May 15, 2024 — Research on declining populations of chinook salmon on the Yukon River have led scientists to a theory that combines the stress of warm water and the damage of disease.
As salmon runs on the Yukon River continue to decline, most notably that of chinook salmon, those that rely on the fish have faced “hardship [and] lots of cultural loss,” said Keith Herron, a masters student in the College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences (CFOS) at UAF.
While these fish have historically been a staple of the Yukon diet, run sizes have decreased in return from the ocean but researchers have also “seen a difference between estimates when they’re counted when they enter the river and when they go into Canada,” explained Herron. “Those estimates do not match and there’s like 40,000 fish potentially missing and there’s been no harvest.”
Herron and others in the field have already noticed the impact of warming waters on species across Alaskan waters. Notably this includes crabs and other salmon species. Some have seen population crashes, while some simply declined and others might be moving north towards cooler water.