2024 Yukon River fall chum salmon run among smallest recorded

This year's Yukon River fall chum salmon run was the third-smallest on record. 

Early estimates published by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) on Oct. 16 say that 200,000 fall chum were counted by the Pilot Station sonar this year, the sonar closest to the mouth of the river. 

The figure is less than a quarter of the historical run size of 900,000 and hundreds of thousands of fish short of conservation goals. 

Fall chum enter the Yukon River from the Bering Sea at the tail end of the Chinook salmon run, and have traditionally been relied on by communities to feed their dog sled teams. Like their Chinook cousins, the species has also seen dramatic declines in run sizes in recent years. But it also sees more population fluctuation and is harder to forecast.  

Fall chum swim into Canada at two points — continuing along the mainstem of the Yukon River or branching off into the Porcupine River. 

The sonar at Eagle, Alaska, on the mainstem near the international border, recorded an estimated 16,275 fall chum this year, the smallest passage on record since counts began in 1980. By comparison, between 70,000 to 104,000 fall chum are supposed to make it across to meet international conservation and management goals. 

The Porcupine River sonar, meanwhile, had logged 8,368 fall chum as of Oct. 13, compared to the historical average of 25,000. Of those, 5,642 made it to the Fish Branch River tributary, where the salmon mainly spawn; between 22,000 to 49,000 fall chum were needed there to meet management goals.

Besides the numbers, the ADF&G report says female fall chum made up a smaller percentage of the run than usual, and that the fish were 24mm smaller compared to the 22-year historical average.

All salmon fishing on the Yukon River and its tributaries remains closed on both sides of the border.