FAIRBANKS — The Yukon River king salmon run is turning out to be weaker than state fisheries managers anticipated. That’s bad news for the state’s largest subsistence fishery. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced Tuesday it is canceling a second fishing period for subsistence fishermen in order to get more fish to their Canadian spawning grounds. The department pulled one subsistence fishing period last week and managers were hoping that would be enough. But during a teleconference with Yukon River fishermen Tuesday, managers said the chinook run so far is poorer than they expected and more restrictions are needed to help ensure enough fish reach Canada to satisfy escapement goals specified in a treaty with Canada. The Yukon River king salmon run is the backbone of the state’s largest subsistence fishery, which supports thousands of villagers living along the 2,000-mile river. Subsistence fishermen catch an average of approximately 50,000 kings per year on the Yukon, in addition to thousands of chum salmon. But it is the oil-rich kings that are most sought. The number of king salmon counted by a sonar at Pilot Station, 120 miles upstream from the mouth of the river, was estimated to be 28,200 through Monday, which is less than half the average number (57,900) for that date. Biologists were hoping the Pilot Station numbers would jump this week with the arrival of the first pulse of fish into the river, which typically represents the biggest of the three or four pulses that comprise the bulk of the Yukon’s king salmon run. While almost 20,000 fish passed the sonar between June 16-20, biologists were hoping for more. “We were expecting to see a certain amount of fish past Pilot Station on Sunday and Monday and that number of fish was a lot lower than expected,” Yukon area biologist Steve Hayes with the Department of Fish and Game said Tuesday. The state’s subsistence fishing schedule permits fishermen to fish two 36-hour or two 48-hour periods each week, depending on what section of river they live on. Managers canceled one fishing period last week to coincide with the arrival of the first pulse and initially announced this week that they would cut a second subsistence fishing period in half, which they did in the first 60 miles of the river, reducing fishing time from 36 to 18 hours. But when the numbers they were hoping to see at Pilot Station didn’t materialize, they decided to pull an entire period in the remaining parts of the river. The closures will be implemented chronologically as the fish move up the river toward the border. It takes about one month for fish to make it from the mouth to the border. Some fishermen on the lower Yukon have already caught enough kings to meet their subsistence needs, while others in the middle and upper sections of the river are just starting to fish. Fishermen in Galena were having decent success at catching kings, Sandy Scotten said. “The catch rates are better this year than last year,” she said during Tuesday’s teleconference. “My family went drifting last night and we caught 14 kings and three chums. They all looked pretty nice.” King salmon have been caught as far upriver as Rampart in the Yukon River. In the Tanana River, the first king — a 14 1/2-pound male — was caught in Nenana on Tuesday, according to local fishermen Victor Lord. “That fish is already eaten, from what I hear,” Lord said. “People are looking forward to some more.” The department hopes to get a minimum of 135,000 kings past the Pilot Station sonar to meet escapment objectives in Alaska and Canada. According to historical timing, about 25 percent of the run should have reached Pilot Station by now, Dr. Katie Howard with the Department of Fish and Game said. At the current rate, that translates to less than 120,000 fish past the sonar. “We do have quite a bit of fish to make up to hit that 135,000 mark,” Howard said. A second pulse of fish started to enter the river Monday and test net catches that day were the highest of the season, which means the second surge of kings to hit the river could be bigger than the first, Hayes said. The state will set up a sonar counter near the village of Eagle, approximately 10 miles from the Canadian border, in the first week of July to begin counting fish there, Carl Pfisterer with the Department of Fish and Game said. The summer chum run, meanwhile, is shaping up better than managers expected. The sonar count of approximately 273,000 summer chums past Pilot Station through Monday is higher than the average of 242,000 for that date. At that rate, the summer chum run should come in around 2 million fish compared to a preseason projection of 1.3 to 1.6 million. The state is contemplating a commercial chum opening later this week to take advantage of the surplus of chums, but if that happens, fishermen will not be allowed to sell any kings they catch incidentally, Hayes said. Those fish would have be used for subsistence to prevent fishermen from targeting kings during commercial chum openings. Contact staff writer Tim Mowry at 459-7587.