September 17, 2024 – Native communities in Alaska are facing scarcities of salmon — an animal integral to their lives and cultures — as warming waters from an overheating planet harm these fish.
What’s happening?
BBC reported on the salmon shortages, which are being attributed to warming rivers and overfishing. While some salmon are migrating to cooler waters to the north, others are simply dying because of the heat.
Why are salmon shortages concerning?
The crisis is putting an immense strain on Native villages, the inhabitants of which have relied on wild salmon for subsistence and as an important cultural symbol for generations. Eva Dawn Burk, a Native Alaskan from the Nenana village in the Yukon, told BBC that half the state’s tribes are in a salmon crisis.
“You have so much respect for living beings as a Native person,” Burk told the publication. “I look at salmon as my ancestors, and then as my children and grandchildren. The salmon relatives and my relatives have been living in relation for all these years.”