Yukon chinook salmon run could be lower again this year, frustrating First Nations

The chinook salmon run on the Yukon River this year is expected to be roughly the same size or slightly smallerthan last year and that's frustratingsome First Nations along the river.

Many have restricted their harvest of salmonin recent years, to encouragestocks to replenish.

"All we hear let's be honest it's the same thing over and over and over," said Simon Nagano, deputy chief of the Tr'ondek Hwech'in First Nation in Dawson City, Yukon.

"When is the time going tocome for when we start to see results? We're not seeing results."

Naganowas speaking Tuesday in Whitehorseat a meeting of the Yukon River Panel, an international advisory bodyon salmon management made up of members from Yukon and Alaska. The panel meets twice annually to review salmon runs and harvest numbers and make recommendations to better manage the stocks.

Yukon chinook runs have been in general decline in recent decades. The last few years have seen annual runs averaging about 73,000 fish, compared to runs averaging around158,000 in the 1990s.

"It used to take days to process 600 or more chinook that we caught. Now, if we caught any chinook, it would take a half hour to 10 minutes," Naganotold the panel.

"That was then, and now ... we eat salmon from a can."

This year's run is expected to be somewhere in the range of about 69,000 to 99,000 fish, which is similar to what was predicted last year. Experts say that suggests the actual run size may be the same or slightly smaller than in 2018.

Duane Gastant' Aucoin of the Teslin Tlingit Council also described how things have changed in his community. He remembers being a child and going with his grandmother to pull in her nets.

"She would be pulling in salmon almost as big as her ... we don't see that anymore. We don't see thatsize and the numbers," he said.

"They're a lot smaller, there's a lot less females, the production rate is a lot lower, so all of these are a concern to our people back home."

'Alaska catches the salmon'

The Teslin TlingitCouncil decided years ago to put a moratorium on its traditional fishery.In 2016, the community harvested its first few chinook in 17 years.

Other Indigenous communities on both sides of the border between Canada and the United Stateshave also restricted their harvests in recent years but there's been tension over how many fish are still harvested.

Some Yukon First Nations have blamed over-fishing in Alaska for reducing the number that reach spawning grounds in Yukon.

"Yukon hatches the salmon, Alaska catches the salmon," Nagano said.

Last year, the U.S. harvest of Yukon River chinook was 19,266fish. In Canada, it was 2,790fish.

John Lindermanof the Alaska Department of Fish and Game said the Yukon River Panel is about working together across the border, and finding ways to monitor and managethe stocks.

"We have common goals, common interests, common values," he said.

"The United States, and the state of Alaska, made a commitment to this process. We have agreed to and signed off on a treaty between the twocountries that's why we're all here."

The panel's meeting continuesWednesday.