Wednesday July 29, 2026
CBC —
Yukon River Chinook salmon numbers have been in a decline for decades. Despite efforts to help the population recover, it has dropped nearly 90 per cent since the 1980s.
Now, a new study from the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) says a four-year heatwave in the Bering Sea that started about a decade ago has been connected to a more recent drop in population.
Curry Cunningham, one of the co-authors of the study and an associate professor with the University of Alaska Fairbanks, said researchers have noticed two periods of decline in the Chinook salmon population between 2003 and 2023.
Cunningham said before 2013, the salmon experienced a short decline followed by a few years of recovery.
But by 2016, conditions started to change again.
“That’s led to this very depressed state we currently find ourselves in,” Cunningham said. “[It] seems to be associated in time, at least with the onset of this marine heat wave that we saw in the eastern Bering Sea.”
Cunningham said the actual heat wave lasted until 2020, but it had serious knock-on effects on the salmon and their prey.
Elizabeth MacDonald, manager of fisheries with the Council of Yukon First Nations, said she thinks the research is “spot on,” and agrees climate change played a major role in the collapse of the Chinook salmon population.