April 6, 2020
Office of Governor Mike Dunleavy
3rd Floor, State Capitol
PO Box 110001
Juneau, AK 99811

Re: Consider closure of the Bristol Bay commercial salmon fishery in 2020
Greetings Governor Dunleavy:
Attached please find the emergency ordinance adopted by the Dillingham City Council on Thursday,
April 2, 2020 and the Curyung Tribal Council’s Disaster Declaration (Resolution 2020-11) adopted March 24,
2020.
The City Emergency Ordinance is an attempt to get control of entry into our community by requiring a
permit. It will be extremely difficult to manage and requires that we divert staff, funding and attention away
from other critical activities. We’re prepared to do that to reduce the impact to the residents in our community
and region.
The Curyung Tribal Council emergency declaration stipulates that all non-essential air travel into and out
of the community of Dillingham cease by 12:01 a.m. March 26, 2020 and recommended this restriction apply to
travel from other villages as well as from regional centers and Anchorage and apply to all forms of
transportation including air travel, snow machine and other ground and water transportation.
Obviously the community of Dillingham considers the current pandemic to be of utmost importance. It
is the reason we have taken very serious measures to try to limit exposure to our residents. We’re prepared to
take more stringent measures in the near future.
Governor Dunleavy, the upcoming commercial fishing season has three critical segments; fish,
processors and fishermen/women.
Fish. They will come.
Processors. Processors that operate in our community will bring hundreds, if not thousands, of workers
to and through Dillingham. Currently your administration requires the submittal of a plan by every
processor that will operate in the state in 2020. We appreciate that processors have shared their plans
with us out of concern and as a courtesy. First, it is appalling that our community must rely on their
corporate conscience to be a part of the planning process. Our communities will be the FIRST to be
impacted by a huge influx of processing workers. While we appreciate the effort by some to consult
with us, we should NOT have to rely on the courtesy of industry to be included in such a critical exercise.
Second, we have considered many, many alternatives and we cannot foresee ANY plan that would avoid
a significant impact to our community. There is no way to prevent a potential mass disease situation
141 Main Street P.O. Box 889 Dillingham, Alaska 99576
City Hall & Finance Dept. (907) 842-5211 ● Fire Dept. 842-2288 ● Library/Museum 842-5610
Police Dept. 842-5354 ● Harbor Office 842-1069 ● Public Works 842-4598 ● Senior Center 842-1231
www.dillinghamak.us

 when a few hundred people are in close proximity with each other. There is no way that they can
comply with Health Mandate 11 on Social Distancing. Whether it is infection spread in the community
by direct contact with residents during their travel to and within the community or whether it will by
draining precious resources when processing employees becomes infected. Consider also that it could
involve a potential mass disease situation when a few hundred people are in close proximity with each
other. We must consider that we have limited medical resources in rural Alaska (and all of Alaska);
including within the Bristol Bay region. We must decide now whether those resources should be
devoted to current residents or instead to a temporary labor force?
Fishermen/women. This is of great concern to our community. Pursuant to the exemption included in
the Guidance on the Essential Critical Infrastructure Workforce: Ensuring Community and National
Resilience in COVID-19 Response Version 1.0 issued by the Department of Homeland Security dated
March 19, 2020, fishermen are considered Critical Infrastructure Workers and there is a question as to
whether we may control or limit their entry into and movement around our community. That means
that Dillingham and our neighboring communities will soon be inundated by the entry of thousands of
people; some or all who may be carriers of the Corona Virus. Our community does not have the
capability to control the movement of this group. This is unacceptable and places us in an impossible
situation. If your office is not prepared to address this critical problem, then we may find the need to do
so. We don’t want to find ourselves in conflict with the State of Alaska, especially when our objectives
are the same.
The City of Dillingham and Curyung Tribal Council want to keep the residents of our community, our
region and our state safe. We request that you take immediate action to control the impacts of the entry of the
virus to our state, our region and our community by serious consideration to closing the upcoming Bristol Bay
commercial salmon fishery.
Please consider that we are at a point where a decision must be made. A delay will bring us so close to
the opening of the fishery that any alternatives will be impossible. Acting now will allow us to consider the
following; should we devote our limited resources to attempting to control the fishery or, instead, should we
devote our attention to mitigating economic impacts of not having a fishery. There are economic stimulus
efforts on the national, state and local level that might be mobilized to mitigate the impact to the industry, to
the state and to individuals. By waiting to make a decision, you put all of us at the end of the line, so to speak.
I cannot emphasize enough that the community of Dillingham asks that you immediately assess the
closure of the Bristol Bay commercial salmon fishery in 2020. The community of Dillingham is prepared to be
part of that discussion.
Sincerely,

Alice Ruby
Mayor, City of Dillingham

Cc:

Thomas Tilden
First Chief, Curyung Tribal Council

Speaker of the House, Representative Bryce Edgmon
Senator Lyman Hoffman
Bristol Bay Partnership
141 Main Street P.O. Box 889 Dillingham, Alaska 99576
City Hall & Finance Dept. (907) 842-5211 ● Fire Dept. 842-2288 ● Library/Museum 842-5610
Police Dept. 842-5354 ● Harbor Office 842-1069 ● Public Works 842-4598 ● Senior Center 842-1231
www.dillinghamak.us