Updated: September 19, 2012
Alaska and the mysterious disappearing king salmon
Source: BBC
When the number of king salmon running in Crooked Creek's river declined dramatically, the mostly native Alaskan villagers were left wondering where they could find enough food to last the winter. Crooked Creek has no big-box grocery stores or roads to other towns. But in good times, the Kuskokwim River promises king salmon to the villages along its 702 miles (1,130km).
But good times are fading into memory for villagers like Evelyn Thomas, who has lived in Crooked Creek her entire life.
"In my language, fish is called 'the food'," says Thomas, a half Yupik, half Athabascan native Alaskan who says she has little money to buy food to replace the salmon.
"When we don't get 'the food', a staple of our diet is missing."
Over the past five years, Alaska's king salmon have begun to disappear from the state's rivers, and no-one is sure why.
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