I'm trying to find the famous King Salmon, but I'm caught off guard by a male brown bear bear coming behind.

We'll pretend to be not interested in us trying to get closer and closer.

He's actually a good boy walking around us.

So he's fishing time?

Yeah, yeah.

Thankfully, the bears are far more interested in the fish than us.

So we move closer to find out what kind of salmon they're feeding on.

It's hard to tell for sure, but they don't look big enough to be kings.

Do they go for kings?

If they're available, well, I'm sure he would, because the fat content is even higher.

I've never seen it.

They spawn in water that is just simply too deep for the barest official successfully, when anything deeper than two feet bears where they can't get the fish.

Yes, with things they tend to hug the bottom of the deep water.

And that and that sort of beyond here.

What?

What the what?

The bear's condition.

So if the bears get kings, it spawned out lying.

Okay, so that's not gonna impact.

They're swarming off all that I've seen.

I would say the king salmon is the least impacted fish species with the king's swimming in water that's too deep to reach.

The bears can't be blamed for their disappearance.

But another predator has been hunting King salmon in Alaska for thousands of years.

People, my head into the heart of the state to the mighty Yukon River, where indigenous people have been fishing for kings for 8000 years, veil no King salmon better than anyone.

And they will feel the Sammons loss the hardest by land in Galina, a small, remote community where the Yukon River is an important source of food, in particular King salmon vehicles parked up.

I'm not seeing any other vehicles on the road.

I haven't actually seen a person, either, which is a bit old.

But I have been to other places in the world where people do live similar kind of subsistence lifestyle on DDE.

What's going on is a lot of those people, they a lot of the time they are not in the population center.

They are out there in there on the land there on the water.

I'm lucky to find a ride up river.

I'm guessing everyone is out fishing, taking advantage of the salmon runs on stocking up for the winter.

But the river looks deserted.

It should be lined with fishing camps of this time of year.

I stop in a small village called Ruby to see if there are any fishermen to speak with.

Look, people in the village of told me to talk to Billy McCarty, and he's down on his boat.

At the moment.

I believe this is him here.

Hello.

Billy is a native elder who has lived here all his life.

I could remember as a young kid.

There were so many fish.

Every fish camp along River had racks up fish at Gore's.

Never shortage.

Ruby depends very much on the King's Island.

If the King salmon are not here, what happens to the village?

What happens to the people?

Well, of course, there's all sorts of fish out there.

But debate away food.

King Chabon.

You're gonna have a tough time.

It's a serious situation.

Subsistence fishermen only take what they need to feed their families, which should protect their precious resource for future generations.

If the subsistence fishermen not catching King salmon here and if the bears are not eating.

What else could be wiping them out?

Morning.

He started to pull him in.

You got something in there?

Yeah, Yeah, yeah.

Is this a sort of a normal catch for a nice?

This is a very normal kitsch for this time of year.

There's a predominantly chump.

You drive some of that.

You smoke some of that with you?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Um, I'm going cut some right now.

If you'd like to see Jake tells me he is originally from Russia and has been fishing this same spot on the Yukon every day for the past 24 years.

What is the story right now with the Kings on something, isn't it?

The fish are much smaller and runs.

I just This is slightly different from what I've been hearing so far.

So reports that they've gone.

I mean, that's a bit of an exaggeration.

They're still here.

But you said that there is a problem which is affecting you.

Oh, yes.

Oh, yes.

Absolutely.

Do you worry, given that trend, that they might disappear completely.

Is that a possibility?

I think it's a distinct possibility.

I ask if there are any predators that might be affecting them.

There are lots of, like in a river pike.

How big of you seen someone around?

15 tries about 50.

Okay, there are stories or giant pike.

Couple of bike do terrible things.

You know, I found entire ducks inside and muskrats, so there's a little bit of kind of superstitious fear.

Pike offer ratios.

Hunters that can grow up to £50 possibly bigger.

Their mouths are packed with viciously sharp teeth.

Where Pike of being introduced, they've been known to decimate established salmon populations.

I'm wondering if that is what has happened here.

Pike hunt in slow water, so I'm staying fairly shallow at the edge of a tributary.

They are predominantly visual hunters, so I'll be using that knowledge to try to catch one.

It's still not the giant I'm after.

Plaque of rough, real £4.

Also teeth cutting teeth for gripping something so a fish this size could swallow something almost its own length.

But normally it's going to eat something just a few inches long, so it will be a serious threat to adult, but they might well make inroads into the young someone on their way down to the sea.

Young salmon can spend up to two years in freshwater before heading to the ocean.

During this time, they're easy pickings for top predators such as Pike.

But this is true of all salmon species, and it's only the kings that a disappearing.