Posts Near Kwethluk Map Timeline

Amid severely restricted fishing on the Kuskokwim River, one bright spot has been abundant sockeye salmon runs at 30,000 fish daily near Bethel.

Chinook (king) and chum are the major salmon species on the Yukon and Kuskokwim. They’ve been at historically low numbers in both rivers for years. The coho (silver) returns have also dropped.This will be the fourth year subsistence fishing has been closed or severely restricted on both rivers. The region is bracing for another dismal subsistence harvest.

Biologists do not expect either to reach their goals for fish reaching their spawning grounds.

The booming Bristol Bay salmon run has broken the record set just last year, while on the Yukon River, Chinook are too scarce to harvest.

As chum and chinook salmon numbers dwindle in Western Alaska, salmon bycatch in the pollock industry was a main concern addressed by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, or NPFMC, from Jun…

The vast majority of callers at the North Pacific Fishery Management Council meeting last week called for a reduction in bycatch limits, which they said would help reverse a dramatic trend of salmon declines on the Yukon and Kuskokwim Rivers.

On Dec. 8 and 9, U.S. Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan and Rep. Don Young held a Zoom meeting between salmon researchers, tribes, and managers. Their goal was to unite these groups’ efforts to determine the cause of the ongoing Chinook declines and the sudden chum crash in Western Alaska. After two days of meetings, the groups are still at odds over what’s causing the declines, and what the best way to move forward is.

A decades-long decline in salmon in the Yukon River has reached a crisis this year, forcing harvest closures and prompting emergency shipments of salmon from other regions of Alaska to river residents who are otherwise facing food shortages.

Chum returns are the lowest on record, leaving communities with empty freezers and uncertainty about getting through the winter.

The Kuskokwim River king salmon run does not look particularly strong this year, but chum numbers look even worse. Historically, around 60% of the salmon in the river at this point in the season would be chum or sockeye, but right now Bethel Test Fishery numbers show that just over 20% of the salmon are.

Usually Aug. 7 is the midpoint of the coho run, but this year it was not until Aug. 8 that numbers at the Bethel test fishery increased, and then only modestly.

As record high temperatures swept Alaska, many people said that the heat was killing them. For Kuskokwim salmon, it was actually true.

Subsistence families along the Kuskokwim River are cutting open fish to find white balls or white streaks deforming the meat.

As fishing restrictions push salmon harvests on the Kuskokwim River later into the wet part of summer, families are seeking new ways to dry their fish and keep bugs away.

How will climate change affect health in Alaska? Dangerous travel conditions could cause more accidents, warmer temperatures could spread new diseases and the topsy-turvy weather could worsen mental health. Those are some conclusions from a new state report released Monday. Listen now

Smart started finding dead fish in his trap near Dull Lake about two or three weeks ago. Now there are hundreds and hundreds of them.Some local officials suspect water pollution killed the fish, but state officials offered an alternative explanation. According to the Fish and Game representative a local fisherman forgot to check a blackfish trap and may have dumped the dead fish in Dull Lake.

Some local officials suspect water pollution killed the fish, but state officials offered an alternative explanation.

Residents who have long depended on chinook salmon to fill drying racks and smokehouses are worried about their food for next winter.

Fish had a brownish moldy growth all over its body.

Salmon runs in Alaska's Kuskokwim River show some improvement compared to last year, but overall numbers remain low, with chum and coho salmon still below long-term averages, while Chinook salmon meet escapement goals through precautionary management and sacrifices by subsistence users.

On the Yukon River, subsistence salmon fishing is being closed to protect king salmon as they migrate upriver.

Rep. Mary Peltola discusses the challenges facing Alaska's fisheries, including declining salmon populations and the impact on subsistence and commercial fishing, during her visit to Bethel for the Cama-i Dance Festival.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy lauded the partnerships with Alaska businesses and “tremendous team effort to get salmon into the hands of our fellow Alaskans in need."

Kuskokwim River chum salmon numbers remain off-the-charts low. However, sockeyes are still coming in strong. Meanwhile, the summer rain has not been