Frederick Sound chum stays below average as pink salmon rebound

Chum salmon harvests in Frederick Sound have run below their 10-year average for a fifth straight week, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

The F/V Obsession fished Point Gardner on Friday, pushing pink harvests above the 2016-2025 average there for the first time this season. Chum stayed below average at both Point Gardner and Kingsmill, fished Monday.

ADF&G says the early pink salmon run is poor, and the middle run's strength remains undetermined. The prior four weeks produced some of the lowest pink test harvests on record. Chum sex ratios point to an earlier than average run, while pink ratios suggest a later one.

Chum restrictions are already in place elsewhere. Federal managers have closed Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge waters on the Kuskokwim to gillnets and Chinook and chum harvest through July 31, cutting off a subsistence method for Alaska Native communities there. On the Yukon, ADF&G restricted subsistence fishing for fall chum and coho starting Sunday.

The final two Frederick Sound test fisheries of the season run Tuesday and Friday.