March 5, 2026 — The Alaska Board of Fisheries is cutting chum salmon fishing by 30 per cent in southwest Alaska.
Alaskan Native communities, who have been facing increasing food insecurity from lack of salmon in the Yukon River for years, say the move is a good first step.
In the interior of Alaska, along the Yukon River, is Beaver, a remote village that has relied on chum salmon for years as a main food source. The closest grocery store is in Fairbanks, 170 km due south by plane, and food has to be flown in at a high price.
Rhonda Pitka is the Chief of the Village of Beaver. She said 2019 was the last good fishing year before the “Yukon River salmon crash.”
“The salmon sustained us for so long. It was our lifeline,” she said. “We live in these incredibly cold communities in the winter. So when we were fishing in the summer we will put enough away for all winter long and then we would have enough to share with our relatives in their communities.”