As Waters Warm, Alaska Experiences Salmon Booms and Busts

The story was first published in High Country News.

Serena Fitka returns to her Yup'ik community of St. Mary's in the southwest part of the state in June. She helps her family fish for salmon and keep it in the smokehouse during the winter. There were no salmon to be caught this year.

She said that she felt the loss. It was like that for everyone along the Yukon River, I didn't know what to bring.

In Alaska there are five different types of salmon. The lives and culture of roughly 50 Alaska communities depend on the river and its tributaries for their sustenance, and both chinook and chum are important to that.

Chinook counts have been declining for a decade, but this year's run is the lowest on record. This year's count is the second- lowest on record, and as a result, state and federal fishery managers have closed chum fishing. More than 2,500 households rely on chum to feed their families, and will be affected by this. The annual harvest is over for the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Some local fishers believe that commercial fishing operations in other parts of the state could be to blame for the poor salmon runs in western Alaska.

Warming waters have caused a downturn in chinook and chum numbers across the Pacific, and those changes are hurting salmon in the Whitehorse area. In one study, it was found that the fish weren't able to survive the winter because they were eating things other than their usual diet. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game Salmon Ocean Ecology Program has seen heat waves in the Gulf of Alaska. It is easier to catch less dense prey during heat waves. Lower water levels in the spawning grounds of Interior Alaska and Canada could cause chinook to be less abundant.

A warming climate may be helping salmon runs in Bristol Bay, according to Jordan Head, a state biologist. The all-time record of 44 million fish was set in 1995. The region has seen a record number of sockeye return this season. The juvenile sockeye may have been able to grow larger and be more competitive as they entered the ocean due to the warmer temperatures. The same salmon decline could be seen in the Bering Sea as it warms.