A management overhaul is needed to address the faltering salmon runs in the Yukon River and the widespread harms that have resulted from shortages of fish along the river’s basin, according to a report by Indigenous leaders and Alaska scientists.
The report, a peer-reviewed policy brief published in the journal Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research, proposes an independent review of Yukon River Chinook and chum salmon issues by an entity like the National Academy of Sciences. It also recommends bigger management and science roles for Indigenous residents who live along the river, which flows nearly 2,000 miles from Canada’s Yukon Territory to the Bering Sea.
Building relationships between tribal members and government managers will likely require long-term effort, says the report, which has co-authors from various organizations, including the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
“Trust between Indigenous communities and fisheries scientists and managers needs to be enhanced by continuously, transparently, and equitably combining quantitative fisheries analyses with Indigenous Knowledge,” the report says.
The report recommends a “cultural exemption” for small-scale personal harvests by river residents to help address inequities between commercial and subsistence fishers.
And it recommends more at-sea safeguards, including new or expanded protected areas.
The recommendations are intended to address factors that the report identifies as hurting Yukon River salmon. Those include climate change and acidification in the Bering Sea; warming temperatures and streamflow changes in the river and its tributaries; competition for ocean resources from increasing volumes of hatchery fish; and accidental netting of salmon, known as bycatch, by trawl vessels targeting pollock and other species.
Some of the recommendations clash with Trump administration policies.
The administration has slashed research on federal fisheries and climate change. Additionally, an April 17 executive order by President Donald Trump pushes for bigger commercial seafood harvests and revocation of marine protection designations.
One of the report’s Indigenous authors said Trump administration policies should not prevent the reforms.
“I would say that it’s not a question of optimism. It’s a question of being pragmatic and practical,” said Ed Alexander, co-chair of the U.S-Canada Gwich’in Council International.
An example of a scientific subject that he said needs further exploration – and for which local Indigenous knowledge would be useful – is the effects on salmon of the decades-old hydroelectric dam in Whitehorse, the Yukon Territory’s main city. It is the only dam on the river.
"The idea of protected marine areas is not new, Alexander added. He cited the Northern Bering Sea Climate Resilience Area that was established in 2016 by then-President Barack Obama, abolished by Trump in his first term, resurrected by President Joe Biden. Protections provided by the Northern Bering Sea Climate Resilience Area were abolished in Trump's second term through orders issued by the president and by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum.
Legislation at the state and federal levels is already pending that would address one of the recommendations: establishment of tribal representation on the North Pacific Fishery Management Council and the Alaska Board of Fisheries.
Former U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola, D-Alaska, included a North Pacific council tribal provision in a bill she sponsored to reauthorize the Magnuson Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management. That bill did not pass before she lost her seat in the U.S. House. A similar bill, with the tribal seat provision, has been reintroduced by one of her bill’s co-sponsors, Rep. Jared Huffman, D-California.
A state bill sponsored by Rep. Nellie Jimmie, D-Toksook Bay, would designate two of the seven seats on the Alaska Board of Fisheries for subsistence users. It would also designate seats for commercial, sport and science representatives.
The measure, House Bill 125, passed the House on May 17 and is now pending in the state Senate.
This story originally appeared in the Alaska Beacon and is republished here with permission.
Correction: The story has also been updated to clarify that the protections provided by the Northern Bering Sea Climate Resilience Area were abolished in Trump's second term through orders issued by the president and by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum.