Yukon subsistence fishing for fall chum and coho closes in Subdistrict 5-D Aug. 10 and Aug. 15

Subsistence fishing for fall chum and coho salmon closes at 12:01 a.m. Monday, Aug. 10, in Yukon Subdistricts 5-D Lower and Middle, the waters serving Stevens Village, Beaver, Venetie, Chalkyitsik, Birch Creek and Fort Yukon. In Subdistrict 5-D Upper, which includes Circle and Eagle, the closure takes effect at 12:01 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 15. Any Chinook, chum or coho caught in selective gear must be released alive immediately. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game says directed subsistence fishing for fall chum in the mainstem Yukon River is highly unlikely for the rest of the season.

The department announced the closures Tuesday in Fall Update #3 for the Yukon Area salmon fishery. Gillnets of 4-inch or smaller mesh must come out of the water on those same dates, then reopen for nonsalmon on a weekly schedule from noon Thursdays through noon Sundays, with restrictions on size and placement. Manned fish wheels may run around the clock for nonsalmon, with all salmon released alive. Other nonsalmon gear, including hand line, longline, fyke net, dip net and beach seine, stays open 24 hours a day, seven days a week; set gillnets of 6-inch or smaller mesh remain open in designated nonsalmon areas until further notice, limited to 60 feet or shorter and barred from blocking more than half of any waterway. A subsistence permit is required in specified portions of 5-D Lower and 5-D Upper.

The department projects a fall chum run of more than 400,000 fish, enough to meet the drainagewide escapement goal of 300,000 to 600,000. Canadian treaty goals of 70,000 to 104,000 fish in the mainstem and 22,000 to 49,000 in the Fishing Branch River are not expected to be met. Passage at the Pilot Station sonar stood at roughly 117,000 fall chum as of Aug. 2, against a median of 181,000 for that date, though genetic analysis is still pending to determine how many fish counted in July were summer rather than fall chum. Coho are expected to come in well below the 212,000-fish average, based on a 2022 parent-year escapement index of 100,000.

The closures follow a season of restrictions that moved steadily upriver. Fall chum and coho subsistence fishing closed in District 3 in mid-July, in Subdistrict 4-A Lower on July 22, in Subdistrict 4-A Upper and the Koyukuk River on July 26, and in Subdistricts 4-B and 4-C on July 29.

The department says assessment projects will keep monitoring the run to determine whether improvement allows more fishing opportunity, with updates published weekly. For communities along the river, the repeated closures sit inside a longer decline in Yukon Chinook and chum returns that federal and state managers have tied to ocean conditions, freshwater stressors and marine bycatch. "For decades, Yukon River fishing communities have dutifully borne the brunt of conservation measures for Yukon salmon. Today, despite near total closures of in-river Yukon salmon fishing, the declines continue," the Tanana Chiefs Conference, the regional tribal consortium representing Interior villages, says in a statement on the salmon decline, which it describes as forcing member Tribes to "drastically alter their food security strategies."