For Yukon River families, chum is particularly important. Chinook salmon have been low for decades, but chum were the fish they could depend on.
Food
After a missed year, Alaska State Fair vendors say things feel almost normal despite pandemic risk
The fair averages 300,000 visitors each year, according to CEO Jerome Hertel. That’s about 40% of the state’s population — more than turn out to vote some years.
Supply shortages, shipping delays hit Southeast Alaska businesses
A COVID-19 outbreak at a warehouse in Centralia, Washington has led to shipping delays at grocery stores throughout Southeast Alaska.
Declining sea ice in Kotzebue Sound is shortening subsistence hunt for seals, study finds
Seal meat makes up a good portion of what’s in subsistence hunters’ freezers in Kotzebue. But the sea ice the seals haul out on is diminishing, and new research shows that’s shortening the window to hunt seals.
Gardentalk – Cleaning and curing your garlic harvest
Joe Orsi recommends carefully digging the garlic plants out from below, washing the bulbs, and peeling off some of the wrappers before hanging them to dry.
How low chum runs changed the lives of these Western Alaska fisheries workers
With salmon runs low and commercial fishing closed, the Yukon River’s only fish processor is offering few jobs this summer.