Sustainability 2010, 2, 2965-2987; doi:10.3390/su2092965 OPEN ACCESS sustainability ISSN 2071-1050 www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability Article Food Security and Conservation of Yukon River Salmon: Are We Asking Too Much of the Yukon River? Philip A Loring 1,2,* and Craig Gerlach 1,2 ,3 1 Center for Cross Cultural Studies, University of Alaska Fairbanks, P.O. Box 756730, Fairbanks, AK 99775, USA 2 Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy, University of Alaska Fairbanks, P.O. Box 755910, Fairbanks, AK 99775, USA; E-Mail:
[email protected] 3 Center for Alaska Native Health Research, University of Alaska Fairbanks, P.O. Box 757000, Fairbanks, AK 99775, USA * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail:
[email protected]; Tel.: +1-907-474-7163; Fax: +1-907-474-1957. Received: 6 August 2010; in revised form: 3 September 2010 / Accepted: 12 September 2010 / Published: 15 September 2010 Abstract: By the terms set by international agreements for the conservation of Yukon River salmon, 2009 was a management success. It was a devastating year for many of the Alaska Native communities along the Yukon River, however, especially in up-river communities, where subsistence fishing was closed in order to meet international conservation goals for Chinook salmon. By the end of summer, the smokehouses and freezers of many Alaska Native families remained empty, and Alaska’s Governor Sean Parnell petitioned the US Federal Government to declare a fisheries disaster. This paper reviews the social and ecological dimensions of salmon management in 2009 in an effort to reconcile these differing views regarding success, and the apparently-competing goals of salmon conservation and food security.