Yukon fall salmon fishing closes at the peak of the season, not for a weak run but to meet Canada's share

Directed subsistence fishing for fall chum and coho salmon closed early Saturday across a long stretch of the Yukon River, cutting off the fall harvest at the height of the season for households from Manley, Minto and Nenana up to Circle and Eagle. Any chum or coho caught in dip nets, beach seines or fish wheels must be released alive.

The run itself isn't the reason. This year's fall chum return is actually strong — passage past the lower-river sonar was running well above the historical median and near the top of the drainagewide escapement goal. The problem is what has to pass through to Canada. Even with a healthy run, state biologists say the treaty goals for chum reaching the Canadian mainstem and the Fishing Branch River are not expected to be met, and getting those fish across the border means leaving them in the water on the U.S. side.

Fall chum on the Yukon have been formally designated a stock of management concern, and managers moved the start of the fall season earlier this year to protect the Canada-bound fish from the outset. Most of the run is U.S.-origin — genetic sampling this summer put Canadian-origin chum at about 7 percent — but under the treaty, that Canadian share has to be met before Alaska households can take a directed harvest.

Some fishing remains open. Households can still fish for non-salmon species with smaller-mesh gear on the usual weekly schedule, and fish wheels, dip nets and beach seines stay open for non-salmon, as long as any salmon are released alive. A parallel federal closure runs through the end of December unless conditions change.

The state set no end date. The department says it will keep watching the run for any harvestable surplus, but that a directed fall chum harvest on the main Yukon is highly unlikely this season, and that the coho run — still too early to assess — is projected below average.