The fall run of Yukon River chum salmon is headed for another record year despite early indications of a below-average year.

Sandy Johnston, a management biologist with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, said this morning if the number of fish crossing the Yukon-Alaska border comes in at the 240,000 predicted, it would be the second-largest on record.

'The first part of the run was quite late and weak, which had people looking quite carefully at it,' he said. 'And then we got a fairly large bump of fish to the border.'

Numbers from the first commercial opening on the Yukon in late September indicate a harvest of 2,900 chum.

The second commercial opening began last Friday and will close this Friday.

Johnston said the annual average commercial catch over the last four years was 5,200, with an average of 3,000 taken annually by the first nation fishery.

The average run of Yukon River chum to cross the border was 182,500 from 2001 through to 2005, though the number was pushed significantly upwards by the record run of 451,000 chum in 2005, Johnston noted.

The total number of chum recorded in August near the mouth of the river at the Pilot Station sonar was 684,011, or slightly above the annual average of 658,870.

Johnston said it appears as though a reduced commercial harvest in Alaska was a factor in the abundance of chum reaching Yukon waters.

The chum run up the Porcupine River is also looking strong, with a count up until last Tuesday of 48,338 at Old Crow.

The aboriginal catch on the Porcupine averages 4,000 chum annually.

This past summer's run of chinook salmon was well below average, with 22,958 crossing into the Yukon compared with an average of 40,100 over the previous 10 years.