Background Articles

The EPA has designated portions of the Upper Columbia River as a Superfund site due to pollution primarily from Canadian industrial sites, opening up federal funding for cleanup.

In Ruby, Alaska, Indigenous families face cultural and nutritional challenges as climate change and fisheries management impact the availability of chinook and chum salmon, central to their traditions.

A study identifies shrinking salmon size as a factor affecting Chinook salmon productivity in Alaska's Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers, impacted by conditions like extreme temperatures and high runoff.

The Bristol Bay sockeye salmon run exceeded forecasts in 2024, but fishermen earned lower-than-expected profits due to smaller fish sizes and poor market conditions.

A newly updated report titled 'Alaska's Changing Environment' explores the climatic shifts affecting Alaska, from landslides to late freezes, emphasizing the significant impact of climate change.

A University of Alaska Fairbanks study links king salmon decline in the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers to climate change impacts such as warming temperatures, which decrease salmon body size and breeding efficiency.

Alaska's commercial salmon harvest in 2024 hit the third lowest recorded since 1985 both in fish quantity and financial returns.

Rehabilitation efforts have successfully brought spawning salmon back to urban streams in Metro Vancouver, highlighting the importance of conservation and community stewardship.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game's preliminary report for 2024 shows a record low in Norton Sound's commercial fishery, with an exvessel value of $146,326 from a salmon harvest of 21,490. Statewide salmon harvests declined by 56% from the previous year.

Efforts to restore urban waterways have led to spawning salmon returning to Metro Vancouver streams, highlighting the success of rehabilitation projects amidst industrial and residential areas.

Alaska's seafood industry is facing significant challenges due to climate change, geopolitical factors, and economic pressures. Efforts to address these issues are underway, but solutions are complex and require substantial investment and policy change.

New data reveals high salinity levels in several Halifax lakes, posing a threat to aquatic life. Halifax considers new measures to manage salt runoff.

The seafood industry around the world has faced market turmoil. Few Alaska communities have been hit harder than King Cove.

Bethel high school students in the Alaska Native Science and Engineering Program have taken up magnet fishing, retrieving over 50 bikes and various other items from Brown's Slough.

Researchers believe that if permafrost thaw continues at its current rate and mercury keeps being released, it could pose a real threat to many communities throughout northern and western Alaska.

Alaska's largest sockeye salmon run exceeded expectations in numbers but featured the smallest fish on record, posing challenges for commercial harvest.

A family with a 70-year history of setting nets in Cook Inlet has observed significant changes in salmon size and population, with a notable decrease in average earnings for fishermen.

Sockeye salmon returning to Bristol Bay this year were, on average, the smallest the Alaska Department of Fish and Game has ever seen. So far, the average weight of Bristol Bay sockeye was 4.2 pounds this year. Fish and Game biologist Stacy Vega said that’s the smallest average weight on record.

Climate change is affecting nearly every aspect of life, said Gwich’in Council International board member Evon Taa’ąįį Peter, who is Neetsaii Gwich’in and Koyukon Athabascan. For one thing, he told ICT, more than 60% of the forest lands of the Alaskan Gwich’in nation have burned in wildfires in the past 10 years. As of July 10, 582,000 acres had burned this year in 328 wildfires in Alaska. “I couldn’t open the windows of my house for seven days straight, I think, because it would just let smoke billow into my home, which was already too unhealthy for us to be outside. So most of us just had to remain indoors…so there’s definitely very real dramatic and in-our-face impacts from climate change across the state, even in (an urban area like) Fairbanks,” Peter said.

Mattilsynet has rejected Ode's request to double the size of their cod farming facility due to unacceptable infection risks to wild cod populations.