{"id":349908,"date":"2025-12-18T18:18:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T18:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/activist\/the-fight-for-the-last-wild-salmon\/"},"modified":"2025-12-18T18:18:00","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T18:18:00","slug":"the-fight-for-the-last-wild-salmon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=349908","title":{"rendered":"The Fight for the Last Wild Salmon"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<div id=\"article-title-block_53fb525216ad6ec01281f939b80fbbcf\" class=\"article-title \">\n<div class=\"article-title__container\">\n<div class=\"article-title__eyebrow\">\n                            <span class=\"article-title__labels\"><br \/>\n                                        <span class=\"article-title__label\"><br \/>\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/subject\/environment\/\">Environment<\/a><br \/>\n                    <\/span><br \/>\n                                                            <span class=\"article-title__label-divider\"> \/ <\/span><br \/>\n                                                            <span class=\"article-title__label\"><br \/>\n                                            <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/content\/studentnation\/\">StudentNation<\/a><br \/>\n                                        <\/span><br \/>\n                                    <\/span><br \/>\n                                    <span class=\"article-title__label-divider\"> \/ <\/span><br \/>\n                                                                            <span class=\"article-title__date\">December 18, 2025<\/span>\n                                    <\/div>\n<div class=\"acf-innerblocks-container\" wp_automatic_readability=\"7.5\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-the-nation-dek article-title__dek\" wp_automatic_readability=\"35\">\n<p>In Alaska, the last stronghold for wild salmon, Native tribes and conservationists are working to save the fish from both climate change and decades of corporate greed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<aside aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"ad-block ad siderail-ad float-r-w-3 break-r-4\">\n<p>                                    <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thenation.com\/advertising-policy\" class=\"ad-policy\" target=\"_blank\">Ad Policy<\/a><br \/>\n                                    <\/aside>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignwide size-full\" wp_automatic_readability=\"1\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1440\" height=\"907\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Salmon-Alaska.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-580941\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Salmon-Alaska.jpg 1440w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Salmon-Alaska-275x173.jpg 275w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Salmon-Alaska-768x484.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Salmon-Alaska-810x510.jpg 810w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Salmon-Alaska-340x215.jpg 340w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Salmon-Alaska-168x106.jpg 168w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Salmon-Alaska-382x240.jpg 382w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Salmon-Alaska-793x500.jpg 793w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\" wp_automatic_readability=\"2\">\n<p>Salmon swimming against the current to spawn in the streams in Alaska in August 2025.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"credits\">(Hasan Akbas \/ Getty)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<aside id=\"aside-block-block_5a70034119808f9afd2fc1c3f42e79b0\" class=\"aside-block  float-l-w-2\">\n    <span style=\"color: #666666; font-size: 1rem; box-sizing: inherit; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 \/ 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000;\">This story was produced for StudentNation, a program of the <\/span><a style=\"font-size: 1rem; box-sizing: inherit; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 \/ 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/thenationfund.org\/\">Nation Fund for Independent Journalism<\/a><span style=\"color: #666666; font-size: 1rem; box-sizing: inherit; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; 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For more StudentNation, check out\u00a0<\/span><a style=\"font-size: 1rem; box-sizing: inherit; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 \/ 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/admin-taxonomy\/studentnation\/\">our archive<\/a><span style=\"color: #666666; font-size: 1rem; box-sizing: inherit; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 \/ 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000;\">\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #666666; font-size: 1rem; box-sizing: inherit; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 \/ 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000;\">or learn more about the program\u00a0<\/span><a style=\"font-size: 1rem; box-sizing: inherit; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 \/ 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/thenationfund.org\/what-we-do\/studentnation\/\">here<\/a><span style=\"color: #666666; font-size: 1rem; box-sizing: inherit; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 \/ 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000;\">. StudentNation is made possible through generous funding from<\/span><span style=\"color: #666666; font-size: 1rem; box-sizing: inherit; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 \/ 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000;\">\u00a0<\/span><a style=\"font-size: 1rem; box-sizing: inherit; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 \/ 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.puffinfoundation.org\/\">The Puffin Foundation<\/a><span style=\"color: #666666; font-size: 1rem; box-sizing: inherit; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 \/ 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000;\">. If you\u2019re a student and you have an article idea, please send pitches and questions to<\/span><span style=\"color: #666666; font-size: 1rem; box-sizing: inherit; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 \/ 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000;\">\u00a0<\/span><a style=\"font-size: 1rem; box-sizing: inherit; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 \/ 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.thenation.com\/cdn-cgi\/l\/email-protection#fe8e978a9d969b8dbe8a969b909f8a979190988b909ad0918c99\"><span class=\"__cf_email__\" data-cfemail=\"24544d50474c415764504c414a45504d4b4a42514a400a4b5643\">[email\u00a0protected]<\/span>.<\/a><br \/>\n<\/aside>\n<p class=\"is-style-dropcap\">On the banks of the Yukon River, after arriving by canoe only a few miles from the Canadian border, I shared some salmon with Karma Ulvi, the chief of the Native Village of Eagle in Alaska. But the fish we ate wasn\u2019t caught locally: A plane had delivered the salmon from Bristol Bay, in the southwest corner of the state, over 1,000 miles away. For the Native tribes that have lived along the Yukon for millennia, importing is the only option. \u201cWe haven\u2019t been able to fish for seven years,\u201d said Ulvi.<\/p>\n<p>In the last stronghold for wild salmon on earth, these tribes are fighting to save the fish. But it\u2019s a war with many fronts, none of them simple: climate change, federal funding, competing scientific narratives, and, ultimately, corporate greed. Heat stroke during the summer has left scores of dead fish on the banks, unable to reach their spawning grounds. And over the last few decades, Alaska has seen more rain in the fall, causing floods that wash out salmon eggs. \u201cThey\u2019re not managing for sustainability,\u201d said Ulvi of fisheries management that allows billions of dollars of commercial fishing to take place while Native villages face malnutrition. \u201cThey\u2019re managing for maximum profit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At the village\u2019s first \u201cculture camp,\u201d attendees cleaned and processed fish while speaking their own language\u2014a rare dialect of H\u00e4n Athabascan\u2014and practiced traditional dances. First Nation tribes in Canada have been doing these camps for years, as have some Alaska villages on the Yukon, creating a place for Indigenous practices to be taught and applied.<\/p>\n<p>After talking to the locals, I\u2019d continue on to an international salmon monitoring station downriver from the village. The culture camp would last nearly a week, but similar fish camps used to last for months. During her youth, Bertha Ulvi, the chief\u2019s mother, said that her family\u2019s fish camp\u2014which would have been one of a dozen in the village\u2014could easily catch 300 salmon in a day. \u201cAll the members of the family pitched in,\u201d said Jody Potts-Joseph, a resident of Eagle Village. \u201cFishing kept us busy all summer, you know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Potts-Joseph is a long-distance <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ravenclankennels.com\/the-mushers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">dog musher<\/a> who qualified for her first Iditarod this year\u2014the first Alaska Native woman to run the race since 1993. But instead of feeding her sled dogs a salmon a day, which she used to do, she has had to truck in extra kibble from out of town. Of course, salmon don\u2019t just provide for humans and dogs: Hundreds of animal and plant species, depend on the <a href=\"https:\/\/hero.epa.gov\/hero\/index.cfm\/reference\/details\/reference_id\/3112246\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">salmon-driven marine nutrient cycle<\/a>, including bears, conifers, and insects \u201cIt wasn\u2019t just putting away fish for food security,\u201d she said of the camps, \u201cit\u2019s also the transmission of knowledge.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignwide size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1440\" height=\"1440\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Salmon.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-580945\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Salmon.jpg 1440w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Salmon-768x768.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Chief Karma Ulvi, left, hangs brined salmon to cure at the Village of Eagle\u2019s first culture camp in August 2025.<span class=\"credits\">(Photo courtesy of Karma Ulvi)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"is-style-dropcap\">The first commercial fishery on the Yukon was set up over a century ago. When these corporations were allowed in, they harvested hundreds of thousands of salmon for export in one season, devastating the stocks. After that, commercial salmon fishing was banned for nearly a decade.<\/p>\n<p>But once commercial fishing was allowed again\u2014after airplanes became the dominant transportation in the area, alleviating some of the fishing pressure from feeding salmon to dog mushing teams\u2014stocks faltered. In 1953, President Eisenhower declared the salmon fisheries a federal disaster.<\/p>\n<div id=\"current-issue-block_0233c324b974dc076946ee65d359d279\" class=\"current-issue  float-l-w-2\">\n<h4 class=\"current-issue__title\">\n                    Current Issue<br \/>\n            <\/h4>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/issue\/january-2026-issue\/\" class=\"current-issue__cover\"><br \/>\n        <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/cover2601.jpg\" alt=\"Cover of January 2026 Issue\"\/><br \/>\n    <\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>One of the primary goals for Alaskans, achieved in 1959, was for the state to manage their own salmon stocks rather than the outside interests that were responsible for overfishing. The 1970s and \u201980s saw banner years for commercial salmon fishing on the Yukon, and, while there were blips in the stocks, fisheries management was always able to recover. But when industrial trawling and climate change intensified in the \u201990s, king salmon stocks began to decline once again. Since then, it has gotten much worse.<\/p>\n<p>In 2024, with hopes to revive the depleting stocks, the United States and Canada signed a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.adfg.alaska.gov\/static\/home\/news\/hottopics\/pdfs\/yukon_river_chinook_salmon_7_year_management_2024_2030.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">seven-year moratorium<\/a> on fishing Yukon king salmon. But the ban wasn\u2019t limited to commercial fishing. Though many tribes\u2019 existence and culture rely on the fish, none of them were consulted before the full moratorium was signed.<\/p>\n<p>Environmental historian Bathsheba Demuth, a professor at Brown University who is writing a biography of the Yukon River, believes we have \u201cdeep obligations\u201d to let Indigenous people along the river make decisions for how they want to live. Yet, she explained, consulting them has not been the political norm for the last 150 years. \u201cBut that\u2019s a choice,\u201d Demuth said, \u201cand not one we have to keep making.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The health effects from a lack of local salmon have been devastating, especially in Eagle, where food is often expensive and difficult to purchase, and the absence of consistent, healthy protein is felt more acutely than it would be in other parts of the country. After the salmon collapse, Alaska Natives living along the Yukon saw a 50 percent increase in malnutrition and a 25 percent increase in diabetes, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/media.fisheries.noaa.gov\/2025-09\/Chum-Salmon-Bycatch-Management-DEIS-akro.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">a report<\/a> commissioned by the Tanana Chiefs Conference, a nonprofit encompassing 42 tribes from Interior Alaska, which pays more than $2 million a year to bring salmon to those that depend on it.<\/p>\n<div id=\"cta-block_0db7892e724c0bbd2509f868ba79f09a\" class=\"cta float-l-w-2\" wp_automatic_readability=\"209.15587734242\">\n<p>The report was part of a review by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a primary managing partner of federal fisheries, that investigated the environmental impact on chum salmon\u2014a species known for colorful stripes and big, sharp teeth that develop once they swim upriver. These reviews are required before federal management can put caps on the accidental catches from industrial fishing boats, which drag the floor of the Bering Sea for pollock with unbelievably large nets\u2014often with an opening the size of several football fields. Other fish, like salmon, are unintentionally swept up as bycatch, left flopping, crushed, or dead.<\/p>\n<p>The practice, called bottom trawling, is illegal in many fisheries around the world\u2014and in much of Alaska too. Yet <a href=\"https:\/\/alaskabeacon.com\/2024\/12\/05\/uniting-against-trawls-scraping-the-oceans-bottom-protects-alaskas-fisheries\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ambiguous regulations<\/a> allow pollock trawlers in the Bering Sea to use these mid-water nets on the ocean floor. The trawler fleet is proud of its purported bycatch rate of 1 percent. Since each of the nets hold up to 300,000 pounds, there can be 3,000 pounds of accidental catches each time they reel the fish in. More than 100 trawlers operate in the Bering Sea fleet, and they admit to millions of pounds of bycatch each year.<\/p>\n<p>By law, these boats are required to throw the bycatch overboard\u2014which means lots of discarded salmon. In 2024, the Bering Sea trawling fleet reportedly threw 10,000 king salmon and more than 30,000 chum salmon overboard, while villages along the stretch of the Yukon River were not allowed to fish, a move seemingly at odds with the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, which passed in 1980 and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.doi.gov\/subsistence\/library\/history#:~:text=Congress%20passes%20the%20Alaska%20Native,is%20in%20compliance%20with%20ANILCA.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">guaranteed priority fishing<\/a> to rural residents over commercial interests.<\/p>\n<p>In 2020, the Yukon\u2019s chum salmon runs collapsed. That year, the chum bycatch from trawlers in the Bering Sea included more than 340,000 salmon, while those living on the Yukon caught fewer than 100,000. Federal management is expected to finally put <a href=\"https:\/\/www.regulations.gov\/document\/NOAA-NMFS-2023-0089-0014\">a cap on chum bycatch<\/a> early next year\u2014aimed at trawlers in the Bering Sea\u2014to prevent further damage to the ecosystem, a perfect example of the fisheries management\u2019s glacial pace. In 2023, the trawl fleet accidentally <a href=\"https:\/\/www.adn.com\/alaska-news\/wildlife\/2023\/09\/23\/10-killer-whales-caught-this-year-by-trawl-vessels-off-alaska-according-to-a-federal-fishery-agency\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">caught 10 orcas<\/a>. Only one was released alive.<\/p>\n<p>Ulvi said that kind of waste directly conflicts with Alaska Native philosophy, which insists on respect and using all parts of a harvested animal. \u201cIt\u2019s crazy to me. All that high-quality salmon are tossed in the ocean and we\u2019re saving all the pollock,\u201d said Ulvi. \u201cWe\u2019ve been managing these rivers for thousands of years. We don\u2019t overfish and we don\u2019t throw back fish.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignwide size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Salmon-2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1440\" height=\"908\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Salmon-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-580948\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Salmon-2.jpg 1440w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Salmon-2-680x430.jpg 680w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Salmon-2-275x173.jpg 275w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Salmon-2-768x484.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Salmon-2-810x510.jpg 810w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Salmon-2-340x215.jpg 340w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Salmon-2-168x106.jpg 168w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Salmon-2-382x240.jpg 382w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Salmon-2-793x500.jpg 793w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px\"\/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Three Canadian federal fisheries employees untangle a net at the Eagle sonar station.<span class=\"credits\">(Colin A. Warren)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"is-style-dropcap\">The Yukon\u2019s king salmon run is the longest in the world, a whopping 2,000 miles. After the salmon\u2019s epic journey, they spawn and die\u2014at least, when we let them. King salmon used to come in at more than 90 pounds and lived to around eight or nine years old. Now, on average, they\u2019re closer to 30 pounds and have five-year life spans.<\/p>\n<p>Though wild salmon face many problems\u2014including warming oceans and rivers from climate change\u2014trawling bycatch is often met with the most ire, both on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/181111123119023\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Internet<\/a> and during public testimonies at management meetings. In November, federal troopers <a href=\"https:\/\/www.northernjournal.com\/alaska-troopers-seize-kodiak-trawl-groups-electronics-in-bycatch-probe\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">raided the offices<\/a> of an Alaska trawler\u2019s group as part of an active investigation about claims that multiple seafood processors have been illegally profiting from salmon bycatch. But it\u2019s not just salmon affected by trawling. These ships scoop tons of halibut, crab, and herring, all of which have recently suffered stock crashes. Over the last few years, canneries across the state have <a href=\"https:\/\/alaskapublic.org\/economy\/2024-02-15\/3-seafood-processors-announce-closures-selloffs-following-historic-price-collapse-for-alaska-fishing-industry\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">closed<\/a> due to uncertainty in the fisheries and widespread <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fisheries.noaa.gov\/feature-story\/economic-snapshot-shows-alaska-seafood-industry-suffered-18-billion-loss-2022-2023\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">market price collapse<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Commercial seafood hauls in Alaska make up 60 percent of the national total, and pollock\u2014a smaller, mottled fish known for its low calories and white, flaky flesh\u2014regularly accounts for nearly a third of the harvest. In 2023, industrial trawlers caught nearly 2.5 billion pounds of the fish, most commonly consumed in fast-food restaurants and frozen meals, typically processed in China. Pollock is the priority of the US Commerce Department, which oversees NOAA. In September, NOAA administrator Eugenio Pi\u00f1eiro Soler and Alaska\u2019s US Senators Dan Sullivan and Lisa Murkowski delivered speeches at the pollock fisherman conference in Seattle and assured them of their support. \u201cThis [year] is the second-largest USDA purchase of pollock in history, and we\u2019re shooting for more next year,\u201d Muskowski told the crowd.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, Trump has only added more uncertainty to an already precarious salmon situation. Since taking office, Trump\u2019s administration has <a href=\"https:\/\/alaskabeacon.com\/2025\/06\/10\/noaa-firings-cuts-will-reduce-services-used-to-manage-alaska-fisheries-officials-say\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">cut about a quarter<\/a> of the workforce from Alaska\u2019s federal fisheries management system, and delayed funding for the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, which manages the Bering Sea trawlers. The funding came three months later than usual, according to executive director Diana Evans. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t just that we knew it was going to be late,\u201d said Evans. \u201cWe had no idea what amount we would actually receive.\u201d<\/p>\n<section aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"ad fullwidth-ad contained row position-relative ad-block alignfull \">\n    <!--Ad policy starts here--><br \/>\n        <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thenation.com\/advertising-policy\" class=\"mid-ad-policy\">Ad Policy<\/a><br \/>\n        <!--Ad policy ends here--><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<p>In early 2025, Trump signed two separate executive orders: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/presidential-actions\/2025\/01\/unleashing-alaskas-extraordinary-resource-potential\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Unleashing Alaska\u2019s Extraordinary Resource Potential<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/presidential-actions\/2025\/04\/restoring-american-seafood-competitiveness\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Restoring American Seafood Competitiveness<\/a>. The former paved the way for the \u201cAmbler Road\u201d\u2014a proposed 211-mile passage through Native land and a national park to access deposits of copper, zinc, cobalt, and other critical minerals. The road will require thousands of culverts\u2014circular metal tubes buried under roads to channel water\u2014many of which salmon must pass through to arrive at their spawning grounds. The latter encourages deregulation and seeks to open up protected waters.<\/p>\n<p>The administration\u2019s cuts also included a National Science Foundation planning grant that allowed Courtney Carothers, a professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, to create an innovative fisheries research center informed by Indigenous knowledge, \u201cbased on respect and reciprocity between people and fish,\u201d Dr. Carothers. She explained that a total shift in fisheries management is needed to save wild salmon, away from \u201cthe one we currently have that\u2019s based on maximizing exploitation.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignwide size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Canoe-Alaska.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1440\" height=\"907\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Canoe-Alaska.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-580947\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Canoe-Alaska.jpg 1440w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Canoe-Alaska-275x173.jpg 275w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Canoe-Alaska-768x484.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Canoe-Alaska-810x510.jpg 810w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Canoe-Alaska-340x215.jpg 340w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Canoe-Alaska-168x106.jpg 168w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Canoe-Alaska-382x240.jpg 382w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Canoe-Alaska-793x500.jpg 793w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px\"\/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The bow of the canoe aims down the middle of the Yukon River near the Alaska-Canada border.<span class=\"credits\">(Colin A. Warren)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"is-style-dropcap\">After spending a couple days discussing fish with the Ulvis and other residents of the village, it was my turn to become part of the river. I launched a canoe into the Yukon, leaving Eagle behind. I moved swiftly downriver as golden eddies swirled and silt from the river buzzed against the hull. The river felt impossibly huge, nearly 2,000 feet wide, as I passed Bertha\u2019s childhood fish camp, untouched for years, where brush grew thick to the shore and there were no buildings in sight.<\/p>\n<section id=\"popular-block_8e4abb4f4db184a81da3ac18bf8544cf\" class=\"popular-articles\" wp_automatic_readability=\"13.521988527725\">\n<div class=\"swiper\" wp_automatic_readability=\"3.6405353728489\">\n<h2>Popular<\/h2>\n<p>            <span class=\"swipe-msg\"><span class=\"sr-only\">\u201cswipe left below to view more authors\u201d<\/span>Swipe \u2192<\/span><\/p>\n<ol class=\"popular-articles__list\">\n<li class=\"popular-articles__list-item swiper-slide\">\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"popular-articles__list-item swiper-slide\">\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"popular-articles__list-item swiper-slide\">\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"popular-articles__list-item swiper-slide\">\n<\/li>\n<\/ol><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p>As I paddled onward through land gone lonesome, I spotted more fish camps going back to the woods before I came to the sonar station that the salmon treaty with Canada enabled. Quinn Davis, the station manager, stood on the shore as three Canadian women worked a net from a skiff. Bears visit there often, as several shotguns hanging around indicated. Davis gave me a tour of the camp, explaining the difference between the two sonars they used to count fish passing the station. In 2025, Davis and the other researchers tracked about 24,000 king salmon, far short of the over 70,000 aimed for in the international agreement.<\/p>\n<p>Saving wild Alaska salmon isn\u2019t just a Native endeavor; most fish conservationists in the state have been ringing the alarm. \u201cWhat\u2019s happened in the last five years is totally off the charts,\u201d said Professor Erik Schoen of the International Arctic Research Center at University of Alaska Fairbanks, whose research on the Yukon River and its tributaries has informed state and federal fisheries management. Last summer, Schoen joined other researchers and Native advocates to publish an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tandfonline.com\/doi\/full\/10.1080\/15230430.2025.2510793\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">article<\/a> specifically addressing the food security crisis on the Yukon River, with calls for better management and more use of Indigenous knowledge. \u201cWe\u2019re used to salmon runs going up and down,\u201d said Schoen, \u201cbut this is crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In 2024, Alaska reportedly led the world in releasing hatchery-produced salmon, topping over 2 billion fish, despite the growing <a href=\"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/10.1002\/aff2.70103\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">evidence<\/a> that hatcheries disturb the ecosystem, damaging wild stocks and increasing their likelihood of catching diseases. Though these hatcheries claim to be independent from the state, according to Virgil Umpenhour, a three-time former state Board of Fisheries member, who came to Alaska in the early 1970s after serving as a sniper in the Vietnam War. Now he sits on the local fisheries advisory board in Fairbanks. But despite the claim to independence, Umpenhour explained, hatcheries are loaned money to operate every year by the state government, which rakes in tens of millions from taxes on fish caught in Alaska waters. The state also used to provide low or no-interest loans for fishermen to buy boats that make their quota off the hatcheries\u2019 fish.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have personally seen the kind of decline that never should have happened,\u201d said Gale Vick, a fellow member of the board. They both say that state management is not following its own regulations, particularly the precautionary principle of the sustainable salmon policy, which gives priority to care for wild salmon stocks over all others. \u201cOur collective ignorance and hubris and greed have led us here,\u201d said Vick.<\/p>\n<p>Like tributary waters gathering speed as they flow into the main river, support for Native fisheries management has moved quickly in Alaska. Last year, federal managers <a href=\"https:\/\/www.adn.com\/alaska-news\/2024\/10\/17\/new-rule-adds-three-alaska-tribal-representatives-to-federal-board-managing-subsistence\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">added three tribal<\/a> seats to their board, citing their unique perspective and Alaska Native\u2019s salmon practices as \u201ceconomic, spiritual, and cultural.\u201d Tribal organizations also signed an agreement with the federal government intending to bring more Indigenous knowledge to their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fws.gov\/page\/gravel-to-gravel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Gravel to Gravel Keystone Initiative<\/a>, which aims to restore Pacific salmon by rehabilitating ecosystems, improving fish passage, and conducting more collaborative research.<\/p>\n<p>In May 2024, the legislature confirmed Native Village of Nenana tribal member Olivia Henaayee Irwin to the Alaska Board of Fisheries. She shows up to each meeting with stacks of color-coded, annotated regulations. Irwin intends to support Indigenous knowledge holders by connecting them with fisheries management biologists to train them in their ways, like knowing what crane migration signals for salmon runs. She also hopes to see designated seats on fisheries boards and commissions. There\u2019s a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.akleg.gov\/basis\/Bill\/Detail\/34?Root=HB%20125#tab1_4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">bill<\/a> working its way through the state legislature that will do just that. She also wants to further enforcement of existing regulations, like wanton waste, which align with Native values.<\/p>\n<p>But merely giving Natives a seat at the table of fisheries management now, when there is a crisis, may or may not provide the requisite remedy. And, in many ways, the damage has already been done. \u201cWhen my father committed suicide, I began a deeper understanding of how salmon so integrally related to our wellness as individuals,\u201d Irwin told me. \u201cBeing unable to do what for 10,000 years our ancestors had been able to do, it\u2019s leaving our people without purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"article-end-\" class=\"article-end \">\n<div aria-hidden=\"false\" id=\"article-editor-note\" class=\"article-editor-note-1 tn-editor-none-module\" data-nosnippet=\"\" wp_automatic_readability=\"87.136929460581\">\n<div class=\"article-editor-note-blocks\" id=\"editor_note\" wp_automatic_readability=\"96.818810511757\">\n<p><span style=\"\\&quot;font-weight:\" 400;\\\"=\"\">Over the past year you\u2019ve read <\/span><i><span style=\"\\&quot;font-weight:\" 400;\\\"=\"\">Nation<\/span><\/i><span style=\"\\&quot;font-weight:\" 400;\\\"=\"\"> writers like <\/span><b>Elie Mystal<\/b><span style=\"\\&quot;font-weight:\" 400;\\\"=\"\">, <\/span><b>Kaveh Akbar<\/b><span style=\"\\&quot;font-weight:\" 400;\\\"=\"\">, <\/span><b>John Nichols<\/b><span style=\"\\&quot;font-weight:\" 400;\\\"=\"\">, <\/span><b>Joan Walsh<\/b><span style=\"\\&quot;font-weight:\" 400;\\\"=\"\">,<\/span><b> Bryce Covert<\/b><span style=\"\\&quot;font-weight:\" 400;\\\"=\"\">, <\/span><b>Dave Zirin<\/b><span style=\"\\&quot;font-weight:\" 400;\\\"=\"\">, <\/span><b>Jeet Heer<\/b><span style=\"\\&quot;font-weight:\" 400;\\\"=\"\">,<\/span><b> Michael T. Klare<\/b><span style=\"\\&quot;font-weight:\" 400;\\\"=\"\">, <\/span><b>Katha Pollitt<\/b><span style=\"\\&quot;font-weight:\" 400;\\\"=\"\">, <\/span><b>Amy Littlefield<\/b><span style=\"\\&quot;font-weight:\" 400;\\\"=\"\">, <\/span><b>Gregg Gonsalves<\/b><span style=\"\\&quot;font-weight:\" 400;\\\"=\"\">, and <\/span><b>Sasha Abramsky<\/b><span style=\"\\&quot;font-weight:\" 400;\\\"=\"\"> take on the Trump family\u2019s corruption, set the record straight about Robert F. Kennedy Jr.\u2019s catastrophic Make America Healthy Again movement, survey the fallout and human cost of the DOGE wrecking ball, anticipate the Supreme Court\u2019s dangerous antidemocratic rulings, and amplify successful tactics of resistance on the streets and in Congress.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"\\&quot;font-weight:\" 400;\\\"=\"\">We publish these stories because when members of our communities are being abducted, household debt is climbing, and AI data centers are causing water and electricity shortages, <\/span><b>we have a duty as journalists to do all we can to inform the public.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>In 2026, our aim is to do more than ever before\u2014but we need your support to make that happen.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>Through December 31, a generous donor will match all donations up to $75,000. <\/b><span style=\"\\&quot;font-weight:\" 400;\\\"=\"\">That means that your contribution will be doubled, dollar for dollar. If<\/span> <span style=\"\\&quot;font-weight:\" 400;\\\"=\"\">we hit the full match, we\u2019ll be starting 2026 with $150,000<\/span> <span style=\"\\&quot;font-weight:\" 400;\\\"=\"\">to invest in the stories that impact real people\u2019s lives\u2014the kinds of stories that billionaire-owned, corporate-backed outlets aren\u2019t covering.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"\\&quot;font-weight:\" 400;\\\"=\"\">With your support, our team will publish major stories that the president and his allies won\u2019t want you to read. We\u2019ll cover the emerging military-tech industrial complex and matters of war, peace, and surveillance, as well as the affordability crisis, hunger, housing, healthcare, the environment, attacks on reproductive rights, and much more. At the same time, we\u2019ll imagine alternatives to Trumpian rule and uplift efforts to create a better world, here and now.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>While your gift has twice the impact, <a href=\"\\&quot;https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/donate-website\/?utm_medium=website&amp;utm_source=Website&amp;utm_campaign=2025-GT-ednote&amp;sourceid=1096246&amp;ms=editors-note&amp;utm_content=editors-note\\&quot;\">I\u2019m asking you to support <\/a><\/b><b><i>The Nation<\/i><\/b><b> with a donation today<\/b><b>. <\/b><span style=\"\\&quot;font-weight:\" 400;\\\"=\"\">You\u2019ll <\/span><span style=\"\\&quot;font-weight:\" 400;\\\"=\"\">empower the journalists, editors, and fact-checkers best equipped to hold this authoritarian administration to account.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"\\&quot;font-size:\" 1rem;\\\"=\"\"><b>I hope you won\u2019t miss this moment\u2014donate to <\/b><b><i>The Nation<\/i><\/b><b> today. <\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Onward,<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"\\&quot;font-size:\" 1rem;\\\"=\"\">Katrina vanden Heuvel\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Editor and publisher, <em>The Nation<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-end__authors\">\n<div class=\"article-end__author\" wp_automatic_readability=\"34.367021276596\">\n<h5 class=\"article-end__author-name\">\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/authors\/colin-warren\/\">Colin Warren<\/a><br \/>\n                    <\/h5>\n<div class=\"article-end__author-bio\" wp_automatic_readability=\"41\">\n<p>Colin Warren is 2025 Puffin student writing fellow focusing on climate and rural issues for <em>The Nation<\/em>. He is a senior climate scholar at University of Alaska at University of Alaska, Fairbanks, serving as editor in chief of the school newspaper, <em>The Sun Star<\/em>. His work also appears in <em>The Nome Nugget<\/em>, <em>Copper River Record<\/em>, and <em>The McCarthy Canards<\/em>, among others.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>        <!-- Tag ID: thenation_incontent_2 --><\/p>\n<section class=\"collections collections--col-0\">\n<div class=\"container\">\n<h2 class=\"collections__title\">More from <span class=\"not-italic\">The Nation<\/span><\/h2>\n<div class=\"collection__row\">\n<div class=\"collections__card   \">\n            <a class=\"collections__card-image-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/article\/environment\/national-emergency-briefing-uk-climate\/\" aria-label=\"The UK\u2019s Climate National Emergency Briefing Should Be a Wake-Up Call to Everyone \"><br \/>\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"collections__card-image\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/national-emergency-briefing-climate-getty.jpg 1440w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/national-emergency-briefing-climate-getty-275x173.jpg 275w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/national-emergency-briefing-climate-getty-768x484.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/national-emergency-briefing-climate-getty-810x510.jpg 810w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/national-emergency-briefing-climate-getty-340x215.jpg 340w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/national-emergency-briefing-climate-getty-168x106.jpg 168w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/national-emergency-briefing-climate-getty-382x240.jpg 382w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/national-emergency-briefing-climate-getty-793x500.jpg 793w\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/national-emergency-briefing-climate-getty.jpg\" alt=\"Chris Packham addresses the audience at a National Emergency Briefing on the climate and nature crisis, at Central Hall Westminster on November 27, 2025, in London, England.\"\/><br \/>\n        <\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"collections__card-content\" wp_automatic_readability=\"23.191011235955\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-the-nation-dek article-title__dek\" wp_automatic_readability=\"34\">\n<p>The briefing was a rare coordinated effort to make sure the media reflects the science: Humanity\u2019s planetary house is on fire, but we have the tools to put that fire out.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"knockout \">\n                                                                            <a class=\"collections__author\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/authors\/mark-hertsgaard\/\">Mark Hertsgaard<\/a>                                    <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"collections__card   \">\n            <a class=\"collections__card-image-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/article\/environment\/ai-climate-change-bill-gates\/\" aria-label=\"AI Will Only Intensify Climate Change. The Tech Moguls Don\u2019t Care.  \"><br \/>\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"collections__card-image\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/climate-catastrophe-fire-getty.jpg 1440w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/climate-catastrophe-fire-getty-275x173.jpg 275w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/climate-catastrophe-fire-getty-768x484.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/climate-catastrophe-fire-getty-810x510.jpg 810w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/climate-catastrophe-fire-getty-340x215.jpg 340w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/climate-catastrophe-fire-getty-168x106.jpg 168w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/climate-catastrophe-fire-getty-382x240.jpg 382w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/climate-catastrophe-fire-getty-793x500.jpg 793w\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/climate-catastrophe-fire-getty.jpg\" alt=\"A man on a rooftop looks at approaching flames as the Springs fire continues to grow on May 3, 2013, near Camarillo, California.\"\/><br \/>\n        <\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"collections__card-content\" wp_automatic_readability=\"24.074074074074\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-the-nation-dek article-title__dek\" wp_automatic_readability=\"35\">\n<p>The AI phenomenon may functionally print money for tech billionaires, at least for the time being, but it comes with a gargantuan environmental cost.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"knockout \">\n                                                                            <a class=\"collections__author\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/authors\/juan-cole\/\">Juan Cole<\/a>                                    <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"collections__card   \">\n            <a class=\"collections__card-image-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/article\/environment\/belem-cop30-disappointment-climate-change\/\" aria-label=\"Backsliding in Bel\u00e9m\"><br \/>\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"collections__card-image\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/cop30-protest-belem-getty.jpg 1440w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/cop30-protest-belem-getty-275x173.jpg 275w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/cop30-protest-belem-getty-768x484.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/cop30-protest-belem-getty-810x510.jpg 810w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/cop30-protest-belem-getty-340x215.jpg 340w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/cop30-protest-belem-getty-168x106.jpg 168w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/cop30-protest-belem-getty-382x240.jpg 382w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/cop30-protest-belem-getty-793x500.jpg 793w\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/cop30-protest-belem-getty.jpg\" alt=\"People participate in a demonstration in front of the main entrance of COP30 in Bel\u00e9m, Brazil, on November 10, 2025.\"\/><br \/>\n        <\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"collections__card-content\" wp_automatic_readability=\"22.212598425197\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-the-nation-dek article-title__dek\" wp_automatic_readability=\"32\">\n<p>Petrostates at COP30 quash fossil fuel and deforestation phaseouts.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"knockout \">\n                                                                            <a class=\"collections__author\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/authors\/mark-hertsgaard\/\">Mark Hertsgaard<\/a>                                    <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"collections__card   \" wp_automatic_readability=\"7.184375\">\n            <a class=\"collections__card-image-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/article\/environment\/trump-coal-country-colstrip-montana\/\" aria-label=\"Trump Promised to Bring Back Coal. This Town Listened.\"><br \/>\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"collections__card-image\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Colstrip-Montana-Coal-Trump.jpg 1440w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Colstrip-Montana-Coal-Trump-275x173.jpg 275w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Colstrip-Montana-Coal-Trump-768x484.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Colstrip-Montana-Coal-Trump-810x510.jpg 810w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Colstrip-Montana-Coal-Trump-340x215.jpg 340w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Colstrip-Montana-Coal-Trump-168x106.jpg 168w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Colstrip-Montana-Coal-Trump-382x240.jpg 382w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Colstrip-Montana-Coal-Trump-793x500.jpg 793w\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Colstrip-Montana-Coal-Trump.jpg\" alt=\"A power plant in Colstrip, Montana.\"\/><br \/>\n        <\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"collections__card-content\" wp_automatic_readability=\"29.49375\">\n<p class=\"dek\">\nThrough executive orders, Congress, and a loyalist cabinet, the Trump administration has delivered big for enclaves of coal country like Colstrip, Montana. But how long can it las&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"knockout \">\n                                                            <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/content\/studentnation\/\" class=\"collections__label\">StudentNation<\/a><br \/>\n                                            <span class=\"collections__divider\"><br \/>\n                            \/<br \/>\n                        <\/span><br \/>\n                                                                        <a class=\"collections__author\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/authors\/ezra-graham\/\">Ezra Graham<\/a>                                    <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p>        <!-- Tag ID: thenation_btf_medrec --><\/p>\n<p>\t\t        <input type=\"hidden\" name=\"tpContentAuthor\" value=\"Colin Warren\"\/><br \/>\n        <input type=\"hidden\" name=\"tpTags\" value=\"activism,climate-change,environment,environmental-activism,environmental-issues,science-and-health,society,sustainability,studentnation\"\/><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script type=\"bd19d41a4c79b2eaac81b94e-text\/javascript\">\n\t\t!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)\n\t\t{if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\n\t\tn.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};\n\t\tif(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';\n\t\tn.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\n\t\tt.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\n\t\ts.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,document,'script', 'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n\t\tfbq('init', '233793277040432');\n\t\tfbq('track', 'PageView');\n\t\t\t\t<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Environment \/ StudentNation \/ December 18, 2025 In Alaska, the last stronghold for wild salmon, Native tribes and conservationists are working to save the fish from both climate change and decades of corporate greed. Ad Policy Salmon swimming against the current to spawn in the streams in Alaska in August 2025. (Hasan Akbas \/ Getty) [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":349909,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12022],"tags":[1180,8120,5701],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-349908","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-activist","tag-fight","tag-salmon","tag-wild"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Fight for the Last Wild Salmon - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=349908\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Fight for the Last Wild Salmon - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Environment \/ StudentNation \/ December 18, 2025 In Alaska, the last stronghold for wild salmon, Native tribes and conservationists are working to save the fish from both climate change and decades of corporate greed. Ad Policy Salmon swimming against the current to spawn in the streams in Alaska in August 2025. 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