Chinook salmon Yukon River run not great, but could be worse

This year's pre-season outlook for the Chinook salmon run on the Yukon River is almost the same as last year, according to Jesse Trerice, executive-director of the Yukon Salmon Sub-Committee.

It's predicting anywhere between 70,000 to 95,000 Chinook returning to the Yukon River and its tributaries. That's about half the historic average of about 150,000 fish in the 1980s and '90s, said Trerice, but it could have been worse.

"The good news is this year's run will be similar to last year's so that's kinda good news," she said.

"It's better to be at the same you know, or similar or more, than below," said Trerice.

That good news is largely due to the sacrifices made by many on the river by not fishing for salmon, including First Nations conservation efforts, she said.

Nearly 30,000 Chinook salmon have already entered the Yukon River Basin from the Bering Sea.

Pilot Sonar Station at the mouth of the Yukon River in Alaska has been counting returning salmon.

Trerice said this year more mature six-year-old female Chinooks are returning to spawn.

"They need to be of a certain size, they need to be ​of a certain strength, and those Yukon River Chinook salmon will carry many, many eggs," she said. That's fuelling hope future runs will be stronger.

By the beginning of July, Chinook salmon are expected to reach the Yukon border, and by August salmon should make their way to the Whitehorse fish ladder.

The Salmon Sub-Committee is hoping that 55,000 Chinook actually make it to their spawning grounds in the Yukon over the summer.

This is what has been agreed upon in the Pacific Salmon Treaty between Canada and the United States.