The irreplaceable Chinook salmon of the Yukon River

The Chinook salmon of the Yukon River are on the brink of extinction. This cultural keystone species has  the longest salmon migration in the world, up to 3,200 kilometres. But warming waters caused by climate change, along with other stresses, have decimated their numbers, forcing a seven-year fishing ban. 

For Indigenous communities in the region, this is not only an environmental tragedy but also a loss for their culture. 

In her documentary Ghosts in Their Nets, Laura Lynch takes us to Whitehorse, Yukon, where she meets First Nations leaders and advocates who are leading the charge to protect the species and demanding that the irreplaceable Chinook salmon be better taken care of. 

The doc was produced by Laura Lynch and  Rachel Sanders, with help from Molly Segal, Mathias Wolfsohn, Catherine Rolfsen and Joan Webber with the CBC Audio Documentary Unit / The doc originally aired on What on Earth. 

Storylines is part of the CBC Audio Doc Unit