The protestors caught 100 king salmon in their gillnets. State and federal authorities have severely restricted king salmon on the Yukon this summer in an effort to help the struggling run recover. Commercial fishing for kings hasn’t been allowed, and subsistence fishing has been limited to two 18-hour openings each week.
The residents of Yukon are in distressed as commercial fishing for king salmon usually provides one of the few opportunities for villagers to make money. This summer’s restrictions are worrying residents who don’t have enough king salmon to last the year, said Nick Andrew Jr., a member of the Ohagamuit tribal government, based in Marshall.
According to Andrew he and five others went fishing late Friday night, when subsistence fishing was closed. They caught three totes of kings about 10 miles upriver from Marshall, a village of about 400. The fishermen saw no wildlife troopers and weren’t cited. He added that they returned to Marshall and quickly cut the fish for drying and freezing. Then they delivered it to widows, elders and disabled residents.
Villages along the lower Yukon have had a long, hard winter that followed similar restrictions to king fishing last year, he said. Many Yukon fishermen blame the Bering Sea pollock fleet for inadvertently catching too many river-bound king salmon on the high seas.
