Yukon River salmon 'just didn't show up'

Friday is Independence Day, traditionally one of the biggest salmon-grilling days of the year here in Rain City (and the unofficial start of summer hereabouts... although it's cloudy and thunderstormy out there Thursday.)
 

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At least we can still buy Taku River salmon here in Seattle.
Mike Urban

This Fourth will come without a special treat usually available for the grill this time of year -- the Yukon River salmon run. Before it was "discovered" a few years ago and popularized, it was many a Seattle salmon eater's trick to wait while the outrageously priced Copper River kings lightened others' wallets, then swoop in on the lesser-known Yukon chinook when they appeared in fish cases a few weeks later. Not this year.

 

"The fish just didn't show up." That's what the fishmonger in Seattle said when I inquired about why we're not seeing our usual run of delicious Yukon River salmon here this year. Combined with the closure of salmon fishing along California and most of Oregon to protect flagging Sacramento River runs, it's a bleak year for salmon eaters.

We see our colleague Rebekah Denn got something posted on this Yukon salmon crash before us. And here's a story from the CBC. But no whining, Seattle salmon eaters, because... well, we just have nothing to complain about compared to the privation that will be suffered this winter by the natives who were counting on catching those Yukon kings.

Some time ago we received this e-mail from Jon Rowley, the guy who popularized first the Copper River salmon and then the Yukons:

See sad news below on Yukon fishery. This is going to be devastating to Yup'iks on Lower Yukon, many of whom have no other source of income and depend on what income they bring in from the fishery to gather subsistence foods. With the price of outboard gas (7.60) it will cost a family about $300 to go to traditional berry picking grounds and they don't have it. The mood is very somber in the Delta villages today. The king salmon by-catch in the Bering Sea pollock fishery, looking at the numbers, is obviously a factor. There is a hell of story up there right now but not a happy one.

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John's e-mail was appended to one sent by someone up in the Lower Yukon, which began:

Jon:

Life is not good here. There are no fish running.

And things are going from bad to worse.

 

Posted by Robert McClure
Categories: ,

Posted by unregistered user at 7/3/08.

Based on the Alaska Department of Fish and Game information, while the runs are lower than normal, there have been later surges which are tracking closer to the season outlook. There is no doubt that closures for commercial and subsistence fisherman through this point in the season are not welcome, but fish don't always swim to our schedule. And while not as highly regarded (or tasty), the Chum run is exceeding the season outlook.

Also, don't forget the often overlooked Bristol Bay salmon season, which is now kicking into high gear. The weekend of the 4th is typically when the fish swarm into the bay and corresponding rivers. There has been a strong push into the Egegik river system in the last week, so expect those fish to be available soon.

 

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