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Districts Affected: Lower Yukon River
 The 2009 Yukon River fall chum run has been assessed to be poor. However, the coho run has tracked average to above average. The Alaska Board of Fisheries met September 8 and approved an emergency regulatory action to allow late season commercial fishing to target coho salmon when there would likely be little significant impact to the poor fall chum salmon run.

Three additional late season commercial periods were opened in District Y-1 with mixed results. Recent subsistence test fish catches indicate the abundance of coho salmon is low and the overall fish quality is poor. Therefore, there will be no more commercial fishing periods in the lower Yukon River this season because it has become unlikely that sufficient numbers of acceptable quality salmon would be harvested at this late date.

The 2009 total fall season salmon harvest through September 10 landed 23,983 fall chum and 7,569 coho salmon.

Subsistence fishing in Districts 1, 2, and 3 will remain open 7 days per week.

The Department would like to thank all the local fishermen for their help and for sharing their fishing information this season. We would also like to thank the City offices, Tribal and village organizations, as well as the Yukon Delta Fisheries Development Association and Kwikpak Fisheries for their cooperative support.

The Emmonak Fish and Game office is now closed for the season. For recorded information regarding continuing fisheries further upriver, you can call toll free 1-866-4.... If you have any questions regarding this report, please call the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in Fairbanks at 459-7274.

This has been an announcement by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.