The objectives of this report are to: 1) describe the productivity and capacity of the Kuskokwim River Chinook salmon stock, as quantified from stock-recruit analyses, 2) recommend a drainage-wide escapement goal based on this information, and 3) revise escapement goals for selected tributaries.

An age-structured state-space spawner–recruit model was fit to estimates of relative and absolute abundance, harvest, and age composition for Copper River Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) from 1980 to 2016. Bayesian statistical methods were employed to assess uncertainty in the presence of measurement error, serial correlation, and missing data. Ricker stock-recruit parameters and management reference points were estimated, including the escapement that provides for maximum sustained yield (SMSY). It is recommended that a sustainable escapement goal range of 18,500 to 33,000 fish be adopted for Copper River Chinook salmon. Escapement is evaluated by subtracting estimates of inriver harvest from estimates of inriver abundance. Escapements within this range have a high probability of producing sustainable yields.