Declining Fish Numbers

Chuck Hunt of Bethel talked about the importance of fish to Alaska Native peoples: "The people in the Y-K Delta depend on subsistence hunting, fishing, and gathering to provide food for their families. There are barely any jobs in the villages, commercial salmon fishing no longer brings the bulk of the cash needed to supplement the food needs of people in villages. This is due to the problems we have with chinook, chum, and coho salmon which are the target fish for commercial operations both on the Yukon and Kuskokwim Rivers. These salmon are also the mainstay of people in the Y-K Delta which sustain them throughout the long winter months."

Molly Chythlook of Dillingham reported, "Even the fish oil isn't preserving. It's different from what it used to be. When I smoke fish, the fish that I smoked this summer- the fat is already rancid. Right against the meat, the skin is already yellow like it's been in the freezer forever."

Kenneth Cleveland from Quinahagak said, "I want to say something about our river in Quinhagak. The Quinhagak river used to be one of the best known spawning areas of fish because there used to be an abundance of fish. But now there is only recreational fishing like sportfishing. Sometimes when there is a fish die-off in that same river there are a lot of rafters that raft down to the lake and all the way down to the mouth . They come down and land one after another. After the recreational activities, we notice more and more and beaver are not the only ones to blame. There are a lot of fish that are spawning and they are all scaring away all the fish and as a result there is a visual decline. Pretty soon there may not be any fish left because there is catch and release fishing. Our Native people are not allowed to do that. We have a great respect for the resources and when we fish for subsistence we only take what we need. For sure some day there won't be any fish."

Which type of fish:

03/31/2003