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(intense music)
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(boat chugging)
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(water splashing)
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There are very few places which may appear
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as pristine as the Yukon Delta
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in the southeastern part of Alaska.
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A labyrinth of waterways extending out from the Yukon River
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which irrigate the landscape like arteries.
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Only 25,000 people live in this harsh territory
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covering an area similar to that of Greece.
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(dancers chanting)
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Most of the inhabitants are Yup'ik, native American Indians
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related to the Inuit.
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Their named translates as person, the real, or genuine one.
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The Yup'ik concentrate their sustenance activities
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based on hunting and fishing
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on the banks of the Yukon River.
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(haunting music)
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Alaska is situated in the northernmost part
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of the American continent between Canada
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and the Bering Sea, close to Russia.
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Our journey starts at the entrance to the delta
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near the village of Russian Mission.
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The metal boat speeding over the Yukon River
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is piloted by Daniel Askawak, a Yup'ik hunter.
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It's from the river that the hunters track their prey:
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elk, also known as moose.
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The many branches of the Yukon
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make it possible to approach them.
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It's also the only way in and out.
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We are so remote that we don't have access to roads
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like in the cities.
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The rivers and the creeks, this is our access
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to these remote places.
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In this isolated region,
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nature provides the most reliable larder.
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Here, the hunting season starts in August.
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The young elk born in the spring
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reach maturity at that time,
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and the females are less protective.
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The elk is the world's largest member of the deer family
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and can reach up to three meters in length.
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Its diet mainly consists of bushes, grass,
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and aquatic plants which it can graze with its head
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entirely submerged below the water.
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Predators fly over the river ahead of Daniel's boat.
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They're the white-headed sea eagles also known as osprey.
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These majestic birds of prey
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are the symbol of the United States.
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Being out here is a wonderful experience.
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Like in the city, you do everything by time.
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Well, out here it's more of a relaxed, yet hands-on.
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A lot of our time in a short summer season
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that we do have here in Alaska,
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a lot of it is spending time gathering,
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not only a heat source, wood,
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but fish and meat for the winter.
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Today, Daniel is out spotting.
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He prefers to wait until the animals fatten up more
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before starting the hunt because every Yup'ik family
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is entitled to kill two elk each year only.
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Mike.
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Yeah.
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There's a meadow right there.
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Any area that we go to, when we enter that area,
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we always have to be cautious of our surroundings.
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There may be bears, wolves, predators in the area.
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We call moose various ways.
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We make the sounds, we grunt like a bull moose.
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We rake the trees.
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We hit the trees just as they would do.
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And they would think that we are a moose in their area,
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their territory.
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(Daniel calling moose)
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Moose.
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Thanks to its feeding habits, the elk,
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a solitary and independent animal,
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makes a significant contribution
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to maintaining wetland areas,
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and therefore the ecosystem of the delta.
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At the same time,
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these cervids have a high reproductive potential,
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and overpopulation can occur quickly
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if they are not restricted by predation and hunting.
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The moose is very important to subsistence living
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because it yields up to a thousand pounds of meat,
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and it could last a family up to a year.
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Another animal maintains the riversides: the beaver.
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This semi-aquatic rodent spent its time building small dams
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while feeding on the bark of the trees it cuts down.
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These small lagoons enable great biodiversity
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and favor the growth of the elk's favorite grass.
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The banks are lined with many dead trees
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washed up by the powerful river.
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This delta, which is where the Yup'ik settled,
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was the principal migration route
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for the first inhabitants of North America,
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according to some paleontologists.
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This was 50,000 years ago.
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The first village founded at the mouth of the delta
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is near to Daniel Askawak's hunting site.
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Russian Mission is a community of some 300 inhabitants
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nestled between the hills.
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In summer, the few streets,
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which meander between the wooden huts,
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are swathed in dust from the quad bikes
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and their constant coming and going
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between river and village.
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Here, the climate is very capricious
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with summer days of 30 degrees,
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quickly giving way to a harsh winter
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with temperatures approaching 50 degrees below zero.
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(dog barking)
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It's the time to gather the provisions for the winter.
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In the village, hunters have killed a first animal.
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In Alaska 6,000 to 8,000 elk are killed every year.
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For the Yup'ik, the summer serves as preparation
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for the winter, and Daniel, too,
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takes this opportunity to service his snowmobile.
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In Russian Mission stands an old, dilapidated wooden chapel.
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Church services are held in another building.
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In the mid-19th century,
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the village was an important fur trading post
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run by the Russians,
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well before the time Alaska became the 51st American state.
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The Orthodox faith is still very much alive in this village.
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(priest and congregation singing)
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Traces of it can be found on the cemetery cross
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which stands over the Yukon.
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After Russian Mission, moving downstream
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there are few traces of human settlements.
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(grass rustling)
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There is merely this hamlet, which was abandoned
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after a tuberculosis epidemic.
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Two-thirds of the residents were wiped out in a few weeks.
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The survivors left everything
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to join another village community.
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The Yukon's broad river bed
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also facilitates fish migration.
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Every spring in the delta, millions of salmon arrive
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from the depths of the Bering Sea to reproduce in the rivers
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and cold lakes where they were born.
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This incredible wild salmon journey
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extends over 2,000 kilometers.
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All kinds of predators sometimes lay in wait for the salmon.
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(bear bellowing)
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Bears and wolves take advantage of the low water levels
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in some channels of the delta to help themselves.
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(fish splashing)
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(intense music)
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Moving along the delta we reach the Pilot Station
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scientific base at the junction between the Yukon River
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and the Andreafsky River, a crucial loop for observing fish.
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This is where the river is at its widest.
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To ensure good salmon numbers,
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strict fishing regulations have been established
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by the Department of Fish and Game.
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Scientists spend the whole summer at Pilot Station
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to study and record the salmon migration.
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Lindsey Dreese is one of the biologists at the station.
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She has just finished her degree
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at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks.
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Every day she checks the functioning of the sonars
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submerged in the Yukon.
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So the purpose of Pilot Station sonar
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is to get passage estimates of the number of salmon
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and other fish species that pass by this section of river
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and travel on up all the way, some of them go to Canada.
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And those passage estimates are used by managers
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to make decisions about commercial fishing openers,
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as well as subsistence fishing openers
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for the people of both Pilot Station
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and other communities on the river.
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(sonar beeping)
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So split-beam sonar is sort of like,
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think of down-looking sonar on a ship.
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We take that and shoot it across the water column.
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It sends out a ping of sound
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that runs into the water column, hits the fish,
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and comes back to the receiver, or the transducer face.
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And based on where the fish are in the water column,
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and where the sound hits them, we get a return.
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And so that translates on screen as a squiggle, essentially.
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It's a red to blue squiggle, and we consider those to be,
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they're called traces or targets.
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We generally consider those to be fish.
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Once the figures have been analyzed,
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the scientists, with the agreement of the state department,
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can announce the fishing opening times.
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It's a matter of regulating this
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so as not to undermine or weaken a particular species.
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Commercial fishing will be open for one period
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in district two from 3:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m.,
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Wednesday, August 23.
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St Mary's and Mountain Village buying stations
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will be operating during this period.
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The sale of Chinook salmon is prohibited
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when retained from commercial gillnet gear must be recorded
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on a fish ticket.
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From my observation as an outsider coming to a community
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on the Yukon, life can be rough,
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especially when fish passages aren't very good.
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They're really trying to get their fish to put away
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for the winter so they can subsist on them.
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They still preserve some of their traditions out here.
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You still see fish racks full of fish drying,
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and smoke houses going.
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They still hold Eskimo dance nights in town.
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So it's cool to see that culture being preserved
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despite all of the technological advances we keep seeing.
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When the information is given
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by the amateur radio transceivers,
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the fishermen of St. Mary's, like Norbert Biens,
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hurry towards the fish holes.
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I've been fishing in the Yukon Delta
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since I was 14 years old.
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Now I'm 62.
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I started going out with my papa when I was very young.
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And I think a lot of the dads, grandparents, grandfathers
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try to pass that on to their boys.
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Even the ladies are sometimes better fishermen than the men.
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Yes.
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More power to our Eskimo women. (chuckling)
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A lot of the fishermen now they have their gear,
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their boat, their motor,
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and their gear a lot more advanced than they were
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like when I was a young boy, young man.
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Now they have these depth finders.
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A lot of it's technical.
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They have depth finders telling you how deep the water is.
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And they will show, sometimes, they will show
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there's a fish under there.
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They like drifting, fishing alongside sandbars,
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and along the beach.
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Sometimes close to the beach, sometimes in deep water.
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But the depths of the net,
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you don't wanna be out there too deep.
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From what I can see,
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this year has been a good year for king salmon.
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I think there was escapement.
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People were able to get their king salmon
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for their subsistence and got put away for the winter.
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It subsidizes their income.
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And with that income they're able to buy gasoline
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for moose hunting, and what have you.
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They're able to buy heating fuel and food,
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and get ready for the winter.
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In this open countryside,
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it's difficult to imagine
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the ruggedness of the winter in the delta,
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a time when everything is locked in a snowy and icy grip.
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It's in the interest of the residents
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to take advantage of this very brief summer to stock up.
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At the prescribed time, the commercial fishermen gather
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at the port of St. Mary's
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in order to get their harvest of fish weighed.
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The fact that Alaska salmon is so appreciated
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with its soft and fatty flesh,
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is because it takes a longer migration route
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than any other salmon in the world.
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Anthropologists have demonstrated that the indigenous people
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of North America were already benefiting from fish migration
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to catch and consume salmon over 11,000 years ago.
264
00:21:04,430 --> 00:21:07,230
The Yukon Delta is now demarcated
265
00:21:07,230 --> 00:21:10,580
into several large commercial fishing zones.
266
00:21:10,580 --> 00:21:13,560
Fishermen from one community are not permitted to go
267
00:21:13,560 --> 00:21:15,943
and fish in a zone belonging to another.
268
00:21:18,880 --> 00:21:21,160
When commercial fishing has ended,
269
00:21:21,160 --> 00:21:23,790
the Yup'ik can pursue their subsistence fishing
270
00:21:23,790 --> 00:21:26,713
to ensure they have the food they need for winter.
271
00:21:33,370 --> 00:21:36,993
To do so they organize fishing camps in the summer.
272
00:21:39,980 --> 00:21:43,020
There they can slice and smoke the salmon
273
00:21:43,020 --> 00:21:45,603
as Sylvia Nerby does with her family.
274
00:21:46,728 --> 00:21:50,311
(women conversing quietly)
275
00:21:51,880 --> 00:21:54,420
Fish camp is where we go during the summer
276
00:21:54,420 --> 00:21:56,450
to gather our salmon harvest.
277
00:21:56,450 --> 00:22:00,550
And we chose to bring our fish camp to by the river
278
00:22:00,550 --> 00:22:02,730
so we have easy access to wash our fish
279
00:22:02,730 --> 00:22:04,670
to make sure it's clean.
280
00:22:04,670 --> 00:22:06,100
Then we hang it up.
281
00:22:06,100 --> 00:22:09,570
It takes about, depends on the wind, two or three days
282
00:22:09,570 --> 00:22:11,080
until it dries on the fish rack,
283
00:22:11,080 --> 00:22:12,780
and then we move it into the smoke house
284
00:22:12,780 --> 00:22:15,730
for the drying process and the smoking process.
285
00:22:15,730 --> 00:22:19,720
It takes about three weeks to have the fish smoked,
286
00:22:19,720 --> 00:22:22,032
and then after that, we put them away.
287
00:22:22,032 --> 00:22:24,700
(children laughing and chattering)
288
00:22:24,700 --> 00:22:28,510
You have to take very good care of them, watch them closely,
289
00:22:28,510 --> 00:22:32,323
make sure the blue flies don't fly on them and ruin them.
290
00:22:35,558 --> 00:22:36,690
What are you making?
291
00:22:36,690 --> 00:22:37,947
I'm hanging the (speaking foreign language).
292
00:22:38,862 --> 00:22:40,190
Why?
293
00:22:40,190 --> 00:22:43,163
So we can dry them before they go into the smoke house.
294
00:22:54,560 --> 00:22:56,180
Stop it, Ruben.
295
00:22:56,180 --> 00:22:59,120
'Cause it takes a lot of work to catch the fish
296
00:22:59,120 --> 00:23:03,030
wash the fish, cut the fish, hang the fish,
297
00:23:03,030 --> 00:23:06,620
move the fish from the fish rack to the smoke house,
298
00:23:06,620 --> 00:23:10,540
from the smoke house into the freezer.
299
00:23:10,540 --> 00:23:12,340
And that's when we're able to stop.
300
00:23:25,595 --> 00:23:28,345
(fire crackling)
301
00:23:34,700 --> 00:23:36,290
(child giggling)
302
00:23:36,290 --> 00:23:38,310
When I was young, we had a fish camp
303
00:23:38,310 --> 00:23:42,750
that was about six miles downriver on the Yukon.
304
00:23:42,750 --> 00:23:45,350
And then we had a little cabin house,
305
00:23:45,350 --> 00:23:47,890
a fish rack, a smokehouse.
306
00:23:47,890 --> 00:23:51,540
And it was like a little community.
307
00:23:51,540 --> 00:23:54,070
There was about five families that lived down there,
308
00:23:54,070 --> 00:23:56,210
and we were all related.
309
00:23:56,210 --> 00:23:59,600
Nowadays, my children don't know about that,
310
00:23:59,600 --> 00:24:01,350
the reason being, because we moved it up here
311
00:24:01,350 --> 00:24:04,040
due to the cost of gas.
312
00:24:04,040 --> 00:24:07,140
Traveling down there to go and work
313
00:24:07,140 --> 00:24:10,750
and get our fish was costworthy,
314
00:24:10,750 --> 00:24:14,640
and we need to save that money for the winter
315
00:24:14,640 --> 00:24:16,430
where we could use it for our snow machines
316
00:24:16,430 --> 00:24:17,263
and four-wheelers
317
00:24:17,263 --> 00:24:19,313
to go out to gather other subsistence needs.
318
00:24:22,200 --> 00:24:23,990
It's time for the whole family
319
00:24:23,990 --> 00:24:28,813
to head off salmon fishing, the delta's pink gold.
320
00:24:36,230 --> 00:24:40,103
Slowly, the river leads us towards the Bering Sea.
321
00:24:47,890 --> 00:24:51,923
Just before Emmonak it splits into two arms.
322
00:24:58,590 --> 00:25:02,823
Here the only food supplies are in the waters of the river.
323
00:25:15,620 --> 00:25:19,920
In this part of the delta, seal hunts are sometimes held.
324
00:25:19,920 --> 00:25:23,100
They are still permitted for the Yup'ik community.
325
00:25:23,100 --> 00:25:25,670
At the river mouth, at one time,
326
00:25:25,670 --> 00:25:28,593
the seal was the only animal people could live on.
327
00:25:29,430 --> 00:25:33,080
In order to carry on this traditional hunting practice,
328
00:25:33,080 --> 00:25:36,763
spearing is also entrusted to the young teenagers.
329
00:25:47,470 --> 00:25:51,653
On that day, the seal proved more agile than its hunters.
330
00:25:53,010 --> 00:25:56,510
It must be said that the Yup'ik are less dogged
331
00:25:56,510 --> 00:25:57,583
than they once were.
332
00:25:58,450 --> 00:26:01,593
Hunting is more a game than a vital necessity.
333
00:26:02,530 --> 00:26:05,030
Up until around 100 years ago,
334
00:26:05,030 --> 00:26:08,360
the seal was the biggest fat reserve for the Yup'ik,
335
00:26:08,360 --> 00:26:12,123
a safe and reliable way to obtain heat in winter.
336
00:26:14,560 --> 00:26:18,640
In nearby Emmonak, barges and tugboats provide supplies,
337
00:26:18,640 --> 00:26:21,323
which they offload at the Kwik'pak Fishery.
338
00:26:25,990 --> 00:26:30,550
In the Yup'ik language, Kwik'pak means abundant river.
339
00:26:30,550 --> 00:26:32,740
We can understand this name better
340
00:26:32,740 --> 00:26:34,983
when we get inside the factory ship.
341
00:26:52,050 --> 00:26:55,240
This fish processing plant plays an essential role
342
00:26:55,240 --> 00:26:57,363
in this far-flung region of the globe.
343
00:26:58,390 --> 00:27:01,533
Here jobs are scarce and seasonal.
344
00:27:08,300 --> 00:27:11,290
Fishing has been overseen by Ragnar Alstrom
345
00:27:11,290 --> 00:27:12,993
for the past 30 years.
346
00:27:16,440 --> 00:27:18,440
The fishes that come in from the Bering Sea
347
00:27:18,440 --> 00:27:19,790
are always bright.
348
00:27:19,790 --> 00:27:21,683
So you wanna catch them when they're bright.
349
00:27:21,683 --> 00:27:23,940
As they migrate up up the Yukon,
350
00:27:23,940 --> 00:27:26,340
they're gonna start getting closer to spawning,
351
00:27:26,340 --> 00:27:31,340
they're gonna start getting blush, or changing colors.
352
00:27:31,530 --> 00:27:33,730
And the flesh degrades as they get closer.
353
00:27:33,730 --> 00:27:35,502
They quit eating as they come in.
354
00:27:35,502 --> 00:27:37,960
So the flesh is gonna to start degrading,
355
00:27:37,960 --> 00:27:40,930
and they're at their best here at the mouth.
356
00:27:40,930 --> 00:27:42,280
You go back a hundred years,
357
00:27:42,280 --> 00:27:45,016
that's why the commercial fisheries started (mumbling).
358
00:27:45,016 --> 00:27:47,683
(intense music)
359
00:27:53,650 --> 00:27:56,223
We have markets in the Netherlands.
360
00:27:57,140 --> 00:28:02,140
A large supply goes into England and Japan,
361
00:28:02,260 --> 00:28:04,203
and there's the domestic market, also.
362
00:28:11,550 --> 00:28:15,660
The river has been the sustenance of the folks out there,
363
00:28:15,660 --> 00:28:17,403
the river and what feeds into it.
364
00:28:18,430 --> 00:28:21,140
That's why folks settled here is to get the fish
365
00:28:21,140 --> 00:28:23,060
that the river provides,
366
00:28:23,060 --> 00:28:25,333
and the sloughs provide the feeding.
367
00:28:31,841 --> 00:28:34,508
(gulls calling)
368
00:28:38,270 --> 00:28:42,750
Emmonak is like a gold rush town, wild and transient.
369
00:28:42,750 --> 00:28:44,890
As soon as the salmon run is over,
370
00:28:44,890 --> 00:28:48,703
it becomes a ghost town once again, caught in the ice.
371
00:29:07,690 --> 00:29:11,340
Dismantling of this temporary factory has to be carried out
372
00:29:11,340 --> 00:29:14,693
by seasoned tugboat drivers like Nick Nichols.
373
00:29:17,600 --> 00:29:19,570
Salmon season's almost over,
374
00:29:19,570 --> 00:29:22,890
and so they move a lot of stuff out of here.
375
00:29:22,890 --> 00:29:24,630
Everything has to be winterized.
376
00:29:24,630 --> 00:29:26,470
It's a really huge job.
377
00:29:26,470 --> 00:29:31,170
It takes them month, six weeks to mobilize and demobilize.
378
00:29:31,170 --> 00:29:33,720
So that's what we'll be doing is assisting in that.
379
00:29:33,720 --> 00:29:37,860
I think we're taking some stuff over to another town,
380
00:29:37,860 --> 00:29:40,080
Kotlik, or Auk over here.
381
00:29:40,080 --> 00:29:42,693
And so that's what we'll be doing for a little bit.
382
00:29:49,360 --> 00:29:52,940
It's been a wonderful experience working on the Yukon.
383
00:29:52,940 --> 00:29:57,940
I've sailed a few rivers, in Louisiana, primarily.
384
00:29:58,620 --> 00:30:01,928
I have worked in Alaska, but not on rivers.
385
00:30:01,928 --> 00:30:04,830
This river is a pretty massive river.
386
00:30:04,830 --> 00:30:07,940
It's a huge river, and it changes daily.
387
00:30:07,940 --> 00:30:11,330
You have to be real careful not to catch sandbars.
388
00:30:11,330 --> 00:30:14,060
And actually with that vessel there,
389
00:30:14,060 --> 00:30:16,503
we do catch sandbars all the time.
390
00:30:24,140 --> 00:30:26,960
All this dismantling work has to be completed
391
00:30:26,960 --> 00:30:29,550
before the first snow in September,
392
00:30:29,550 --> 00:30:33,053
before the countryside is locked into a long winter.
393
00:30:34,840 --> 00:30:39,150
As nature is so powerful and seemingly unchanging,
394
00:30:39,150 --> 00:30:41,963
man can only build makeshift structures.
395
00:30:45,541 --> 00:30:47,980
(motor purring)
396
00:30:47,980 --> 00:30:50,423
Students venture into the tundra.
397
00:31:15,791 --> 00:31:18,374
(bird singing)
398
00:31:20,080 --> 00:31:24,340
The marshes of the Yukon Delta are not widely exploited
399
00:31:24,340 --> 00:31:27,550
by the men who are aware of the dangers.
400
00:31:27,550 --> 00:31:32,490
And yet, this tundra landscape, adorned through the seasons
401
00:31:32,490 --> 00:31:36,540
in tones of green, orange or chestnut brown,
402
00:31:36,540 --> 00:31:40,473
is bursting with resources and beneficial properties.
403
00:31:42,900 --> 00:31:46,180
Lillian and Marcia Biens, two teachers,
404
00:31:46,180 --> 00:31:48,410
regularly organize a nature outing
405
00:31:48,410 --> 00:31:51,256
with the children from the village to pass on to them
406
00:31:51,256 --> 00:31:53,610
the knowledge of the elders
407
00:31:57,370 --> 00:32:00,834
Hey, you kids, come, come see.
408
00:32:00,834 --> 00:32:02,593
Look at this.
409
00:32:02,593 --> 00:32:04,233
Come look, we find medicine.
410
00:32:10,756 --> 00:32:13,673
You have to stay in place to carry.
411
00:32:14,710 --> 00:32:16,023
See what Marcia's picking?
412
00:32:17,890 --> 00:32:19,320
Tundra tea.
413
00:32:19,320 --> 00:32:21,693
You could even burn it and bless your house.
414
00:32:23,180 --> 00:32:26,310
So you have to drink just a tiny bit, a little bit.
415
00:32:26,310 --> 00:32:27,920
Not much.
416
00:32:27,920 --> 00:32:29,270
And you could even burn it.
417
00:32:32,320 --> 00:32:33,153
Good medicine.
418
00:32:34,350 --> 00:32:35,183
Good medicine.
419
00:32:39,060 --> 00:32:42,050
Connor, if you're on the tundra, you're walking,
420
00:32:42,050 --> 00:32:44,110
and you have no drinking water,
421
00:32:44,110 --> 00:32:46,380
you come to a spot like this,
422
00:32:46,380 --> 00:32:49,320
you just can put your hand down, push it in,
423
00:32:49,320 --> 00:32:52,480
and there, you have water, drinking water.
424
00:32:52,480 --> 00:32:53,313
Push, push, push way down.
425
00:32:53,313 --> 00:32:54,146
Way down.
426
00:32:59,590 --> 00:33:01,293
Hey, there's your water.
427
00:33:10,160 --> 00:33:12,610
These trees, these are plants.
428
00:33:12,610 --> 00:33:14,150
Some are medicine.
429
00:33:14,150 --> 00:33:15,220
You take the branches.
430
00:33:15,220 --> 00:33:16,540
It's gotta be a young tree.
431
00:33:16,540 --> 00:33:17,883
You take the branches.
432
00:33:18,800 --> 00:33:20,370
And after you boil them, you drink them
433
00:33:20,370 --> 00:33:22,530
if you have a really bad cold, your chest,
434
00:33:22,530 --> 00:33:26,420
your lungs are really stuffed, you're sick,
435
00:33:26,420 --> 00:33:28,170
and you can't get better, you hurt.
436
00:33:29,720 --> 00:33:31,220
And then you drink it.
437
00:33:31,220 --> 00:33:32,870
But you can't drink lots.
438
00:33:32,870 --> 00:33:33,960
You just have to have a little bit.
439
00:33:33,960 --> 00:33:36,070
Little bit, only a little bit.
440
00:33:36,070 --> 00:33:37,460
What'll happen if you drink too much?
441
00:33:37,460 --> 00:33:41,249
If you drink too much then it's gonna clog your blood.
442
00:33:41,249 --> 00:33:42,570
It's going to your veins.
443
00:33:42,570 --> 00:33:44,360
Yeah, so you can't drink lots.
444
00:33:44,360 --> 00:33:46,160
You just have to drink a little bit.
445
00:34:00,050 --> 00:34:02,920
When you come in the sloughs, you'll find more of them
446
00:34:02,920 --> 00:34:04,520
than if you're out in the river.
447
00:34:08,827 --> 00:34:11,577
(ethereal music)
448
00:34:20,390 --> 00:34:23,220
For the Yup'ik, the marsh is a territory
449
00:34:23,220 --> 00:34:26,093
which they have to learn to tame from an early age.
450
00:34:27,980 --> 00:34:32,020
This transfer of knowledge is no longer a matter of course
451
00:34:32,020 --> 00:34:34,180
since even the young themselves
452
00:34:34,180 --> 00:34:36,633
are starting to lose contact with nature.
453
00:34:44,154 --> 00:34:46,821
(motor droning)
454
00:34:48,030 --> 00:34:52,520
This is why Kyra, 13 years old, is to go out today
455
00:34:52,520 --> 00:34:55,310
in the boat with her dad, Daniel Askawak,
456
00:34:55,310 --> 00:34:57,423
the hunter from Russian Mission.
457
00:34:59,330 --> 00:35:02,459
I'm teaching my children the very basics
458
00:35:02,459 --> 00:35:07,230
of how to live out here.
459
00:35:07,230 --> 00:35:08,323
How to survive.
460
00:35:10,510 --> 00:35:14,640
Teach not only hunting, not only fishing,
461
00:35:14,640 --> 00:35:19,640
but the areas out here, and the how to survive out here.
462
00:35:22,950 --> 00:35:24,700
If something goes wrong out here
463
00:35:24,700 --> 00:35:27,743
we cannot get on the phone and call 911.
464
00:35:29,050 --> 00:35:32,723
We have to be able to problem-solve,
465
00:35:33,610 --> 00:35:38,163
and fix that and get ourselves home.
466
00:35:40,490 --> 00:35:45,490
Here in Alaska, the weather tells us we're going to do.
467
00:35:45,660 --> 00:35:47,840
Some days the winds are too high.
468
00:35:47,840 --> 00:35:52,840
It's raining a lot, and the river gets too rough.
469
00:35:53,910 --> 00:35:57,500
And on those days, it's a good idea to stay home.
470
00:35:59,760 --> 00:36:01,920
Go right over here in this point right here
471
00:36:01,920 --> 00:36:02,870
Keep your eyes out.
472
00:36:04,070 --> 00:36:06,333
Might see some geese.
473
00:36:08,110 --> 00:36:11,243
Might see some and hear some.
474
00:36:12,290 --> 00:36:14,900
Daniel does not want his daughter to hunt,
475
00:36:14,900 --> 00:36:17,980
but rather, to learn to find her way in nature,
476
00:36:17,980 --> 00:36:22,633
to scan the sky and understand the behavior of the birds.
477
00:36:25,543 --> 00:36:28,960
(Daniel using bird call)
478
00:36:31,890 --> 00:36:33,103
Where are they coming from?
479
00:36:37,135 --> 00:36:40,270
They're about a mile down below us.
480
00:36:40,270 --> 00:36:42,620
They're gonna be coming into the wind,
481
00:36:42,620 --> 00:36:45,270
so we're upwind from them.
482
00:36:45,270 --> 00:36:48,540
So we'll make sure that we don't move around
483
00:36:48,540 --> 00:36:49,783
so they don't see us.
484
00:36:51,170 --> 00:36:52,570
I'm gonna try calling again.
485
00:36:57,290 --> 00:37:00,480
The geese do come back here every year.
486
00:37:00,480 --> 00:37:04,260
So they come here and they feed before they migrate.
487
00:37:04,260 --> 00:37:07,230
So we get them when they are here,
488
00:37:07,230 --> 00:37:09,630
when they start flocking up,
489
00:37:09,630 --> 00:37:14,630
and that's a sign that they're getting ready to migrate.
490
00:37:17,390 --> 00:37:20,720
Tundra swans, geese, or spectacled eider,
491
00:37:20,720 --> 00:37:25,440
the birds have all used the same route since the ice age.
492
00:37:25,440 --> 00:37:28,410
The Yukon Delta is a corridor for avian life
493
00:37:28,410 --> 00:37:30,573
from the entire American continent.
494
00:37:31,490 --> 00:37:35,067
This flat region without any insurmountable barriers
495
00:37:35,067 --> 00:37:37,323
offers easy passage.
496
00:37:38,240 --> 00:37:41,260
Nowadays it's hard to predict
497
00:37:42,490 --> 00:37:45,210
when the waterfowl are gonna migrate
498
00:37:45,210 --> 00:37:49,200
because some years it gets cold quick,
499
00:37:49,200 --> 00:37:53,360
and some years it stays warm a long time.
500
00:37:53,360 --> 00:37:58,360
So because of climate change, it's very hard to predict
501
00:38:01,310 --> 00:38:04,593
how long we're going to be having the waterfowl here.
502
00:38:06,922 --> 00:38:09,339
(gun firing)
503
00:38:27,040 --> 00:38:29,360
Daniel can remember flocks of birds
504
00:38:29,360 --> 00:38:33,200
which he saw as a child in the sky above the delta.
505
00:38:33,200 --> 00:38:36,633
Geese are now not as common as they once were.
506
00:38:38,910 --> 00:38:41,610
Climate change affects migratory birds
507
00:38:41,610 --> 00:38:44,070
which might lose their summer habitat.
508
00:38:44,070 --> 00:38:46,450
It would also result in the disappearance
509
00:38:46,450 --> 00:38:49,103
of entire reproduction sites in the Arctic.
510
00:38:50,880 --> 00:38:55,220
Migratory birds over long distances, which do not stop off
511
00:38:55,220 --> 00:38:59,100
in the Delta are even more vulnerable to disturbances
512
00:38:59,100 --> 00:39:00,963
caused by warmer temperatures.
513
00:39:12,825 --> 00:39:15,454
With climate change, it's gotten so much different.
514
00:39:15,454 --> 00:39:17,097
Yep, it has.
515
00:39:17,097 --> 00:39:21,930
Even with it being warmer,
516
00:39:21,930 --> 00:39:25,550
more warmer that our trees, there's more trees.
517
00:39:25,550 --> 00:39:28,290
And a long time ago, when we were small,
518
00:39:28,290 --> 00:39:30,940
we'd come up on the tundra and it would be more flatter,
519
00:39:30,940 --> 00:39:32,460
but now there's more trees.
520
00:39:32,460 --> 00:39:34,570
More trees and thicker.
521
00:39:34,570 --> 00:39:39,193
And you know, when we were little, it was much colder.
522
00:39:40,500 --> 00:39:41,950
And we had lots of snow.
523
00:39:41,950 --> 00:39:43,313
Lots of snow.
524
00:39:44,437 --> 00:39:48,610
Lots of shoveling and lots of, and the roofs, too.
525
00:39:48,610 --> 00:39:50,850
We had to clean off the snow.
526
00:39:50,850 --> 00:39:53,910
And the sloughs were more safer
527
00:39:56,090 --> 00:39:58,790
because the ice was thicker.
528
00:39:58,790 --> 00:40:03,780
And now with the weather being warmer,
529
00:40:03,780 --> 00:40:06,500
it's kind of dangerous to travel.
530
00:40:06,500 --> 00:40:11,390
Yeah, and with the spring and summertime
531
00:40:11,390 --> 00:40:15,370
there's more grasses, and they're longer,
532
00:40:15,370 --> 00:40:16,640
and taller, and more.
533
00:40:16,640 --> 00:40:18,240
More thicker.
534
00:40:18,240 --> 00:40:20,440
Not like how we were when we were younger.
535
00:40:22,180 --> 00:40:23,013
Different.
536
00:40:28,890 --> 00:40:31,440
Ways of life and landscapes
537
00:40:31,440 --> 00:40:32,983
are changing rapidly.
538
00:40:39,374 --> 00:40:42,541
(children chattering)
539
00:40:48,385 --> 00:40:51,302
(dancers chanting)
540
00:41:05,225 --> 00:41:07,320
To thank the sky and nature
541
00:41:07,320 --> 00:41:09,240
for the benefits they bring,
542
00:41:09,240 --> 00:41:12,863
the Yup'ik dance dressed in traditional costumes.
543
00:41:14,570 --> 00:41:19,543
They like to depict a past era now being lost to modernity.
544
00:41:20,500 --> 00:41:24,970
Originally the potlatch, the exchanging of gifts,
545
00:41:24,970 --> 00:41:28,426
fosters a protective link between the gods
546
00:41:28,426 --> 00:41:30,983
and the residents of the delta.
547
00:41:43,900 --> 00:41:47,210
In the interweaving network that makes up the delta
548
00:41:47,210 --> 00:41:52,083
soon appears Kotlik, the village closest to the Bering Sea.
549
00:41:52,083 --> 00:41:54,666
(serene music)
550
00:42:11,160 --> 00:42:16,033
From above, Kotlik is no more than a jumble of plank roads.
551
00:42:20,460 --> 00:42:23,210
The village was built in the 1960s
552
00:42:23,210 --> 00:42:26,690
to bring together the population of other communities
553
00:42:26,690 --> 00:42:29,290
which were in the process of disappearing
554
00:42:29,290 --> 00:42:31,113
under the rising water levels.
555
00:42:40,160 --> 00:42:43,720
As a precaution, they built homes here on stilts
556
00:42:43,720 --> 00:42:45,483
and elevated roadways.
557
00:42:54,774 --> 00:42:56,691
10, 20, 30, 40.
558
00:43:00,140 --> 00:43:01,880
A team of hydrologists
559
00:43:01,880 --> 00:43:04,830
aims to monitor the erosion of the coastline
560
00:43:04,830 --> 00:43:06,180
and prevent flooding risks.
561
00:43:15,673 --> 00:43:16,950
10, 20, 30-
562
00:43:16,950 --> 00:43:20,640
Ryan Toohey is here to monitor the permafrost,
563
00:43:20,640 --> 00:43:23,053
this permanently frozen soil.
564
00:43:24,350 --> 00:43:26,130
With a rise in temperatures,
565
00:43:26,130 --> 00:43:28,950
the permafrost might thaw partially
566
00:43:28,950 --> 00:43:32,000
and create serious problems for the vegetation
567
00:43:32,000 --> 00:43:33,793
and the local populations.
568
00:43:48,130 --> 00:43:50,520
One of the main things you'll notice about Kotlik
569
00:43:50,520 --> 00:43:52,760
is that there's boardwalks everywhere.
570
00:43:52,760 --> 00:43:54,840
And so it's in a very low-lying area.
571
00:43:54,840 --> 00:43:57,270
We're just a couple of meters above sea level here.
572
00:43:57,270 --> 00:44:00,937
The groundwater table is very shallow here.
573
00:44:00,937 --> 00:44:03,140
And so that affects being able to get around
574
00:44:03,140 --> 00:44:05,130
during the summertime because every year
575
00:44:05,130 --> 00:44:08,780
this area freezes and thaws,
576
00:44:08,780 --> 00:44:11,170
and then there's a layer of permafrost underneath.
577
00:44:11,170 --> 00:44:14,377
And a lot of these buildings are built on that permafrost.
578
00:44:14,377 --> 00:44:17,650
So if we start to see tilts in your building,
579
00:44:17,650 --> 00:44:19,560
tilts in the boardwalk, and all of that
580
00:44:19,560 --> 00:44:22,338
makes it a lot more difficult to get around.
581
00:44:22,338 --> 00:44:25,160
And then it causes problems with water pipes
582
00:44:25,160 --> 00:44:26,833
and all that type of thing, too.
583
00:44:37,490 --> 00:44:40,420
More of the Arctic sea ice is going away,
584
00:44:40,420 --> 00:44:45,387
and the shore ice is as not as big or as thick
585
00:44:45,387 --> 00:44:47,280
as it has been in the past.
586
00:44:47,280 --> 00:44:49,320
And so when that goes away,
587
00:44:49,320 --> 00:44:52,100
Kotlik loses some of the buffering capacity
588
00:44:52,100 --> 00:44:54,530
to protect it from the ongoing waves.
589
00:44:54,530 --> 00:44:57,240
So you have waves that are traveling longer
590
00:44:57,240 --> 00:44:58,590
from farther out in the ocean,
591
00:44:58,590 --> 00:45:00,795
and they're coming up and flooding this area, again,
592
00:45:00,795 --> 00:45:03,140
because we're in a kind of a depression here
593
00:45:03,140 --> 00:45:05,050
and that's why the boardwalks are here.
594
00:45:05,050 --> 00:45:09,770
So it's very susceptible to these increasing Arctic storms
595
00:45:09,770 --> 00:45:12,920
that are mainly happening because the sea ice
596
00:45:12,920 --> 00:45:15,433
has been so low the past number of years.
597
00:45:21,200 --> 00:45:24,390
The Yukon Delta is first to feel the effects
598
00:45:24,390 --> 00:45:26,773
of the issue of global warming.
599
00:45:39,780 --> 00:45:42,560
At the end of the summer, the women of Kotlik
600
00:45:42,560 --> 00:45:45,850
perform the traditional harvest of the wild berries,
601
00:45:45,850 --> 00:45:47,013
the cranberries.
602
00:45:48,010 --> 00:45:50,670
These berries, which grow in the tundra.
603
00:45:50,670 --> 00:45:52,983
are an essential food for the community.
604
00:45:53,890 --> 00:45:55,430
They are the only fruit
605
00:45:55,430 --> 00:45:58,490
which can develop at these latitudes.
606
00:45:58,490 --> 00:46:00,183
They have a lot of benefits.
607
00:46:02,240 --> 00:46:05,870
Cranberries, they're for you can squash them,
608
00:46:05,870 --> 00:46:09,540
like when you have a bad cold, you can squash them up
609
00:46:09,540 --> 00:46:11,863
and add them in water and have a teaspoon.
610
00:46:13,300 --> 00:46:16,870
And for babies that have sore mouth,
611
00:46:16,870 --> 00:46:20,740
you can crush them up and let them put some in their mouth
612
00:46:20,740 --> 00:46:23,083
and it'll heal the thrush.
613
00:46:28,350 --> 00:46:30,370
Parasites have started to appear
614
00:46:30,370 --> 00:46:32,450
over the past few years,
615
00:46:32,450 --> 00:46:36,010
and they are altering the appearance of the only sweet treat
616
00:46:36,010 --> 00:46:38,252
which makes it possible to face the winter.
617
00:46:38,252 --> 00:46:41,169
(quiet drum music)
618
00:46:42,400 --> 00:46:44,080
This year, and the last few years,
619
00:46:44,080 --> 00:46:48,310
have been a lot more salmonberries, blueberries,
620
00:46:48,310 --> 00:46:53,310
but they're small compared to what they were
621
00:46:54,110 --> 00:46:57,783
like 30 years ago, or 40 years ago.
622
00:46:59,890 --> 00:47:01,920
It's been a very cold spring.
623
00:47:01,920 --> 00:47:05,730
And if it was warmer in spring,
624
00:47:05,730 --> 00:47:08,230
the permafrost would have thawed out,
625
00:47:08,230 --> 00:47:10,193
but it was a long spring.
626
00:47:12,200 --> 00:47:13,980
I've been trying to figure out
627
00:47:13,980 --> 00:47:16,610
what's been going on with the berries.
628
00:47:16,610 --> 00:47:18,473
They're unusually small.
629
00:47:19,360 --> 00:47:22,850
And I don't know what's going on.
630
00:47:22,850 --> 00:47:27,080
I'm trying to figure out what's happening.
631
00:47:27,080 --> 00:47:28,973
I know we're having climate change,
632
00:47:29,850 --> 00:47:34,850
and it's probably being affected through this weather,
633
00:47:35,520 --> 00:47:37,170
climate change that we're having.
634
00:47:41,810 --> 00:47:46,280
Berries are very important to us because our children,
635
00:47:46,280 --> 00:47:50,363
our family, we live on what we pick.
636
00:47:51,250 --> 00:47:55,680
And because money-wise, it's hard for us
637
00:47:55,680 --> 00:47:59,100
to buy a can of fruit, and this is our fruit.
638
00:47:59,100 --> 00:48:00,723
It's important to us.
639
00:48:04,060 --> 00:48:05,300
What for these women
640
00:48:05,300 --> 00:48:09,270
amounts to a simple observation could be a warning signal
641
00:48:09,270 --> 00:48:11,363
for the planet and its climate.
642
00:48:13,470 --> 00:48:16,250
Fishermen have even seen the first iceberg
643
00:48:16,250 --> 00:48:17,533
approaching the village.
644
00:48:29,670 --> 00:48:31,810
Ryan Toohey comes regularly
645
00:48:31,810 --> 00:48:34,860
to analyze the chemical composition of the delta,
646
00:48:34,860 --> 00:48:36,293
close to its mouth.
647
00:48:37,510 --> 00:48:41,453
See the water temperature is about 14 degrees Celsius.
648
00:48:43,090 --> 00:48:45,660
We have a good DO, dissolved oxygen,
649
00:48:45,660 --> 00:48:49,160
is how much oxygen is in the water for the fish.
650
00:48:49,160 --> 00:48:50,520
With climate change
651
00:48:50,520 --> 00:48:52,570
and the melting of the permafrost,
652
00:48:52,570 --> 00:48:54,770
the Yukon has built up different levels
653
00:48:54,770 --> 00:48:57,803
of temperature, calcium, and magnesium.
654
00:49:03,570 --> 00:49:06,680
Changes in the chemistry of the oceans,
655
00:49:06,680 --> 00:49:11,010
and in particular, the Arctic Ocean, might lead to changes
656
00:49:11,010 --> 00:49:15,933
in currents and meteorological conditions across the globe.
657
00:49:20,290 --> 00:49:24,070
The first animals affected would be the belugas,
658
00:49:24,070 --> 00:49:26,563
which spawn at the mouth of the delta.
659
00:49:28,150 --> 00:49:29,960
Preferring cold waters,
660
00:49:29,960 --> 00:49:33,360
these large white whales are therefore sensitive
661
00:49:33,360 --> 00:49:35,837
to the warming of the surface water.
662
00:49:35,837 --> 00:49:38,587
(whales calling)
663
00:49:48,620 --> 00:49:53,620
The Yukon River is one of the six big Arctic rivers.
664
00:49:53,700 --> 00:49:56,210
There's other rivers in Russia, like the Lena,
665
00:49:56,210 --> 00:50:00,300
and the Ob River, the Mackenzie in Canada,
666
00:50:00,300 --> 00:50:03,500
and all of those rivers act as kind of a buffer
667
00:50:03,500 --> 00:50:04,670
on the Arctic Ocean.
668
00:50:04,670 --> 00:50:07,560
So the Arctic Ocean has a certain amount of things
669
00:50:07,560 --> 00:50:09,950
that are dissolved in it, and temperatures,
670
00:50:09,950 --> 00:50:11,530
and that all drives the currents,
671
00:50:11,530 --> 00:50:14,660
which drives the global system of currents,
672
00:50:14,660 --> 00:50:16,120
and weather, and all that.
673
00:50:16,120 --> 00:50:18,570
The sea ice is the main determinant
674
00:50:18,570 --> 00:50:21,680
of how all those currents flow
675
00:50:21,680 --> 00:50:22,970
and those types of things.
676
00:50:22,970 --> 00:50:26,420
Rivers act like a nice buffer to that system
677
00:50:26,420 --> 00:50:28,933
and give it some space to breathe when we see.
678
00:50:32,100 --> 00:50:33,870
In the Yukon Delta,
679
00:50:33,870 --> 00:50:36,961
the scientists and the Yup'ik are the sentinels
680
00:50:36,961 --> 00:50:39,590
of a world that is changing faster
681
00:50:39,590 --> 00:50:41,689
than we could have ever imagined.
682
00:50:41,689 --> 00:50:44,272
(serene music)
53325
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