Salmon Life

“Our culture and identity were born there,” explains Warren, who identifies as Yup’ik, Gwich’in, and Inupiaq. “The lessons the environment has to teach a person are hard ones, but are worth learning.” While his family hails from Hooper Bay, Warren, whose Yup’ik name is Maaruk, was raised in Nome and moved to Palmer in the sixth grade. Now, he sport fishes and dipnets the Copper River for salmon every year to feed his own family. While the water is different, the lessons are the same.

Today, his family awaits his catch in the form of soup. Warren holds the king salmon heads under a steady stream of water, rinsing their silver sheen in his slate gray sink. He confidently drags his knife along the fish as he’s done this hundreds of times before.

Warren details his belief that survival and resiliency in harsh environments are the defining elements of Yup’ik and other circumpolar north cultures, and Arctic Nations. He has come to call this belief The Philosophy of the Circumpolar North or Northern Philosophy.

“Harsh environments breed an entirely different worldview,” Warren states as he turns back to his soup and rolls the salmon eggs into the large pot. “As Alaskans, we are inherently stronger people because of the places we live in.”

Warren makes his way out the back door, checking to see if the drizzling rain has disturbed the salmon he is drying out back. The fleshy strips of fire-orange meat are hanging between two backyard trees. The dense foliage above shield the drying salmon from the Alaskan environment, and what doesn’t fit under the protective branches, Warren drapes across the top of a clothes drying rack sheltered beneath the eave of his roof. He inspects the strips, testing dryness and making sure there are no flies. He stands back to admire his handiwork and explains, “[Fish drying] is just something I do on the side to keep me busy; it’s fun experimenting.” Warren is no stranger to experimenting and embracing the circumstances of modern life — after all, he is drying fish in his backyard in Anchorage.

To Warren, salmon are more than just an ingredient in soup. They are a staple, a way to feed his family. They are a symbol of both his past and his future. Salmon are delicately woven into the traditions of his Yup’ik heritage, and as an Alaskan, he longs to protect that for the future generations. He notes that healthy native communities mean a healthy Alaska, and a healthy Alaska means healthy fisheries. Preserving salmon life is to preserve tradition and to ensure a future. It means being able to string up the flesh of freshly caught salmon in your backyard and to add miso to a traditional salmon head soup.