This spring the Yurok Tribe announced that because of predicted record low Chinook salmon runs for 2017, the tribe’s allotted entire fish harvest amounted to “about 650 fish or one fish for every 10 Tribal members.” Disease and the poor condition of both the Klamath River and the Pacific Ocean had decimated the species, according to the Tribe.

Tomorrow, on the California Report, a story by reporter Lisa Morehouse of California Foodways, highlights the heartbreaking story of the Tribe’s struggle to cope with the change to one of their most traditional foods.

Morehouse, who has received the Society of Professional Journalists’ Excellence in Journalism Award for Best Feature and Longform Storytelling, allows the listener to hear the purr of the motorboat and feel what the loss of the salmon means to the Yurok community.

The story is available below now.

Note: Reporter Lisa Morehouse is a friend and colleague of Kym Kemp.