FAIRBANKS -- Poor king salmon returns on Alaska's rivers mean that a treaty obligation with Canada likely won't be met.
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game says that projected escapement goals to Canadian spawning grounds are expected to fall short. Fish and Game says sonar data in the Yukon River at Eagle indicates that the king salmon run is poor.
The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports that so far about 24,400 kings have been counted by the sonar as of last Thursday. That is about half the historic average for that date. At that rate, the projection at Eagle is a run of between 34,000 and 42,000 kings. A U.S.-Canada treaty has set an escapement goal of between 42,500 and 55,000 kings to Canada.
