A minimum of 42,500 chinook are supposed to get to their Canadian spawning waters to meet conservation goals. Only 15,300 of those fish made it to Eagle, near the Yukon border.

Amid severely restricted fishing on the Kuskokwim River, one bright spot has been abundant sockeye salmon runs at 30,000 fish daily near Bethel.

Chinook (king) and chum are the major salmon species on the Yukon and Kuskokwim. They’ve been at historically low numbers in both rivers for years. The coho (silver) returns have also dropped.This will be the fourth year subsistence fishing has been closed or severely restricted on both rivers. The region is bracing for another dismal subsistence harvest.

On Dec. 8 and 9, U.S. Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan and Rep. Don Young held a Zoom meeting between salmon researchers, tribes, and managers. Their goal was to unite these groups’ efforts to determine the cause of the ongoing Chinook declines and the sudden chum crash in Western Alaska. After two days of meetings, the groups are still at odds over what’s causing the declines, and what the best way to move forward is.

Chum returns are the lowest on record, leaving communities with empty freezers and uncertainty about getting through the winter.

Kuskokwim River chum salmon numbers remain off-the-charts low. However, sockeyes are still coming in strong. Meanwhile, the summer rain has not been

On the Yukon River, subsistence salmon fishing is being closed to protect king salmon as they migrate upriver.

Subsistence families along the Kuskokwim River are cutting open fish to find white balls or white streaks deforming the meat.