For the second year in a row, a severe and sudden salmon collapse has affected Indigenous residents on the Yukon River. Subsistence fishing for the two main salmon species, king and chum, has been closed for two summers due to record low runs. Residents of traditional villages are now facing food insecurity because of the collapse. Now, the Indigenous communities on the river whose ways of life have revolved around the fish for thousands of years are also facing a devastating loss of culture. Olivia Ebertz reports from the Lower Yukon.
RELATED: What’s behind the crash in Yukon salmon? Fishery experts discuss factors behind the closures