2020 Yukon Area Fall Season Summary

This announcement provides a preliminary summary of the 2020 Yukon Area (Figure 1) fall chum and coho salmon harvests and escapements. All results are considered preliminary.

2020 Fall Season Outlook

The fall chum salmon run size forecast, using brood year analysis, was for 936,000 fish, with a range of 827,000 to 1,045,000 fish. A preseason run size projection was made in mid-July using the relationship between historical summer and fall chum salmon run size estimates. Using the estimate of 782,000 summer chum salmon, the preseason projection for a fall chum salmon was a run size of less than 450,000 fish.

The coho salmon outlook for 2020 was for an average run size of 240,000 fish. The outlook assumed an average survival of fish from the 2016 parent year and was based on recent trends of average to below average runs.