I would like to correct a factual error in a Feb. 13 opinion piece titled “Empty freezers on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta.” While the Yukon and Kuskokwim chum salmon are suffering very low productivity, particularly in 2021, Area M should not be blamed. Area M does not harvest “millions” of AYK chum. The actual number of Coastal Western Alaska, or CWAK, chum harvested in Area M last June was 96,116 chum, 17.7% of June’s total chum harvest. It is important to note that many of these 96,116 CWAK chum harvested last year were also heading to Bristol Bay and Norton Sound. The Nushagak River by itself had a harvest of 301,800 chum and an escapement of 172,000 chum.
A much larger proportion of the Area M harvest was bound for Asia, 58.0%, and east of Kodiak, 13.4%.This is public information published in January by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. The genetic stock composition work in 2022 was borne of the 2007-2009 Western Alaska Salmon Stock Identification Program (WASSIP) — which the Association of Village Council Presidents signed.
The science of Yukon summer chum mortality is key here, much of which is known and reported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and in International Year of the Salmon publications.
— Kiley Thompson
President, Area M Seiners Association
Sand Point
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