Friday June 16, 2023
CBC News —
Yukon River chinook and chum salmon in the Old Crow region of the territory are being hit with the perfect storm — not only are this year’s runs expected to be dismal, but the life cycle of the salmon is being broken.
Over the last several years, lower numbers of chinook and chum salmon have made the long journey from the ocean to creeks and streams at the mouth of the Porcupine River, spawned, and then died. The small fry would then make their way back to the Bering Sea in spring.
But now many of the fertilized eggs left behind in the rivers are dying because large stretches of river are drying up in the early spring — and it’s not exactly clear why.
“In the last few years what we have been seeing, particularly this last year, is that dewatered area was much, much, much larger than it had been in the past,” said Elizabeth MacDonald, vice chair of the Yukon Salmon Sub-Committee, a non-government advisory body.