The strongest run of Yukon River chinook salmon in five years is showing up in its tributaries.

The Teslin River sonar estimated a return of 9,916 in all of last year, and just 3,400 in 2012, its first year of operation.

So far this summer, the sonar is registering 13,099 chinook as of Tuesday, with an estimated 662 passing by yesterday alone.

Resource manager Mary-Ellen Jarvis of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans said this morning a rough estimate indicates about 70 per cent of the salmon run is by the Teslin sonar, with another 30 per cent still to come.

The Big Salmon River sonar tallied a total of 3,329 chinook last year, but was up to 6,096 to the end of Monday, according to daily estimates.

And the Blind Creek weir near Faro was up to 576 to the end of Sunday, compared to 312 for all of last year.

For the first time ever, the entire chinook fishery was closed on both sides of the Alaska-Yukon border.

While there’s been no sport fishery and no commercial fishery to speak of in recent years, this year is the first for no subsistence fishing in Alaska and no aboriginal food fishery in the Yukon.

As of midnight last night, the count at the Eagle, Alaska sonar near the border was at 64,522, the largest border count in five years and more than double last summer’s dismal count of 30,573, the lowest in recent memory.

With scientists predicting another below-average return, the Yukon Sub-Subcommittee and Yukon First Nations called upon federal Fisheries to implement a complete closure until there was a border passage of at least 42,500, the minimum goal to meeting spawning objectives.

Even with the number of returning chinook well above the 42,500 mark, Yukon First Nations are maintaining the closure.

The Tr’ondek Hwech’in of Dawson City and Mayo’s First Nation of Na-cho Nyak Dun both sent out press releases last week indicating they would not be fishing.

Even though the return is stronger than expected, it is still well below the healthy runs of years gone by, the First Nations said.

They also pointed out the ratio of females is well below average this year, along with an above-average number of younger five-year-old males.

“Yukon First Nations have shown great leadership and conservation in the interest of Yukon River chinook,” Pauline Frost, chair of the salmon- subcommittee, said in a release this week.

“For many years, Canada was bearing the brunt of conservation. With the pro-active management in Alaska and the sacrifices on the part of Alaskan communities, we have had a year where one river, two nations, and many governments have worked together to get as many fish on the spawning grounds as possible.”

The resources manager for DFO said two First Nations have indicated they will have a limited fishery, but more for cultural purposes than to target a chinook harvest.

Four First Nations, and possibly five, have imported sockeye salmon from B.C. to make up for the loss of the chinook fishery, Jarvis explained.

She said while Teslin has been bringing in salmon from the Taku and Stikine rivers for a number of years now, it’s the first year for the other three of four First Nations.

Some of the sockeye, Jarvis believes, were coming out of the Stikine River near Hazelton, B.C.

Some members of the Yukon’s aboriginal community have strongly voiced their belief the chinook fishery should be closed not just for a year, but for one full chinook life cycle of seven or eight years. And some insist a closure of two life cycles should be embraced.

Scientists have indicated the chinook run has been diminishing for several years now, and they acknowledge they don’t know why.

Sonar and test fishery estimates near the mouth of the Yukon River indicate 137,468 chinook entered the river this year.

In years gone by, the total harvest on both sides of the border would have easily exceeded that number.

Jarvis said the run of fall chum salmon is expected to be strong, with an estimated 800,000 to 1.2 million chum entering the Yukon River this year.

The total return chum to the border along the mainstem is expected to range between 200,000 to 260,000, with an estimated 40,000 to 52,000 reaching the Yukon on the Porcupine River.

Last year’s border passage of chum on the mainstem was 204,149, from which 3,887 were harvested by the commercial and aboriginal food fishery.

The border passage on the Porcupine last year was estimated at 29,824.

Daily estimates in the early part of the chum run indicate 221,543 fall chum have so far passed the Pilot Station sonar near the mouth.

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