Transcription:
Evon Waska Sr., I’m from Bethel.
See, I could tell, maybe I was about seven, eight. And these were wooden boats, these. As soon as the ice go out on the river, on the Kuskokwim. After getting spring logs, those logs were important for winter source of heat. After that’s done and all the ice would go out, and dad, I would go with dad.
And before, me and my older sisters used to go with him to set nets, king salmon nets. And the first species were sheefish. They were the first when the ice goes out. And then the smelts would come. We would dry those too. And like a big family
All the sisters and we’d help mom make dried, smoked smelts. And also bring them in the smoke house and smoke.
And then that’ll be also our winter food source. And the king salmon would hit, the real king salmon, not these. They were four-, five-foot king salmon, little over five feet. That was the most important food source.
And dad had a two-story smokehouse. And that was the first ones we would hang and make smoked dried fish for the winter.
That’s when we had, before we had freezers, and...And we could...There was no freezers back then. But there was also salted fish.And they also ferment them and...
The king salmon roe, mom would make what we would consume in the winter months. Due to the fact, they would say, "This would keep you warm." And she would make it like a sausage, pack it in a sausage, and that’s what we ate in the winter time.
And then after the kings, the chums and reds, we also make smoked dried fish. And then the last would be the silver salmon, humpies. And those were also made of smoked dried fish for the long winter months ahead.
And back then, we had dog teams, and those were their food too. Well, dad, he kept his smokehouse on this land, and...He taught me, and I still have my smokehouse right there where I can keep an eye on it too.
But most of the villages and people, before the salmon came, they would all gather. And when the ice goes out, they would all move to their fish camps, the whole family unit
To do the process of making smoked dried fish, and salted fish, and fermented to...
Because that was important food, food source that would sustain us through the long winter months. From mom and dad, I'm the second generation. And salmon, that's our cultural way of life.
And now, it's January 2023. The word "salmon," and what comes to mind is our food source. Also, with a heavy heart, with all the restrictions, especially on the Yukon, they use four-inch.
The king salmon net is eight-inch. But knowing that, what I say of a heavy heart, I know there's not salmon, dried smoked salmon available to them. Fish in their freezers, also salted fish.
Knowing that, salmon, from mom and dad and their generation before them, I'll say millenium.
Salmon, all species: king, chums, reds, silver salmon. During the summer months, through our...Generation to generation, our mom and dads prepared us for the long winter months. And that's what sustains through the long winter months, salmon.