We already knew that the King Salmon run for the Yukon River was going to be dismal, but now word is coming out that the chum run looks to be equally bleak. This is a real blow to subsistence users throughout the Yukon basin and all its tributaries.
At the end of June, only 31,000 chum salmon had passed the Pilot Station sonar. The historic average for that date is 500,000 chum salmon. The count is the lowest on record.
Not surprisingly, the Chinook and chum salmon fisheries have been closed throughout the Yukon River system due to the low returns.
July 12th, 2021 at 6:49 AM
Whoa…
July 12th, 2021 at 6:39 PM
In some circles, this could be described as a “crash”.
July 13th, 2021 at 9:31 AM
Indeed.
What are the commercial fisherman up there saying? When we had similar figures for some of our fisheries down here, the bulk of the commercial fishermen screamed bloody murder when some species were declared off-limits.
July 13th, 2021 at 6:55 PM
No one is happy, but there isn’t much anyone can do if the salmon simply don’t show up. One thing about the Yukon River is that it is international: Alaska is bound by treaty to allow a certain number of fish to pass across to Canada. That allotment will not be met this year.