Mr. Chair, the decline of Yukon River chinook salmon has arguably occurred over a 25-year period. As early as 1999, we saw a very significant decline in abundance returning to the upper Yukon River watershed.
That was followed by a period, albeit brief, of an improvement in abundance. We saw a very rapid decline through 1999 and 2000 and then a sudden increase in abundance through perhaps 2003 up until about 2008, to the point where the perceptions at the time were that the decline was short-lived in nature and emblematic of changes in abundance of Pacific salmon over time. Post 2010, however, there has been a much more sustained continuation of declining abundance.
In 2013, on the advice of Yukon first nation governments, Fisheries and Oceans Canada began implementing temporary suspensions, followed by long-term closures of Canadian fisheries on the Yukon River. Arguably, by 2016 and 2017, U.S. federal and state management agencies followed suit because by this time, we saw that the decline was not short-lived.