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From: pedigree
Date: 9/26/00
Time: 8:20:01 PM
Remote Name: 146.63.7.165
It must be frustrating for people on the river not to be able to fish. They would be out there fishing if they could. But, I dont think that Alaska Fish and Game find it an easy decision to close down the fishery. They know the hardship that will follow. The fact is that there simply are not as many fish in the water and no one knows why. It could be due to overfishing in the open ocean, global warming, or maybe pollutants. One thing we know for sure is that a certain number of fish need to make it to spawning grounds to keep the population up, so ADF&G has to make a decision to close the fishery if they do not count enough fish going up river. However, it is the people on the river who suffer when this decision is made, because ocean fisherman have already fished. Maybe they didnt get as many fish either, but at least they got to fish. Unfortuneately at this time its not possible to know what the salmon population is until they get in the river.
Mushing is disappearing from villages along the river. There are no dog teams at all in some places such as Stevens Village where the famous Holy Smoke came from. Snow machines are easier to take care of. But there are a few people still carrying on a subsistance life style and dog teams in a village are a link with the past which have provided a number of young people an opportunity to learn responsibility and how to work with animals. Unfortuneately, the salmon shortages could be the final blow to dog mushing on the Yukon.
We all hope that bad salmon runs on the Yukon the is a temporary phenomenon. The last few years the US Army has helicoptered donated dog food and salmon into the villages to help with the shortage. Hopefully this will happen again.
It is too bad that mushers along the river have to state publicly that they will have to severely reduce their teams due to lack of salmon. But this is what must be done to call attention to their plight and for changes to be made in how the fishery is allocated.