UAF researchers confirm increase of salmon spawning in arctic rivers

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (KTVF) - During September, researchers from the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) visited rivers in the arctic, above the Brooks Range, leading to the confirmation of an increase of salmon spawning in arctic waters.

In recent years, various marine populations including salmon and crabs have seen drastic population shifts. Due to those population shifts, some areas have seen large harvests and others have had poor harvests. These population shifts have also resulted in some fishing seasons being cancelled and communities facing nutritional insecurity.

Bristol Bay has experienced record salmon harvests due to these population shifts, while communities on the Yukon River continue to struggle with catching salmon as the region sees a continued decline in salmon run sizes.

Recent research from UAF’s College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences in now confirming that one of those shifts has been an increase of salmon spawning in arctic rivers on the North Slope.

While this is not a break through discovery, the collected data implies significant shifts in salmon behavior and habitat.

Salmon have been encountered in rivers on the North Slope for hundreds if not thousands of years, but a change in that encounter has been documented through communication with residents and statistical analysis. “They’re catching more salmon in more recent years than the last few decades in particular,” said Peter Westley, an associate professor of fisheries at UAF.

One theory for the increasing salmon populations in arctic rivers is the impact of warming water and climate change which is having an opposite affect closer to Fairbanks. “The crisis, the hardship, the trauma that’s going on, on the Yukon I mean, it can’t be stressed enough,” Westley said.

As salmon runs in the Yukon River shrink, the people of the region are struggling to find food and commercial operations have seen a decrease in harvest yields. In the Bering Sea, the Bristol Bay area has had large harvests leaving many to wonder where the fish are going when they return to the rivers to reproduce.

There are many factors leading to population declines in the Yukon and increases in the arctic.

Based on the recorded changes in salmon behavior, the warming waters are likely creating a more stressful environment for salmon making it less hospitable. “The Yukon is now increasingly looking like it might be too warm and just on the other side of the Brooks Range mountains we have a ecosystem that might be just getting warm enough to support salmon,” said Westley.

The increase of salmon in the arctic is also a cause for concern however as it could drastically change the ecosystem and the economy. “We’ve heard really consistently from people that live in the north, that there’s not interest of having large scale commercial fisheries,” Westley said. These concerns are now echoed in the Yukon where the salmon population is facing reduction.

In addition, there are concerns of increased fishing regulations and more field study work on fish populations in the area. One thing that remains a mystery, is whether or not these fish are moving in from areas like the Yukon River of if they come from other nearby areas such as Kotzebue.

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