Column: Alaska Native fishermen prosecuted for way of life

A radio report from KYUK in Bethel made me pull over the Subaru this week. I was listening to the story of Bethel fishermen being prosecuted by the state of Alaska for subsistence fishing during a state-ordered closure.

This was Les Misérables, Alaskanized. Last summer these Native fishermen defied a fishery closure to catch salmon to feed their families. The Yup'ik believe it's their duty to harvest the fish, that salmon (and all animals) present themselves to the people, and will be offended if they are rejected. It's a religious philosophy centered on Ellam Yua, the spirit of the universe.

Translators were needed for some testimony, but the men's defense boiled down to freedom of religion. It wasn't their words about the value of subsistence that struck me as much as it was the emotion in their voices. They were defending thousands of years of life -- a really tough life in a place a long way from Costco.