Leonard Demientieff Sr.
While Yukon River peoples forgo traditional ways of life to conserve wild salmon, trawlers continue with business as usual — bycatching a documented 141 million pounds of marine life on average each year. This bycatch includes king salmon, chum salmon, halibut, herring, squid, crab, whales and more.
Trawlers trail nets the size of football fields to catch everything in the water column. When they drag the bottom, they rip up seafloor habitat and crush bottom-dwelling species in a way that never comes up to the surface to be counted. And “midwater” trawlers, which are allowed to trawl in protected areas, drag the bottom up to 100% of the time.
Right now, they’re allowed to bycatch an unlimited number of chum salmon. Take action: salmonstate.org/bycatch
Yukon River Drainage Fisheries Association and SalmonState collaborated on sharing Leonard Demientieff Sr.’s stories.
Photo by Jacqueline Cleveland
“Wild salmon has always been a part of my life. I can remember fish camp days when I was five, six years old, about twenty miles below Holy Cross.
Everybody was busy with fish. There was fish everywhere and it was never ending. The fish were so abundant that the older people couldn't keep up. They'd have to tie their nets to the cork line. And when they were done with the salmon, they dropped the nets again and did the same thing over, every day.
We lived off salmon. We had dried salmon in the summer and winter months. But today is a different story.
There's nothing like a fish camp. That's all I can say.”
—Leonard Demientieff Sr., Holy Cross
Photos by Jacqueline Cleveland
“My favorite memory was when they started cooking for the dogs. They taught me how to stir the pot.
I stirred the pot, all right. I'd eat out of the dog cooker. I’d eat the salmon cheeks and hearts.”
—Leonard Demientieff Sr., Holy Cross
Photos by Jacqueline Cleveland
“I heard from the Elders that, one of these days, we won't be able to fish anymore. Now, it's here. The Elders were right.
It all comes down to the high seas fisheries. You can't stop them boats. That fishing industry is big money.
The climate is also a big factor. The water's warmer. I've seen sloughs of dead salmon floating around and I've never seen that before.
My main concern is—will my grandchildren be able to fish? I'm teaching them but I can't take them out in the boat. I'd sure like to.”
—Leonard Demientieff Sr., Holy Cross