2018 Preliminary Yukon River Summer Season Summary

The following is a summary of the 2018 Yukon River Chinook and summer chum salmon fisheries. All data reported here are considered preliminary. For management purposes, the Yukon River is divided into several fishing districts and subdistricts (Figure 1).

During the “summer season” (early May through July 15 in District 1) management and research staff are based in the Emmonak office and the focus is on assessing and managing the summer chum and Chinook salmon runs. After July 15, in Emmonak, Chinook salmon are nearly done entering the river and fall chum start to replace summer chum as the dominant species. On July 16, management transitions to the “fall season” and assessment and management become focused on fall chum and coho salmon entering the mouth of the Yukon River. However, summer season management continues beyond this date in upper river districts as the Chinook and summer chum salmon migration progresses upstream.