Skagit River Chinook salmon population expected to hit 15-year low [Video]

SKAGIT COUNTY, Wash. — The population of summer-fall Chinook salmon expected this year on Washington’s Skagit River will be the lowest in nearly 15 years, dealing another devastating blow to Native American tribes whose culture and subsistence have depended on the fish for millennia.

The grim forecast means the Sauk-Suiattle Indian Tribe will be permitted to harvest just 24 wild Chinook salmon this season — a stark contrast to the abundance their ancestors once knew.

“Hearing stories about the fish being so thick you could practically walk across them, to we’re at a point now where if we catch 24 wilds, we have to shut down,” said Chairman Nino Maltos of the Sauk-Suiattle Indian Tribe, who has been fishing these waters since age 6. “It’s sad …