not reflect this reality.”

Southeast Alaska’s waterways and traditional foods face mounting threats from industrial contamination and climate-driven change. Just across the Canadian border, upstream of the transboundary Taku, Stikine, and Unuk Rivers, large-scale mining projects risk leaching toxic waste into salmon-bearing rivers that have sustained Indigenous peoples for millennia. At sea, during tourist season, cruise ships discharge millions of gallons of sewage and other waste into coastal waters each day. Rising pollution and warming seas are fueling more frequent harmful algal blooms (HABs), which in turn cause dangerous spikes in paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP). In recent years, PSP outbreaks have forced emergency harvest closures and sent subsistence gatherers to the hospital. In 2024, the EPA warned Alaska to strengthen its water-quality standards or face federal intervention. Progress remains slow, and key environmental protections have been further dismantled. 

“It’s critical to gather data from Southeast communities that depend on seafood,” said Guy Archibald, SEITC Executive Director. “These are the people most exposed to food-borne contaminants. Alaska is expected to adopt regional consumption rates, and what’s considered safe in Anchorage may not be protective enough for the Southeast.”

“Wild foods are still a safe and healthy option to most store-bought options,” Archibald added. “We just want to ensure they stay that way.”