Two people pick up donations of chum and king salmon that will be distributed to villages along the lower Yukon river. (Olivia Ebertz/KYUK)

The Chinook salmon fishery on the Yukon has been in decline for years, but this fall chum salmon numbers also collapsed and all subsistence and commercial salmon fishing was shut down on the Yukon. That left fishermen and families without a vital source of income and food for the coming winter. What’s known about the causes and consequences of the fisheries collapse? How are communities responding?

Listen:

HOST: Lori Townsend

GUESTS:

• Holly Carroll, Yukon River Subsistence Fishery Manager, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
• Sabrina Garcia, Marine Research Biologist, Alaska Department of Fish and Game
• Alida Trainor, Subsistence Resource Specialist, Alaska Department of Fish and Game
• Rhonda Pitka, First Chief of the Village of Beaver
• Brooke Woods, Chair, Yukon River Intertribal Fish Commission

LINKS & RESOURCES:

• Yukon subsistence users go to new lengths for food after chums don’t return
• Subsistence users, scientists seek answers for chum salmon declines
• ADF&G – The Undersea World of Salmon and Sharks
• Federal Subsistence Board
• Yukon River Panel
• North Pacific Fishery Management Council

PARTICIPATE:

Call 907-550-8422 (Anchorage) or 1-800-478-8255 (statewide) during the live broadcast.

Send an email to [email protected] (Comments may be read on air).

Post your comment during or after the live broadcast on social media (Comments may be read on air).

LIVE Broadcast: Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2021 at 10 a.m. on APRN stations statewide.

LIVE Web stream: Click here to stream.