Tag: Food Security
Hometown Alaska: Kick start your growing season with free mentors from Anchor Gardens
On today's Hometown Alaska, we'll introduce you to a free garden mentoring service with high ambitions.
Tribal and environmental advocates celebrate the first water flow down the Eklutna River in decades
For more than 60 years, the Eklutna River north of Anchorage had been dammed up, stifling the salmon runs that fed generations of Dena'ina people in the area.
The lower dam on the river was removed in 2018, and earlier this month, tribal and environmental advocates witnessed the first water to flow down the river in decades.
Alaska Native graduate program aims to elevate Indigenous knowledge in fisheries research
It's called Tamamta, a Yup'ik and Sugpiaq word that means "all of us" or "we", and it's part of UAF's College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences.
With low stocks and closures looming, Bering Sea crab fleet braces for another blow
In 55 years, there have been just two other closures: once in the 1980s and again in the 1990s.
Chignik residents fear for their communities’ future if abysmal salmon runs persist
Chignik residents are questioning how long their community can survive if low salmon runs persist. "How can the state let this happen?" said 80-year-old Elder Vivian Brandal. "I have grandchildren that thought this was their legacy."
With 700 new trout, Nikiski lake is open to fishing
One minute, there were zero rainbow trout in John Hedberg Lake. Fewer than 30 seconds later, there were 700.
New research prompts Alaska Fish and Game to regulate kelp harvest
In the last four years, the state’s Department of Fish and Game has learned more about the biological value of detached kelp populations in Cook Inlet. And it wants to make sure the kelp isn’t overharvested.
Western Alaska residents fill buckets of late-budding salmonberries
Some possible causes for late budding in berries include more precipitation when flowers bloom, which reduces pollination, an overall lack of pollinators, or sometimes animals and birds eat the berries during the winter.
Subsistence users, scientists seek answers for chum salmon declines
Why are the chum numbers so low? The short answer is that no one really knows for sure. But there are a lot of theories.
As local streams warm on the Kenai Peninsula, cold water inputs could be crucial for salmon
A pocket of Beaver Creek, just a short and muddy tromp away from a gravel parking lot between Kenai and Soldotna, is home to several cold water inputs that could be crucially important for young salmon as they swim from the Kenai River to Cook Inlet.
Declining sea ice in Kotzebue Sound is shortening subsistence hunt for seals, study finds
The study found that the ugruk hunting season is ending an average of 26 days earlier than normal.
Supply shortages, shipping delays hit Southeast Alaska businesses
A COVID-19 outbreak at a warehouse in Centralia, Wash., has led to shipping delays at grocery stores throughout Southeast Alaska, including in Petersburg. Some shelves are nearly empty. And they’re not likely to be filled anytime soon.
How low chum runs changed the lives of these Western Alaska fisheries workers
For decades, Kwik’Pak Fisheries in the Western Alaska village of Emmonak has provided reliable summer employment in one of the state’s most unemployed regions. But with salmon runs low and commercial fishing closed, it’s offering few jobs this summer. Commercial fishermen and women are feeling the economic stress, and those who are still working at the plant have had to transition to new roles.
Yukon subsistence users go to new lengths for food after chums don’t return
Subsistence fishing on the lower Yukon River is closed for both king and chum salmon. Residents who usually depend heavily on the fish are pivoting toward other ways to get meat.
No longer able to make a living in Cook Inlet, young commercial fishermen head west to Bristol Bay
More and more young commercial fishermen are making the tough decision to migrate from the Kenai Peninsula to fish Bristol Bay, where salmon are running in record numbers.
When Yukon River chum stocks collapsed, donated fish came in from Bristol Bay
The Yukon River has seen its worst summer chum salmon run on record, and its third-worst chinook run.
Why is Bristol Bay’s sockeye run breaking records while other areas struggle?
In the past decade, Bristol Bay has seen consistently large salmon runs and continues to break records. But some other Alaska fisheries are experiencing historically low runs, a trend that worries scientists, fishery managers and communities. What keeps Bristol Bay booming as other areas struggle?
Pilgrim Hot Spring’s new garden to provide veggies for Bering Strait residents
The hot springs staff recently received the “Gather Grant” from the First Nations Development Institute, and it allowed them to plant a produce garden to distribute fresh vegetables throughout the Bering Strait region.
‘More hungry mouths’: Bristol Bay sockeye are abundant but shrinking
Most fish that returned this year only spent one or two years in the ocean instead of three, but they’re also getting smaller for their age.
A lifetime of subsistence fishing tells story of Yup’ik tradition
Each summer, Alaskans take to the rivers, bays and oceans to subsistence fish. Some head out to set nets, others may use dip nets, but the end goal is the same: to stock up on enough fresh fish to last the winter.