This report looks at escapements and stock status of chinook salmon, Oncorhynchus tshawytscha, and recommends that the Yukon River chinook salmon stock remain classified as a "stock of yield concern."

This report looks at escapements and stock status of chinook salmon, Oncorhynchus tshawytscha, and recommends that the Yukon River chinook salmon stock remain classified as a "stock of yield concern."

This report provides the Alaska Board of Fisheries with information on Yukon Area salmon stock status, including escapement and harvest data for the January 2023 regulatory meeting. In response to the guidelines established in the Policy for the Management of Sustainable Salmon Fisheries (5 AAC 39.222), the Alaska Board of Fisheries (board) classified the Yukon River Chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha stock as a stock of yield concern at its September 2000 work session. An action plan was developed by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game and acted upon by the board in January 2001. The status as a yield concern was continued for Yukon River Chinook salmon at the January 2004, 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, and 2019 board meetings. Chinook salmon escapement goal performance has been mixed throughout the past 5 years (2018–2022) throughout the Alaska portion of the Yukon River drainage, but escapement goals were not met from 2020 to 2022. Conservative management actions taken inseason have included full subsistence fishery closures to protect low runs as they migrate upriver. Additionally, Yukon River summer chum, fall chum O. keta, and coho salmon O. kisutch recently experienced a drastic decline since 2020. Most escapement goals for chum and coho salmon have not been achieved since 2020 despite significant subsistence, personal use, and commercial fishing restrictions and closures. Historically, the Yukon River chum and coho salmon stocks have met or exceeded escapement goals and provided for subsistence, personal use, and commercial fisheries, with a few exceptions of decreased production in a couple tributaries.