Fish Camp

Christopher works with First Nations people here in the Yukon. One of their summer traditions is to set up camps on the banks of the Yukon River and fish for Yukon River Kings (aka Yukon River Chinook). These Pacific salmon swim the longest distance of any salmon in the world to spawn and die. They come from the Bering Sea all the way to Whitehorse on the Yukon River. To get here, the fish have to navigate the dangers of the Alaska ocean pollock and salmon fisheries, and then the river commercial, recreational and subsistence fishery. This year the number of salmon entering the Yukon was too low and didn't meet the treaty agreement numbers. Because of that, only First Nations people were allowed to fish for these salmon. No commercial or recreational fishing was allowed in the Yukon. 

We were privileged to be able to help out at one special families' Northern Tutchone First Nations fish camp - mostly Christopher. I was just the cheering section. Christopher has been going every year for 7 or 8 years now.  An important part of the culture is to share food and other resources. In the past when dogs were a means of transport and not just pets, the spines of the salmon would be smoked and fed to the dogs. Christopher is given any extra salmon backbones for our dog and some mushers dogs in Whitehorse so as much of the salmon can be used as possible.