|
Alaskan-Adventures, Restoration Through Recreation, LLC
The chinook salmon has numerous local names.
In Washington and Oregon, chinook salmon are
called chinook, while in British Columbia they
are called spring salmon. Other names are
quinnat, tyee, tule, blackmouth, and king. Range: In North America, chinook
salmon range from the Monterey Bay area of
California to the Chukchi Sea area of Alaska. On
the Asian coast, chinook salmon occur from the
Anadyr River area of Siberia southward to
Hokkaido, Japan. In Alaska, it is abundant from the
southeastern panhandle to the Yukon River. Major
populations return to the Yukon, Kuskokwim,
Nushagak, Susitna, Kenai, Copper, Alsek, Taku,
and Stikine rivers. Important runs also occur in
many smaller streams. General description:
In the ocean, the chinook salmon is a robust,
deep-bodied fish with a bluish-green coloration
on the back which fades to a silvery color on
the sides and white on the belly. Colors of
spawning chinook salmon in fresh water range
from red to copper to almost black, depending on
location and degree of maturation. Males are
more deeply colored than the females and also
are distinguished by their "ridgeback" condition
and by their hooked nose or upper jaw. Juveniles
in fresh water are recognized by well-developed
parr marks which are bisected by the lateral
line. Life history: Like all species of
Pacific salmon, chinook salmon are anadromous.
They hatch in fresh water, spend part of their
life in the ocean, and then spawn in fresh
water. All Chinooks die after spawning. Chinook
salmon may become sexually mature from their
second through seventh year, and as a result,
fish in any spawning run may vary greatly in
size. For example, a mature 3-year-old will
probably weigh less than 4 pounds, while a
mature 7-year-old may exceed 50 pounds. Females
tend to be older than males at maturity. In many
spawning runs, males outnumber females in all
but the 6- and 7-year age groups. Small Chinooks
that mature after spending only one winter in
the ocean are commonly referred to as "jacks"
and are usually males. Alaska streams normally
receive a single run of chinook salmon in the
period from May through July. Chinook salmon often make extensive
freshwater spawning migrations to reach their
home streams on some of the larger river
systems. Yukon River spawners bound for the
extreme headwaters in Yukon Territory, Canada,
will travel more than 2,000 river miles during a
60-day period. Chinook salmon do not feed during
the freshwater spawning migration, so their
condition deteriorates gradually during the
spawning run as they use stored body materials
for energy and for the development of
reproductive products. Each female deposits
Juvenile Chinooks in fresh water feed on
plankton, then later eat insects. In the ocean,
they eat a variety of organisms including
herring, pilchard, sandlance, squid, and
crustaceans. Salmon grow rapidly in the ocean
and often double their weight during a single
summer season. Commercial fishery and subsistence:
North Pacific chinook salmon catches during the
late 1970s and early 1980s averaged more than 4
million fish per year. The United States
harvested the majority of the catch followed by
Canada, Japan, and the USSR. Alaska's annual
harvest during this period averaged about
731,000 fish per year, or about 32 percent of
the North American catch. The majority of the
Alaska catch is made in Southeast, Bristol Bay,
and the Arctic-Yukon-Kuskokwim areas. Fish taken
commercially average about 18 pounds. The
majority of the catch is made with troll gear
and gillnets. There is an excellent market for chinook
salmon because of their large size and excellent
table qualities. Recent catches in Alaska have
brought fishers nearly $19 million per year. Catches by subsistence fishers in Southwest
and Southcentral areas from 1976 through 1986
have averaged approximately 90,000 chinook
salmon. Approximately 90 percent of the
subsistence harvest is taken in the Yukon and
Kuskokwim rivers. Sport fishery: The chinook salmon is
perhaps the most highly prized sport fish in
Alaska and is extensively fished by anglers in
the Southeast and Cook Inlet areas.
Management: Unlike other salmon
species, chinook salmon rear in inshore marine
waters and are, therefore, available to
commercial and sport fishers all year. Catches
of chinook salmon in Southeast Alaska are
regulated by quotas set under the Pacific Salmon
Treaty. In other regions of Alaska, chinook
salmon fisheries are also closely managed to
ensure stocks of chinook salmon are not
overharvested.
RESERVATIONS
FISHING HUNTING
BOWHUNTING
RESOURCES MAPS CUSTOMER
COMMENTS FAQ'S PHOTOS
HOME
|
Adults are
distinguished by the black irregular spotting on
the back and dorsal fins and on both lobes of
the caudal or tail fin. Chinook salmon also have
a black pigment along the gum line which gives
them the name "blackmouth" in some areas. 
from 3,000 to 14,000
eggs in several gravel nests, or redds, which
she excavates in relatively deep, moving water.
In Alaska, the eggs usually hatch in late winter
or early spring, depending on time of spawning
and water temperature. The newly hatched fish,
called alevins, live in the gravel for several
weeks until they gradually absorb the food in
the attached yolk sac. These juveniles, called
fry, wiggle up through the gravel by early
spring. In Alaska, most juvenile chinook salmon
remain in fresh water until the following spring
when they migrate to the ocean in their second
year of life. These seaward migrants are called
smolts. 
Trolling
with rigged herring is the favored method of
angling in salt water, while lures and salmon
eggs are used by freshwater anglers. The sport
fishing harvest of chinook salmon is over 76,000
annually, with Cook Inlet and adjacent
watersheds contributing over half of the catch.
1-800-392-6210