In the Arctic, salmon is more than a fish. It's food, connection, culture and identity. In this episode, we travel to the Deatnu River on the border of northern Norway and Finland in Sápmi, where declining Atlantic salmon stocks have led to fishing bans and disagreement on how to move forward in the future. We speak to a fisher from Alaska, where declining salmon stocks in rivers there raise similar questions about food security and what it means when the very foundation of a culture is in crisis.

Through the voices of local fishers and a scientist, we explore the ongoing salmon crisis in the Arctic and what food security and food sovereignty mean in practice. You'll learn about why some salmon species are rapidly declining, new invasive species on the rise and how measures to conserve them have upended the foundation of communities. You'll also learn about different cultures' connections with salmon, how Indigenous Peoples are adapting to new realities and why management decisions can't be made on science alone. This is a story about knowledge, identity and building bridges that raises the question - how do you manage a river and species in crisis, and who gets to decide the future?

Guests, in order of appearance:

Áslat Holmberg, Saami Council

Jaakko Erkinaro, Natural Resources Institute Finland

Deenaalee Chase-Hodgdon, formerly Arctic Athabaskan Council

We would like to thank Camilla Brattland of the University in Tromsø and Rolf Rødven of the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme. They provided their insights for this episode.

The music in this episode is by Emil Kárlsen, used with permission.

This Way Up is produced by the Arctic Council Secretariat and Indigenous Peoples' Secretariat. The views expressed in this podcast are the personal views of the interviewees and do not necessarily reflect the views of all Arctic States and Permanent Participants.

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