Mission
The Arctic-Yukon-Kuskokwim (AYK) Sustainable Salmon Initiative is pleased to announce the release of Pacific Salmon: Ecology and Management of Western Alaska’s Populations, a state-of-the-art assessment of salmon stocks and management practices in the AYK region.
This timely book, sponsored by the initiative and published by the American Fisheries Society, covers the freshwater, estuarine, and marine ecology and management of salmon and is the first-ever comprehensive appraisal of the region’s salmon resources. With more than fifty chapters, the book assesses the ecological processes that cause change in salmon populations; describes the effects of varying salmon runs on rural communities; reviews state, Federal, and international management of salmon fisheries in the region; and examines emerging themes at the nexus of salmon ecology and management in the AYK region. This book was edited by Charles Krueger and Christian Zimmerman, both members of our Scientific Technical Committee.
Salmon returns to a number of western Alaska watersheds have been in decline for more than a decade, creating numerous hardships for the people and communities that depend so heavily on this fishery resource. Poor returns of Chinook and chum salmon to the Yukon River, Kuskokwim River, and rivers draining into Norton Sound, have led to severe restrictions on commercial and subsistence fisheries and to repeated disaster declarations by the state and federal governments. Less than two weeks ago, US Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke declared a fisheries disaster for Yukon River Chinook salmon is in response to extremely low salmon returns in 2008 and 2009.
Dr. John White, chairman of the AYK Sustainable Salmon Initiative and resident of Bethel, Alaska, commented: “I am enormously pleased that the Initiative could help advance a better understanding of the region’s salmon fisheries and their management. With some fisheries now in crisis mode, such as the Chinook salmon stocks in the Yukon River, the release of this book could not be timelier. Not only does this book cover ecology, but several chapters discuss the critical importance of salmon to the people of western Alaska.”
This 1,235 page hard cover book is available for purchase from the American Fisheries Society (http://www.afsbooks.org).
AYK SSI's 2007 Annual Report which provides a program overview and a listing of projects funded is available for download here....
We are pleased to announce the release of the AYK SSI's research planning document entitled: AYK Salmon Research and Restoration Plan.
