Millions of sockeye salmon return to Alaska freshwater streams each year to spawn.
Salmon and Other Fish
It's almost impossible to overstate the importance of fish and fishing to Alaska. Subsistence fishing in Native communities, sport fishing for anglers who visit or live in state, and commercial fisheries to send our great bounty around the world all rely on a consistent, sustainable availability of fish. Climate change, warming oceans, ocean acidification and overfishing are all combining to threaten an increasingly endangered way of life. As with any other biosystem, the loss of key species such as salmon, halibut, cod or baitfish will lead to devastating impacts on other wildlife such as whales and other sea mammals, bears, eagles and seabirds.
