On October 1, 2026 the Kawerak Board of Directors unanimously passed Resolution 2026-14, a resolution supporting a moratorium on the exploration, leasing, and extraction of seabed mineral resources in Alaska federal waters and on the Alaska Outer Continental Shelf.
In January 2026, the Bureau of Ocean and Energy Management (BOEM) began soliciting input on potential seabed mining lease sales offshore Alaska in Norton Sound, Goodnews Bay, Aleutian Arc, Gulf of Alaska seamounts, Chukchi Borderlands, and Canada Basin. The areas under consideration cover more than 113 million acres. Over 80% of those acres are already under restrictions that limit bottom trawling and other types of commercial fishing to protect benthic seabed habitat. Areas, such as Norton Sound, are classified as Essential Fish Habitat by the National Marine Fisheries Service for commercial and subsistence fish species, including all five species of Pacific salmon, red and blue king crab, walleye pollock, yellowfin sole, and other groundfish species. Multiple Alaska Native Corporations, Tribes, and Tribal consortiums submitted letters of concern or opposition, including over 90,000 public comments, to the BOEM’s Request for Information and Interest in early 2026.
Commercial offshore seabed mining has never occurred in US federal waters, and no federal leases have ever been issued. This method of resource extraction is unproven and experimental with uncertain economic benefits and the potential for profound environmental and cultural impacts. The US government is proposing to sell leases offshore Alaska that last a minimum of 20 years beginning in 2027.
The Kawerak Board of Directors supports a moratorium on the exploration, leasing, and extraction of seabed mineral resources in Alaska federal waters and on the Alaska Outer Continental Shelf until environmental, subsistence, cultural, socioeconomic, and cumulative impacts are evaluated and understood and affected Alaska Native Tribes have been fully and meaningfully consulted. The Kawerak Board of Directors calls upon the Department of the Interior (DOI) to suspend further consideration of seabed mineral lease sales and refrain from proceeding to a Proposed Leasing Notice during this moratorium.
The Kawerak Board of Directors resolves that any future consideration of seabed mineral development must include meaningful government-to-government Tribal consultation; robust environmental, subsistence, socioeconomic, and cultural baseline studies; meaningful and respectful incorporation of Indigenous Knowledge and protection of Tribal data sovereignty; and a comprehensive Environmental Impact Statement evaluating direct, indirect, and cumulative impacts and reasonable alternatives, including a no-lease alternative. The Kawerak Board of Directors calls upon the federal government to take a precautionary approach to seabed mineral development and uphold Tribal sovereignty, federal trust responsibilities and obligations, subsistence rights, Indigenous Knowledge, and Alaska Native peoples’ enduring relationships with the ocean. The Kawerak Board of Directors requests that the Alaska Legislature, State of Alaska, Alaska’s Congressional Delegation, and relevant federal agencies support these policies and advocate for a moratorium on seabed mineral exploration, leasing, and extraction where such activities could threaten Alaska Native peoples, subsistence resources, fisheries, communities, and marine ecosystems.
Kawerak, along with Sealaska and the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, have submitted a similar resolution to the 2026 Alaska Federation of Natives (AFN) Convention. We ask the 2026 AFN Delegates to the Convention to support this resolution.
Read the Kawerak Board of Directors’ full resolution here:
