Yukon Salmon

19 August 2010

by Kevin Boltz

Prior to this trip we had all done a considerable amount of research about the Yukon River ranging from topics such as the Klondike Gold Rush, Yukon wildlife, and places of interest.  I also researched the fish found in the waters of the Yukon River.  I was researching fish because I hoped to gain an advantage to help supplement our meals by catching delicious fresh fish.  Looking back on the week I am really glad that Dave and Amy packed a sufficient amount of food for us.  The one fish I was anxiously awaiting to see was the Chinook salmon.  I was waiting to see the river start to bubble and to turn red indicating that that our journey had crossed paths with the great salmon migration.

The Yukon River is associated with the longest salmon migration in the world.  From mid July through September Chinook salmon start their 60 day, 2,000 mile journey up the river from the Bering Sea to spawn in the gravel riverbeds in the tributaries of the Yukon River.  The female salmon will dig nest called redds, and lay anywhere from 3,000 to 14,000 eggs in the fast moving water.  What makes this migration so fascinating to me is that during the spawning period salmon do not eat while on the entire journey and eventually dying after laying one’s eggs.

Chinook salmon which are also known as Blackmouth, Tyee, King, and Spring salmon begin their lives in freshwater and then migrate to the ocean to find food and grow.  In North America, Chinook salmon have
been known to range from Monterey Bay, California to the Chukchi Sea near Alaska.  They are very large bodied fish with a bluish-green coloration that fades to a silvery color around the lateral line to
eventually diminishing to a white belly.  During the spawning period the salmon turn a reddish color that varies in shade due to the age and location of the fish during migration.

The First Nation communities that reside along the shores of the river depend on the salmon migration for a source of food during the long cold winter months. We saw many fish camps with people that were waiting with empty gill nets and drying racks.  We were able to stop and see one camp that had caught nearly 70 salmon.  Fresh salmon eggs were laid out on drying racks made of chicken wire and many filets of salmon hung on racks to cure for preservation.  The First nation Communities are not the only communities effected by the late and low populated salmon run this year.  NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) has declared a commercial “fishing failure” in the Alaskan’s Yukon River due to the low number of returning salmon.  Chinook salmon is the state fish of Alaska and due to some environmental changes their numbers are diminishing.  This has had catastrophic effects on the fish communities that make a living fishing during the salmon migration.

I did not get to see any salmon in the process of their own migration.  I hope that sufficient research can be done to explain why the populations of salmon of diminishing and we, as humans, can make better sustainable choices when it comes to the food that we eat.

To learn more about the salmon migration, log in and check out Unit 4 of the North American Odyssey Curriculum Guide.  If you aren’t already registered, it is easy.  Just click on the “Create an Account” button in the Log In section on the left side of the homepage.  All you have to enter is your email address and the username and password of your choosing.

Here are some great resources about salmon:

Video clip about Pacific Northwest salmon run
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pZYsQtJvg8

K-2 Lesson Plan
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/lessons/09/gk2/migrationsalmon.html

Cyber salmon
http://alaska.fws.gov/cybersalmon/Life%20cycle.htm

Great video clips of grizzlies hunting salmon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NcJ_63z-mA&feature=player_embedded

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qLqs8oDVqA&feature=PlayList&p=769661F6DEB6BA55&playnext_from=PL

Lifecycle of the Salmon
http://www.seattle.gov/util/About_SPU/Management/SPU_&_the_Environment/SalmonFriendlySeattle/SPU01_002759.asp
http://www.cf.adfg.state.ak.us/geninfo/research/genetics/kids/salstory.php

What you can do to protect salmon
http://www.seattle.gov/util/About_SPU/Management/SPU_&_the_Environment/SalmonFriendlySeattle/SPU01_002752.asp

Alaska’s Wild Salmon Teachers Guide
http://www.sf.adfg.state.ak.us/statewide/aquaticed/adfgteacherguide/resources.html
http://www.wildsalmon.org/

Problems associated with damming salmon rivers
http://www.psmfc.org/habitat/salmondam.html

Success story on the Columbia River
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/10/29/salmon-dam.html