The Problem 

King salmon stocks in the Yukon River and Kuskokwim River, two of Alaska’s biggest, have been in crisis for years. Southeast Alaska king salmon returns on transboundary rivers that flow from British Columbia into Alaska are at historic lows. Fish are suffering on the Kenai and the Copper Rivers. Sockeye salmon returns in Yakutat crashed in 2018. Commercial, sport, and subsistence fishing in those areas has largely been halted — and scientists and managers aren’t even sure what’s going on.

Other wild salmon populations are still thriving, but they’re threatened by the same kinds of development that decimated wild salmon in the Lower 48 and the rest of the world. History has shown us that large scale development along a salmon river comes with a cost. It’s the salmon, and the people who rely on them, who pay it. 

Wild salmon in Alaska face big challenges, but one thing is clear: if they don’t have healthy habitat to come back to, they won’t.