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.

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."

In response to the guidelines established in the Policy for the Management of Sustainable Salmon Fisheries (SSFP; 5 AAC 39.222), the Alaska Board of Fisheries (BOF) classified the Yukon River fall chum salmon Oncorhynchus keta stock as a yield concern and classified the Toklat and Fishing Branch Rivers fall chum salmon stocks as management concerns at the September 2000 work session. An action plan was developed by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF & G) and acted upon by the BOF in January 2001. The SSFP directs ADF & G to assess salmon stocks in areas addressed during the BOF regulatory cycle to identify stocks of concern and to reassess the stock of concern status. In 2003, the department recommended continuation of the Yukon River fall chum salmon classification as a stock of yield concern, which was supported by the BOF at its January 2004 meeting. The Toklat River stock was removed as a management concern because the BOF realigned the escapement objective from an optimal escapement goal (OEG) to the established biological escapement goal (BEG) which did not fit the criteria of a management concern. However, the Toklat River fall chum salmon stock was included in the drainage-wide yield concern classification. The Fishing Branch River stock was also removed as a management concern because management of that portion of the drainage is covered by an annex to the Pacific Salmon Treaty, the U.S./Canada Yukon River Salmon Agreement (Agreement) which is governed under the authority of the Yukon River Panel (Panel). Based on the much improved run size since 2002 and large available surpluses in 2003, 2005 and 2006 being near the historical yield, the Yukon River fall chum salmon stock no longer meets the stock of yield concern criteria. Therefore, ADF & G recommends the Yukon River fall chum salmon stock no longer be considered as a stock of concern. BEGs for fall chum salmon and the Yukon River Drainage Fall Chum Salmon Management Plan were both reviewed and updated at the January 2004 BOF meeting. Escapement and harvest monitoring projects are in place to aid in managing for sustained yield objectives. Proposal 173 has been submitted to the BOF for considering changes to the Yukon River Coho Salmon Management Plan to coordinate management of the overlapping fall chum and coho salmon fisheries.

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."

Escapements of Chinook salmon have fallen below the lower bound of the current BEG range for Chilkat River in 3 of the past 5 years, for King Salmon River in 4 of the past 5 years, and for the Taku River in 5 of the past 5 years. In response to guidelines established in the Policy for the management of sustainable salmon fisheries (SSFP), the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (department) recommended the Chilkat and King Salmon River Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) stocks be designated as stocks of “management concern” in 2017 followed by approval from the Alaska Board of Fisheries at the 2018 Southeast and Yakutat Finfish and Shellfish meeting. In October 2020, the department recommended the continuation of stock of management concern status for the Chilkat and King Salmon Rivers and to add the Taku River Chinook salmon stock at 2021 Southeast Alaska and Yakutat meeting. A “management concern” is defined as “a concern arising from a chronic inability, despite use of specific management measures, to maintain escapements for a salmon stock within the bounds of the SEG [sustainable escapement goal], BEG [biological escapement goal], OEG [optimum escapement goal], or other specified management objectives for the fishery.” Since 2012, the department has implemented conservative management measures to reduce the harvest of the Chilkat River stock of Chinook salmon and increase escapement. Through these measures, and from actions taken to reduce the harvest of the Taku River stock of Chinook salmon, by extension, harvest on the stock of Chinook salmon from the King Salmon River may likewise have been reduced. Although these management actions have been effective at reducing overall harvest rates, the poor runs have been so low that achievement of BEGs has been problematic.