Even Subsistence Fisheries Face Another Possible Closure This Year For Yukon, Kuskokwim Salmon Runs

Beverly Hoffman grew up on the Kuskokwim River, a storied 700-mile waterway that flows from the Alaska Range to the Bering Sea. Now 71 years old, she says its fish have nourished her for most of her life—particularly the salmon, which is woven into family routines and tribal traditions. Hoffman lives in Bethel, a small and isolated town in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta region of southwest Alaska. With a population of just over 6,000 and no access by roads, residents rely heavily on the river for food and transport.

Different times of the year bring various species, but “salmon is the most important fish to our people,” she said. “We try to fish as much salmon as we can, but it will be very hard this summer.” Over the last two decades, the number of salmon in the river has fallen sharply, particularly the Chinook (king) and chum varieties. Research carried out by Alaska’s Department of Fish and Game attributes the decline to a multitude of factors, especially rising temperatures in the Bering Sea, to which salmon are especially vulnerable. This means fewer salmon make their way back up the river to spawn each year. It is these upriver salmon that sustain subsistence fishers like Hoffman.

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Under state law, Alaska’s subsistence fisheries along the Kuskokwim and Yukon Rivers are prioritized over commercial and sport fisheries when salmon stocks are low. But over the last few years, the numbers have been so poor that all have been closed, including subsistence fisheries, said Katie Howard, lead scientist for the department’s Salmon Ocean Ecology Program. It is a sure sign that the salmon situation is dire, she said, as “commercial fisheries, sport fisheries and personal-use fisheries all get reduced to nothing before we even start thinking about reducing subsistence fisheries.”

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Below-average Chinook and poor chum numbers are expected in the Kuskokwim River once again this year, meaning that the harvest allowances set by the Department of Fish and Game for subsistence fishing are likely to be limited. Chum subsistence fisheries in the Kuskokwim River will be severely restricted or could even be closed this summer, the department has projected. The impacts on locals will be acute, as such restrictions and closures affect all facets of life. “We are very, very nervous,” Hoffman said.

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https://insideclimatenews.org/news/18072023/alaska-salmon-yukon-river-mortality/