Ichthyophonus Disease in Pacific Salmon (AD)

Chinook (or King) salmon support numerous cultural and economic needs and make up more than 75% of the diet of many Indigenous communities. However, in recent years many adult salmon have died on their way to spawning grounds in the Yukon River, leading to commercial fishery resource disaster determinations by the Secretary of Commerce and an agreement between Alaska and Canada – for the first time ever – to ban Chinook fishing for seven years (one full life cycle of a salmon). USGS scientists are helping to understand how the parasite Ichthyophonus is contributing to this “en-route” mortality.