Restoring Chinook Salmon in the Yukon River Through Collaboration

“The cultural importance of salmon to our people — it goes beyond just a food source or subsistence. It’s part of us. It’s who we are.”

— Brandy Mayes, Manager of Operations and Fish & Wildlife, Kwanlin Dün First Nation

Restoring Yukon River Chinook Salmon Through Partnerships

In collaboration with Kwanlin Dün First Nation and technical partners Ecofish Research, a Trinity Consultants Canada Team, this story follows a community-led vision to bring Chinook salmon back to one of the world’s longest migration routes.

Along the upper reaches of the Yukon River in Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada, a once vibrant fishing village sits quiet. For generations, these waters were a gathering place for families, for ceremony, for sustenance. Today, declining Chinook salmon runs threaten that way of life. In this film, we join consultants, First Nation leaders, and scientists as they work together to understand what’s possible, and what it will take to bring Chinook salmon back to the Yukon River.

The 3,000-kilometer (around 2,000 miles) journey from the Bering Sea to these inland spawning grounds is one of the longest freshwater migrations on Earth. But warming waters, ocean fisheries, disease, and habitat change have made that return journey increasingly difficult. Now, with support from the Pacific Salmon Treaty and the Yukon River Panel, efforts are underway to explore solutions, ranging from hatchery enhancement to habitat restoration and traditional knowledge integration.

From velocity checks in the streambed to carcass surveys that reveal spawning success, this is work rooted in both science and culture. The team highlights how First Nations and consultants are working together on conservation, grounding it in an understanding that salmon are far more than a resource; they are a sacred part of identity, ecology, and history.

About Ecofish Research, a Trinity Consultants Canada team

Trinity Consultants Canada, part of a global environmental consultancy, delivers services in Water & Ecology, EHS Regulatory Compliance, Built Environment and Life Sciences. Ecofish Research, a Trinity Consultants Canada team, is recognized for environmental assessment, permitting and monitoring expertise that helps industry, government and Indigenous partners meet regulatory requirements and achieve environmental goals.

Learn more about Ecofish Research