The fall chum run on the Yukon River has surpassed expectations with a return in excess of average. State Management biologist Jeff Estensen says the run is approaching 900 thousand fish, better than the 700 thousand average for this point in the season.
Estensen says commercial fishermen, mostly near the Yukon River’s mouth, have harvested 219 thousand chums so far. He says the run is expected to taper off in the next week. The Yukon silver salmon return is coming in about average. About 144 thousand cohoes had come through the lower river as of Sunday, better than the 140 thousand fish average for that date.
Dan Bross is a reporter at KUAC in Fairbanks.
