Alaska's new requirements to ensure enough chinook salmon reach the Yukon is taking its toll on the other side of the border.

A conference call took place Tuesday afternoon among community members living along the river and its tributaries.

Concerns were heard from Alaskans who've been unable so far to catch enough chinook to meet their subsistence needs.

In addition to fishing closures, the new restriction requiring six-inch mesh for nets – down from 7.5 – has left some families without the gear to go fishing.

The smaller net size, suited more for the smaller chum salmon, is aimed at catching fewer chinook and fewer large chinook, Alaskan biologist Eric Newland explained in a recent interview.

Newland said the smaller mesh is another tool in the state's beefed-up effort to enhance conservation measures during the chinook run.

If the state is so concerned about chinook salmon stocks, one village fisherman suggested, it should look to the high seas fishery which kills but does not use thousands and thousands of chinook as they fish for pollock to supply fast food chains.

"I'm going to say it again,” the fisherman said. "Conservation should begin at sea.”

Another villager emphasized fishermen along the river don't kill the chinook and then throw them overboard, in obvious reference to the common practice by the pollock fishery. (That fishery is prohibited from selling the chinook bycatch.)

"From the mouth of the river all the way up to the headwaters, we are salmon-dependent people,” he said.

Alaskan management biologists assured community members there would be an opportunity during a conference call later this month or in early August to specifically address concerns over the bycatch of chinook on the high seas.

For now, however, conservation is essential, state resource biologist Stephanie Schmidt told community members, who included some Yukoners on the line.

"The chinook salmon populations have declined tremendously in the Yukon River since 30 years ago,” Schmidt said.

"We are at a point where we have to get chinook salmon to the spawning grounds in Alaska and Canada if we are going to maintain the chinook salmon fishery for generations to come.”

Biologists on both sides of the border forecast another poor run this year. The Alaskans indicated Tuesday the numbers are coming

back slightly higher than the bottom range of the forecast.

Canada's Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) has suggested there will not be enough chinook to allow for a commercial or sport fishery again this year. As well, it's likely it will be another year for a conservative approach by the aboriginal food fishery.

A woman from the Teslin Tlingit Council told conference call participants the First Nation will be setting this year's fishing policy at its upcoming general assembly, but the recommendation does call for conservation.

Alaska and the Yukon have not had a commercial chinook fishery to speak of since 2006.

The state passed legislation earlier this year requiring fishing closures to protect the first pulse of mostly Canadian chinook all the way up the river to the border.

The legislation replaces what was previously an annual policy decision dependent an management strategies.

Alaska's management report issued Tuesday said while the run is returning somewhat higher than the low range of the pre-season forecast, conservation is still key, given the poor runs of recent years and problems meeting spawning targets.

It was noted the first pulse of salmon which passed the Pilot Station sonar at the lower portion of the river June 21-23 was about 72 per cent Canadian, according to genetic sampling.

The second pulse last week was about 50 per cent Canadian.

Chinook are beginning to trickle across the sonar at Eagle just below the border, with a total of 25 having been picked up by the sonar as of midnight Tuesday.

Newland expects the first pulse to hit Eagle between July 17 and July 21. The 2013 run of chinook at Pilot Station near the mouth of the Yukon is nearing the end, he said.

As of midnight Tuesday, 112,422 chinook had been counted by the sonar at Pilot Station. That's well below average for this point in the run but above the total run estimate of 106,000 for last year.

The first chinook usually reaches the Whitehorse Fish Ladder in early August.

Last year's return of Yukon River chinook into the Yukon was the second-poorest in the last 30 years. It has resulted in the lowest aboriginal harvest by Yukon First Nations in more than 40 years.

Last summer, an estimated 34,656 chinook crossed into the Yukon on the mainstem, which does not include the Porcupine River counts, according to the annual summary prepared by Yukon and Alaskan officials.

The aboriginal harvest was estimated at 2,000, leaving 32,656 for escapement to the spawning beds.

Last year's escapement was 23 per cent below the minimum spawning target of 42,500 for the mainstem.

In addition to the 2,000 chinook harvested on the mainstem in 2012, another 200 were taken on the Porcupine River by the aboriginal fishery at Old Crow.

In the last several years, scientists have been sounding alarm bells about the state of the Yukon River chinook. They have pointed to diminishing returns for reasons largely unknown.

The DFO's pre-season forecast suggests if the run does come in at the low end of the range, the First Nation harvest could be even lower than the 2,000 taken last year.

Through the 1980s and 1990s, and right up until 2006, the aboriginal fishery would harvest well in excess of 5,000 chinook every summer, and 7,000 and 8,000 fish were not uncommon.

In 1991, First Nations harvested 9,000 fish, the most since the early 1960s. The same year, a thriving commercial chinook fishery in Dawson City harvested 10,900.

Since 2006, however, the average aboriginal harvest has fallen to 3,309 chinook, including last year's take of 2,000.

Tara Christie, who chairs the Yukon Salmon Subcommittee, said Wednesday Yukon First Nations have been making sacrifices in recent years with their reductions in the number of fish they take in the name of conservation.

The Alaskan communities, she said, are now starting to feel the pinch Yukon communities have been dealing with for quite some time.

Last year's bycatch of chinook salmon by the high seas fishery was 35,571. It peaked in 2007 at 170,000 chinook.

The high seas fishery is not allowed to sell the chinook, to ensure there is no commercial incentive to target chinook while fishing for pollock and other ground fish.

The high seas fishery is permitted to bring the fish to shore and donate it to food banks and other charities, but the fishing boat operators can also throw the dead salmon back into the sea.

Alaska has been implementing measures to discourage the bycatch of chinook.

The state has established hardcaps for different season and districts on the total number of chinook which can be caught, after which all fishing must stop.