I always defer to Rhonda, but I'm happy to oblige.
Good afternoon. I'm Dr. Peter Westley. I'm an associate professor and the Wakefield endowed chair of fisheries and ocean sciences at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
I'm joining you today from the unceded homelands of the lower Tanana Dena people, who for at least 11,000 years have stewarded these lands and waters on which the University of Alaska now resides. The Dena people have been and continue to be deeply connected with salmon that also call the Tanana River—a major tributary of the Yukon River here on the U.S. side—home. It's a privilege and honour, and a responsibility that I take very seriously, to share with you what I understand about the plight of salmon and salmon people in the Yukon.
I'll give you a bit of background. I'm a western-trained scientist. I have a bachelor's and a master's in science from the University of Washington School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences. I have a Ph.D. in biology from Memorial University of Newfoundland.
As a lifelong Alaskan, it was a highlight of my life to live in St. John's. I lived there for five years. My son Finn was born in St. John's in 2010. My time there really underscored the vital importance of the best available science to make informed fisheries decisions and policies. As a professor here in Alaska, I teach some of those heart-wrenching lessons that were learned from the collapse of the northern cod.
I am arguably more concerned, or as concerned, with the ongoing declines of chinook salmon in the Yukon as I think people were in Newfoundland in the early 1990s. The situation is absolutely as grave. The causes of the declines are complex and complicated. They occur at different scales across time and space and they all operate in the context of a changing climate.
So I am here. I'm happy to field questions. I'm so glad for the invitation. I ultimately urge a focus on research along avenues that are actionable, where we as people have some hope of actually making a difference for salmon in our lifetime. I think it's really easy as researchers for us to propose and to do really good science, really good salmon science, but that really may not be good for the salmon, or good for the salmon and people, and I think we really need to prioritize that. I want to urge you to keep your eyes on the science that really is likely to make a difference.
Thank you again for the invitation—I look forward to the questions and the conversation and the discussion—to speak towards this really vital and ongoing crisis.