Salmon are dying in dried-out riverbeds in northern Yukon

The Yukon River’s kinook and chum salmon in the Territory’s Old Crow region are hit by the perfect storm — not only are this year’s runs expected to be dismal, but the salmon’s life cycle is being broken .

In recent years, smaller numbers of chinook and chum salmon have made the long journey from the ocean to creeks and streams at the mouth of the Porcupine River, spawned and then died. The little fry would then return to the Bering Sea in the spring.

But now many of the fertilized eggs left in the rivers are dying as large swathes of the river dry up in early spring – and it’s not clear exactly why.

“What we’ve seen over the years, especially this past year, is that the dewatered area has been much, much, much larger than it has been in the past,” said Elizabeth MacDonald, vice chair of the Yukon Salmon Subcommittee. , a non-governmental advisory body.

“So that’s concerning, that there’s a bigger part of the river now where fish are dying and eggs are dying.”

The Vuntut Gwitchin government in Old Crow, which is about 500 miles north of Whitehorse, says a 20-mile stretch of the Fishing Branch River, a tributary of the Porcupine, upstream from Bear Cave Mountain, between Old Crow and Dawson City , is drained.

The water is now gradually returning to the river bed, but it is too late for thousands of salmon fry and unhatched eggs.

The river bed also has sporadic small pools of water filled with stranded salmon, most of which are dead.

Dewatering has happened before on the Fishing Branch River, but now it is an annual event. The Vuntut Gwitchin government has noticed this spring that increasing areas have dried up, leaving the salmon eggs and tens of thousands of salmon fry for birds and mammals to feast on.

“The conversation that is currently taking place with the Yukon River Panel and the technical advisors is how and what we do with the dwindling stocks as there are some actions that need to be taken,” said Pauline Frost, head of the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation.

Frost suggests that instream incubation may be considered. It is a natural way of planting fertilized eggs in a stream bed where water will flow all year round.

Frost says the elderly in her community are against using a fish farm.

She says only 349 kinook made it up the Porcupine River last year, and it was a nasty bunch of salmon, too.

MacDonald says these forecasts for the season don’t look promising either.

“Salmon is doing really bad right now… We could be facing extinction in 20 years — it’s bad,” she said.

It’s not clear what lies behind the dewatered riverbeds in the Old Crow area, though Frost believes it’s related to climate change.

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) is also interested in finding out.

“We look forward to working closely with our partners and [Vuntut Gwitchin] to potentially understand what theories are going on there, and then use our Pacific Salmon Strategy initiative and funding with that program to help halt the decline of Pacific salmon throughout the Yukon at large,” said DFO’s Marc Ross.

“Although numbers are low, DFO is confident that together we can make a meaningful difference to the future of salmon and [the] Yukon River and Porcupine River.”