Tribes should be allowed to harvest the same number of Yukon River chinook salmon that trawlers scoop up in the Bering Sea as bycatch, and an independent review is needed to better manage the salmon crisis on Alaska’s longest river. These are just two of the recommendations outlined in a recent policy brief that looks at near-term strategies for addressing the crisis on the Yukon.
Doug DeMaster, a retired biologist who spent nearly two decades with the top federal fisheries agency, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), co-authored the brief published in the journal Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research (AAAR).
"What we tried to do in this brief is put together a document that identifies what's needed, what's wanted, and tries to do it in a way that's easily amenable to Congress, and politicians, and both state and federal agencies," DeMaster said.
The two-page document was assembled by a mix of tribal leaders, scientists, and policy makers. It boils down potential factors driving crashes for both chinook and chum salmon on the Yukon River. Among them: bycatch and ecosystem changes in the Bering Sea driven by the pollock fishery, warmer water temperatures, competition with hatchery salmon, the Area M intercept fishery, and increasing rates of parasitic infection in Yukon River chinook.
Among the actions proposed, DeMaster said that allowing tribes to fish for a share of the chinook salmon that would otherwise be lost to trawlers as bycatch would have immediate positive effects.
"This change in policy would basically evenly split the current removal of Yukon chinook between the pollock fishery and the Yukon River subsistence community," DeMaster said.
By not removing additional Yukon River chinook from the ecosystem, DeMaster said that the policy might not violate the Alaska-Canada treaty that has entirely shut down the harvest of chinook through 2030.
According to the National Marine Fisheries Service, just 1% of chinook bycatch in the Bering Sea is of Yukon River origin. While this means that a bycatch-based exemption might only lead to several hundred fish spread across dozens of communities, DeMaster said that it would be a step in the right direction.
The brief also proposes that an entity like the National Academy of Sciences conducts an independent review of actions that could boost returns of both chinook and chum salmon. According to DeMaster, this recommendation comes from the fact that the majority of the members of the 11-member North Pacific Fishery Management Council – the top federal advisory body – are friendly to the trawl industry.
"I think because of the potential, or the appearance of a conflict of interest ... it would really help to have an independent review," DeMaster said.
DeMaster said that candidates who advocate for conservation have found it hard to gain a seat on the council, and that gaining tribal representation for Alaska on the council remains a priority for him and others. In addition to adding tribal seats to the federal council, the policy brief recommends doing the same on the state side with the Alaska Board of Fisheries.
Overall, the 10 actions recommended – from incorporating traditional knowledge and providing cultural exemptions for subsistence, to reexamining the Area M fishery and expanding marine protection areas – cast a wide net. But with the group’s efforts finally published, at least they’re now all in one place.
