KMXT 100.1 FM Public Radio in Kodiak, Alaska
The Sun’aq (shoo-nack) Tribe of Kodiak has received a substantial grant to promote a fledging seafood processor it purchases earlier this year. The tribe could receive as much as $1.3 million over three years in federal assistance. KMXT’s Jacob Resneck reports.
The Kodiak-based Sun’aq tribe is in line to receive more than $458,000 in the first year. Dave Monture, the tribe’s economic development director, says the tribe had been competing against hundreds of others across the nation.
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He says programs like these are necessary to help isolated tribal communities become more economically sustainable.
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The money will go to support Kodiak Island Wildsource, a seafood venture purchased by the tribe earlier this year. Chris Sannito was one of the seafood company’s original partners that sold out to the tribe but remains in a leadership role on its board of directors.
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The federal grant is not a no strings attached affair. The tribe will be required to create a certain amount of jobs as well as invest and develop its local seafood catching and processing capacity for the money to continue.
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The goal, says Sannito, is to develop Kodiak’s ability to produce a more high-value product that keeps more of the revenue locally.
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The company already supplies fish locally as well as health food stores in Florida. But its capacity is small, still only about 10,000 pounds annually. The company’s longterm goal is to increase that volume to a quarter million pounds.
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And Monture says the tribe hopes its ownership of the seafood company will help it market to other tribes across the nation.
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The company aims to buy from tribal fisherman as required my the grant but that doesn’t mean it will be limited to native fishermen. Monture says he hopes the program will help Kodiak’s fishing community as a whole.
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The money comes from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families. The Sun’aq tribe is federally recognized with about 1,500 members, mostly on Kodiak Island.
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