Indigenous societies along the Yukon watershed traditionally use salmon species that run up the river. Most of them use salmon for their traditional/subsistence needs, and some societies on the mouth of Yukon catch salmon for commercial products. There are several levels of conflicts over use of the salmon resource, not only between the United States and Canada or the marine fishing industry and inland indigenous society but
also between indigenous societies on the mouth and those along the middle of the river. In this presentation, I will report typical indigenous ways of using salmon among Gwich’in people of the middle of Yukon in their modern life. I will examine the Yukon River Inter-Tribal Watershed Council’s role in establishing a network of cooperation among indigenous societies from the mouth to the headwaters to coordinate the
interests and (re)acquire sovereign rights for management of salmon resources.
