Yukon River salmon 2006 season summary and 2007 season outlook

The Joint Technical Committee (JTC) of the United States and Canada serves as a scientific advisory body to the Yukon River Panel. The JTC discusses harvest and escapement goals, management trends, post-season reviews and pre-season outlooks, and results of cooperative research projects. The report summarizes the status of salmon stocks (Chinook, coho, summer and fall chum salmon) in 2006 with reference to historical data, presents an outlook for the 2007 season, and provides data on the utilization of salmon species by commercial and subsistence (aboriginal) harvests, personal use (domestic) and sport (recreational) fishery. The report further compiles summaries of Yukon River projects (e.g., mark-recapture, sonar, stock identification) and a review of salmon bycatch in the groundfish and pollock fisheries of the Bering Sea and the Gulf of Alaska. Yukon River escapement goals for Chinook, chum and coho salmon remained unchanged for 2007.