Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you very much for the opportunity to talk to you.
As Chief Frost mentioned, the Yukon salmon are in critical condition. Chief Frost was speaking of the Porcupine, which is a major tributary of the Yukon. I was a commercial fisherman on the main stem for about 20 years, although there hasn't been any commercial fishing for 20 years, so this dates me.
As Chief Frost mentioned, the Yukon River chinook salmon and chum salmon are in absolutely critical shape. Last year, less than 15,000 chinook salmon reached the border. The target escapement at that time was about 55,000. That's just less than a third of the target. The new target escapement is 71,000. We're facing a catastrophic scenario.
To begin with, I want to say that it's not going to be easy to fix. Chief Frost mentioned climate change. That's a huge issue—maybe the most challenging.
You have hatcheries in Asia and North America that are pouring literally six billion pink and chum salmon into the north Pacific, which are then competing with wild Yukon River chinook for nutrients. That's a huge problem.
A huge number of our chinook are dying en route to the spawning grounds because they are simply not fattening up in the ocean. They are not acquiring the accumulated fats. They simply run out of gas on the way up the river. This is a huge problem. The salmon that do come are much smaller and less robust than they used to be. We used to have a huge contingent of seven-year-old and eight-year-old chinook that were some of the biggest in the world.
As Chief Frost said, it's one of the longest, if not the longest, migrations in the world. The salmon that are coming back now are about half the size of the salmon that returned 30 years ago. This is a real crisis.
There are numerous causes. Climate change and hatcheries are some of them. People sometimes throw up their hands and say there's nothing they can do about that. I don't buy that line. I do agree that it's going to be hard. I think Canada really needs to step up to the plate on the international stage and begin to lobby to reduce the number of hatchery fish being poured into the north Pacific and begin to take steps to arrest climate change.
I want to address certain things we can do.
As of April 1, the Government of Canada and Alaska, representing the U.S., signed an important international agreement to press the pause button on chinook fishing for seven years to begin developing a rebuilding plan, as required by the Yukon River Salmon Agreement. That agreement identifies a number of factors that have contributed to the decline. We have discussed some of those.
One of the factors is resource development in both Yukon and Alaska. Most of the resource development that threatens our salmon is mining. There are two hydroelectric dams in Yukon, both built 75 years ago. Neither was built with modern or effective fish migrating capabilities, such as fish ladders going up and fish out-migration channels going down. We have opportunities to fix things here.
I think one thing we have to do is clarify responsibility and coordinate action between the Government of Canada and the Government of Yukon because at this moment in time, the Government of Yukon more or less turns a blind eye to salmon. I'm not saying they do nothing, but they consider it Canada's responsibility.
Canada defers to Yukon when it comes to land management in the Yukon territory. I think it's very important for the Government of Canada to engage with their Yukon government colleagues and really get down to brass tacks on this chinook rebuilding plan. At this moment in time, the Yukon government isn't very actively involved in it. I think it's incumbent upon the government to engage with the Yukon government so that we have a multigovernment initiative.
We also have the first nation governments. Chief Frost was speaking about the Vuntut Gwitchin in Old Crow. There are 11 Yukon first nations living along the Yukon River. Each of them has self-government powers and authorities to regulate the harvest for their own citizens.
I think this is going to take a multigovernment, collaborative effort. It's not going to be easy. I think it will mean we'll have to change regulations. It's going to cost money, and it's going to mean sacrifice on the part of industry. However, unless we're prepared to make some sacrifices and to take some bold and decisive action, we're going to lose our salmon.
That concludes my opening remarks. Thank you for allowing me to speak. I'm happy to answer any questions you may have.