[Narrator] In Alaska, a unique relationship between people and nature has existed for over 10,000 years. Salmon have sustained Indigenous communities across the state all that time, but it’s a story that’s facing a change to its narrative owing to the impacts of climate change. My name is Anna Hoover. I am a Norwegian and Unangax̂ filmmaker based in Alaska. To me, climate change is a tragedy unravelling these ancient ecosystems in slow motion. It makes me feel uncertain about the future of my way of life. In my film Salmon Reflection, I wanted to document the potential for disaster in Bristol Bay, one of the last surviving salmon ecosystems on our planet. But what will this story look like in 10, 50, 100 years? That’s for us all to decide. This is Salmon Reflection. [Olivia Leigh Nowak] We have to care for the next generations, to not think in a short term, and salmon are a really good teacher for that. They dedicate their lives to the next generation. [Arnaq – Marie Meade] We rely on salmon for food, from many, many, many, many generations back. The most important thing that we offer to the salmon is respect, and honouring their existence, their spirit. [Herb Hammond] It’s very easy to start thinking that other beings are something less than you. Dominant ethic has to change from being one that’s human-centered to being one that’s Earth-centered. [Sheila Selkregg] The, the salmon, they’re a life source for all different living things. [Arnaq – Marie] I always knew that from time immemorial, that rivers need to be clean. All these things we rely on, they all need good, clean environment. We want respect, we want love, and the salmon needs all of that to be also healthy, just like us humans. [Sheila] Salmon are like a ribbon that ties it together, and they, they hold the connection between the greater spaces that you can’t see, but when you eat them, you know it’s more than where you are. [Arnaq – Marie] Gives us good health, good nourishment. It nurtures our body and soul and spirit. Salmon is our life support. [Sheila] Understanding the kind of rebirth that occurs naturally on our Earth is, is a way of living. And we really, we just have to stop thinking we own anything on Earth. [Lennie Skookum John] The water, lands and the sky and everything else, that’s our wealth. I can never say it enough, that’s our wealth. [Jeh Custerra] That’s kind of what humanity needs to do now, we need to be like salmon, we need to struggle upstream for the next generation. [Joe Martin] The laws of nature, we all live under it. There’s not one person that does not live under it. [Sheila] Without damage and without threatening it, it could last forever and ever and ever. [Arnaq – Marie] They know they’re home where they can spawn. They know where to go. They know their way. They know their path, and what knowledge they’ve had, from way back in time.
