Alaska has two very different salmon stories being told in 2022. In one, the Bristol Bay Fishery is booming. Last year the salmon harvest set a sockeye record in Bristol Bay, and the region has already topped that record in 2022. Over 73.7 million sockeye salmon have returned to their spawning grounds in and around Bristol Bay, with over 56 million harvested.
The Yukon River basin, however, is headed for its worst run ever. The sonar station has never recorded such a low number of Chinook salmon, and the run for the entire drainage-wide system may only hit 50,000. Not one tributary is expected to make their escapement goals. Salmon fishing for the entire drainage, which includes the rivers in and around Fairbanks, has been closed for the entire season.
The chum salmon run, which starts in late summer, is also expected to be bad. The season will start out closed for fishing, with a hope that enough chum return to open for a fall season. No one is expecting it to open.
July 21st, 2022 at 6:52 AM
Sad news about the salmon! This may be a hard winter for rural folks I suspect the berries may be scant from all the fires and lack of rain…
July 21st, 2022 at 9:31 PM
I have just begun seeing berry pickers out and about, although I have not heard any reports yet. Rural Interior Alaska will be facing hard times with no salmon returning to the Yukon.