The Chilkat River sockeye run bounced back this summer after two struggling years, according to state data.

The run reached the lower end of the state’s escapement target on Sept. 7, Alaska Department of Fish and Game commercial fisheries biologist Nicole Zeiser told the CVN.

As of Tuesday, escapement was at 85,130 sockeye salmon. The state’s target range for Chilkat Lake escapement is 70,000 to 150,000 fish. Counting at the Chilkat Lake weir is ongoing.

The Chilkat sockeye run had failed to meet the lower bound of the escapement target range in each of the past two years, and biologists weren’t sure why. Until 2020, the Chilkat run hadn’t missed the state’s escapement goal since 2007.

Last year it came within 5,000 fish of the lower bound, Zeiser said.

A complex combination of factors, including freshwater and marine conditions, contributes to salmon mortality, which is an area of ongoing scientific inquiry.

“Fishery performance data, stock composition harvest based on genetic stock identification analysis, in addition to current escapement estimates indicate the Chilkat Lake sockeye salmon return was quite healthy this season, especially compared to the last two seasons, but overall considered to be an average run,” Zeiser wrote to the CVN. She said this year’s sonar counts “started off much better than last year, and were above the daily and weekly average counts by July 9.”

On the Chilkoot side, this year’s sockeye run hit the middle of the state’s escapement target range of 38,000 to 86,000 fish. Chilkoot Lake escapement was 57,176 fish. The Chilkoot sockeye run is earlier than the Chilkat one, and the state pulled the Chilkoot River weir Sept. 7.

“Recent trends of Chilkoot River sockeye salmon runs have revealed a slow trickle of fish passing through the weir, then weir counts rapidly increase and spike around mid-July,”

Zeiser said. “The fish seem to come all at once in one big push. This makes it hard to manage the gillnet fishery.”

Although this year’s run met the state’s goal, escapement at Chilkoot was 67% of the recent average of 85,627 fish, Zeiser said. Last year the run exceeded the upper bound of the target range.

A total of six Chinook, three coho, 1,255 pink and 246 chum salmon were also counted through the Chilkoot River weir this summer, Zeiser said.

Before the season, the state predicted the Chilkoot run to be average and the Chilkat run to be average or below average.