Why is the population in decline?
Climate change
The main and most important reasons for the salmon population decline is the climate crisis that has been knocking at our door since industrialization. As the planet is heating up her waterways are constantly changing in temperature, making habitats unliveable for certain species like the salmon in the Yukon river. The chinook salmon can survive in waters up to 21 degrees celsius and start getting negatively affected by the temperature of the water when it reaches 18 degrees celsius. Recently watershed areas, areas where the salmon spawn have already started reaching 18 degrees celsius harming the fish as they try to spawn, ultimately preventing them from being able to spawn properly.
​
The raise in temperature also affects the growth of the salmon, we have seen salmon returning smaller and smaller and younger. Smaller and less experienced salmon means lower survival rates for their journey to their spawning grounds, which leads to a smaller and smaller population.
​
The raise in temperature of the river also means that harmful pests, parasite and viruses can thrive off of the salmon further harming their population. As northern ice melts old parasites and viruses are reintroduced into our waterways causing catastrophic problems to the ecosystem that we may not be able to fix or manage. The water temperature in the river directly correlates with the severity of the diseases found in the salmon.
​
Warmer waters causes heat stress to the salmon in the river, it causes their immune system to activate and work over time to try and protect themselves. Which ultimately weakens them as constantly having their immune system activated drains the energy needed for the migration to their spawning grounds.
Commercial fishing & over fishing
The industry has only ever stopped fishing for salmon when the numbers showed that they could kill off the population entirely. Consumerism has changed the way many view salmon, attaching a seemingly unshakable economical value to these living beings and valuable resource for many. The high demand in salmon has pushed the industry to simply care for their economical gain through fishing creating waste of food and lack a of a resource for those who need it. The commercialization of salmon has greatly impacted their population.
​
This year, as many know there will be no harvesting of the Chinook salmon on the Canadian side of Yukon river to help preserve and save their population. Many people will suffer through the winter, lots going in dept to keep their family well fed as this resource is not available for them to harvest this summer. This resource is highly important to the community as many rely on being able to catch and hunt their food instead of paying outraging prices for imported meat and produce.
The disruptment of spawning ground and impediment of migration.
The Yukon River is one of the most northerly of the major Chinook spawning rivers, hosting the longest upstream migrating salmon stocks in the world. Some headwater stocks migrate over 1,840 miles/2960 km to reach their spawning grounds in the Yukon and northern British Columbia. The Whitehorse Dam impedes the traveling of the salmon to their spawning grounds. With the longest fish ladder in the world, 366m long to be exact, we're finding that many fish are unable to climb the ladder as they are returning in smaller sizes and younger due to water temperature increase. The fish latter took 3 years to build, tens of thousands of salmon died within those years, causing irreparable damage to their population.
​
There have been stories that members of Kwanlin Dün community in the whitehorse area, would haul fish in trucks past the damn to try and help preserve the fish that were seen dying at the damn.
​
“When they built that dam at first, they didn’t have no way for the salmon to pass by [the dam]. The first year after the dam was there, the shore by Robert Service campground was red with salmon, you could almost walk across the river on their backs if you wanted to. But the salmon had no place to go, they just grouped up there beneath the dam. And after the spawn the shore all the way past Whitehorse was littered with their carcasses” Charlie, Kwanlin Dün Elder
Hatchery fish
Hatchery have shown some success in restoring fish populations in the past, but we are currently finding that we may be over stocking the river with fish beyond it's carrying capacity. Recently the wild salmon have been returning to spawn smaller and younger and have struggled to survive while competing against hatchery fish who are bigger and older. It is important to the ecosystem that the wild salmon return from the ocean as they bring nutrient that cannot be attained without them. Hatchery fish will never swim in the ocean thus never attaining the extra minerals and . Having too many of them in the river causes a shortage in the necessary nutrients that are brought from the ocean by the wild salmon. Hatcheries are only successful when the habitat is restored, which will ultimately only get restored when the waterways stop increasing in temperature.
