Fishing moratorium on Yukon River chinook may be 'too little, too late,' panel hears

A new international agreement on chinook salmon stoked at times emotional debate at the Yukon River Panel meeting in Anchorage, Alaska, this week, and while many appeared to approve of the pact, others seemed to cast doubts. 

Duane Aucoin, a member of the Teslin Tlingit Council in the Yukon, said it's taken the collapse of the chinook population to finally do something, but the natural world doesn't work that way. 

"One thing we're afraid of is, is this too little, too late?" he said.

"Western policies, Western politics, Western science is what helped get us into this crisis, into this mess. Traditional knowledge will help get us out."

Signed by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) and the State of Alaska recently, the seven-year agreement sets a new conservation target of 71,000 Canadian-origin Yukon River chinook at the international border. One aspect of the accord that's drawing a lot of attention so far is a fishing moratorium, which, among other things, affects the commercial fishery, long suspected of having an outsized impact on chinook.

Last year, roughly 15,000 fish crossed the border into Canada, far below the former conservation target of at least 42,500 chinook. This season, run size could be even smaller. The latest point estimate of the panel's joint technical committee is 13,000 chinook at the border.

Driving much discussion at this week's meeting is a clause in the agreement that raises the prospect of subsistence and ceremonial harvest, if the species rebounds to the degree that the new conservation target is exceeded. 

Steve Gotch, the Canadian chair of the Yukon River Panel — a Canada/Alaska advisory body on salmon management — said to allow for ceremonial or subsistence harvest under the agreement, the number needs to be "far greater" than 71,000 chinook at the Pilot Station sonar, located near the mouth of the river in Alaska, to account for things like on-route mortality.

"It's probably more in the realm of 90,000 or, if not, 100,000," said Gotch, who's also a senior regional director with DFO in the Yukon.

According to a 2022 report from DFO, 10,000 chinook are required to meet Yukon First Nations' subsistence needs.

Panel chairs said this week the goal is to maintain cultural connections while work is underway to rebuild the population.

"Is it going to provide for all Alaskan or Canadian cultural and traditional practices? No, we don't have the fish at this moment, but we do want to look into and explore ways by engaging with those that maintain the knowledge and traditions of their cultures on how we can try and provide for some of that connection to these fish," said U.S. panel chair John Linderman.

"It's safe to say there's more to come, on both sides of the border."

The agreement on chinook hasn't yet been implemented. The Canadian and Alaska governments say that over the coming months they will work with Indigenous nations on that.