The Yukon River is home to many native village communities which depend on subsistence harvest for livelihood. This project involves contacting local Tribal Councils in these respective communities to ask for their assistance with recruiting local fisherman to collect a sample size of 250-300, taken in the proportion to the actual harvest for each village. The data that will be collected from the Yukon River Chinook Salmon Subsistence Harvest Sampling project will provide post-season genetic stock identification and information on biological composition of subsistence-harvested Chinook salmon from lower, middle and upper river villages on the Yukon River. Research data collected through this project will contribute to the existing ASL database, emphasizing the total characterization of the Yukon Chinook salmon run.
Results of this project are not only important to state and federal Yukon River fisheries managers, but are also important to the communities along the Yukon River who have assisted in the collection of the samples.