The long migration: Facts about the Yukon River chinook salmon run
Posted August 2, 2016 1:00 am.
Last Updated August 2, 2016 2:20 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
TESLIN, Yn – Here are a few facts about the Yukon River chinook salmon run:
Length: About 3,000 kilometres from the coast of Alaska, through Yukon into the northeastern tip of British Columbia, the longest chinook migration in the world.
Size: Historically the largest in the world. Up to 150,000 chinook would return to spawning grounds on the Canadian side of the Yukon River. Biologists estimate about 65,000 will do so this year.
Decline: Each spawning chinook used to result in four fish returning fish. That’s down to one. Fish which would be seven to eight years old almost entirely missing.
Aboriginal harvest: About 8,000 fish during good times; now restricted to about 1,000. There is no commercial or sport fishery.
Importance: Central to diet and culture of about 60 First Nations in Alaska and Yukon.
Cause of decline: Unclear. Scientists suggest disruptions in sensitive Arctic ecosystem due to climate change one factor.
Signs of hope: This year’s run slightly larger. Alaskan scientists suggest number of juveniles in Bering Sea seem to be growing.
