The first two Yukon River chinook salmon arrived at the Whitehorse Fish Ladder on Saturday.

There was a large female in good shape, while the male was medium-sized and in good condition, staff at the ladder report.

Ladder supervisor Mackenzie Coleman said this morning no other chinook have climbed the ladder since Saturday. At least one can be seen on camera swimming around at the bottom of the ladder.

The chinook are expected to begin pooling in greater numbers next week, he said.

Coleman said the first two arrived about a week earlier than previous years, though the timing was similar to 2014, when the first fish arrived July 21.

Last year, the first chinook arrived on July 27.

The early return was likely influenced by the early retreat of sea ice down at the river mouth that allowed the salmon to enter the river earlier, he said.

Of the 1,465 chinook that climbed the ladder last year, 450 were wild males, 170 were wild females, 609 were males reared at the Whitehorse Fish Hatchery and 265 were hatchery females, according to records.

With another below-average return of chinook expected this year, conservation is again foremost for the Yukon aboriginal food fishery and Alaska’s subsistence fishery.

Commercial fishing for chinook has been prohibited in recent years because of the troubled chinook stock.

But numbers crossing the border are surpassing the minimum number required for spawning, and moving into the zone that allows for a moderate Fish Nation fishery.

The sonar just below the Yukon-Alaska border at Eagle has recorded 54,034 chinook as of Sunday.

Last year, an estimated 84,015 crossed the border, of which an estimated 83,674 reached the spawning grounds, according to records.