On a wet and rainy evening on the banks of the Pilgrim River, Nome resident Nancy Analoak checked a net she set overnight.
“It's been really good this year,” Analoak said. “The chums and the pinks are running really good. The sockeyes are good, and I hope the silvers will be good too.”
The Norton Sound management area is roughly two-thirds of the way through its subsistence salmon season. Analoak, who has family ties to King Island, Wales, and Diomede, said she is almost done with her harvesting. She said she has enough for her household this winter plus more to share with elders, friends, and family.
“I grew up with subsistence, watching and observing my grandparents with their cousins, but for myself, doing subsistence is like 10 years, 20 years out,” Analoak said. “And it really depends on the weather and the environment, for the fish, on how they're doing, and how successful I'll be.”
That night, she pulled eight hefty fish from her net, mostly sockeye with a chum among them. She ferried them to an impromptu filet station – a flat piece of plywood perched on a bluff of the rocky beach – set up with two ulus, one passed down from her grandmother, the other with a sharper blade and modern plastic handle.
Nancy Analoak stands over her catch on grassy land near the Pilgrim River, July 22, 2026. Margaret Sutherland/KNOM
Norton Sound Area Fisheries Manager Kevin Clark said sockeye have outperformed expectations in the Pilgrim River, so much so that the department lifted the 25-fish-per-household subsistence harvest limit earlier in the season.
“The Pilgrim red run is still going strong,” Clark said. “We’re probably going to be somewhere in the 30,000 to 40,000 range when all is said and done. That is well above the escapement goal threshold of 6,400, so we have no concern there as far as sockeye salmon go.”
Clark said he expects the sockeye run in the Pilgrim River to slow significantly by the first week of August.
As for other species, Analoak said she's had a strong chum harvest this season, which has fluctuated over recent years.
“A few years ago I noticed there was a limitation to the chums in some rivers, and we probably wouldn't be able to get as much as we'd like,” Analoak said. “This year is really good.”
Low chum returns across Western Alaska have concerned biologists, managers and subsistence users in recent years following a sharp decline about five years ago.
In some areas around Nome, Clark said this year’s chum runs show modest improvement, including better than expected runs in Golovin Subdistrict 2 and Norton Bay Subdistrict 4.
But, he said, other rivers are still struggling. The Snake River is projected to just barely reach its chum escapement goal while current returns to the Nome River make it unlikely it will reach its goal. The El Dorado is on track not to meet escapement for the second year in a row.
The banks of the Nome River
Harold O’Connor casts his line into the mouth of the Pilgrim River, July 21, 2026. Margaret Sutherland/KNOM
Under clear blue skies in mid-July, Nome resident Harold O’Connor cast a fly rod into the river's clear, shallow water.
“Pinks? That's slow,”O’Connor said as he pointed out a small pod of fish swimming upstream. “They should have been here last month. They're just starting to show up.”
Pink salmon normally return in higher numbers in even-numbered years, but despite expectations for a strong run, returns to the Nome River have lagged, according to Clark.
“Runs in the Nome subdistrict are coming in weaker than anticipated,” Clark said, adding that, conversely, numbers are high in the Golovin, Elim, Norton Bay, Shaktoolik, Unalakleet and Koyuk areas.
“The pink runs in other parts of Norton Sound are doing well. So it's kind of an anomaly to see the pink runs not being as strong here as they are in pretty much every place else.”
O’Connor said he’s usually fishing for coho or “silver’s” in the Nome River, but that it’s been a slow three years for the coveted fish.
“The last few years for the silvers haven’t been great,” he said. “Hopefully this year picks up.”
Salmon drying at a camp near the mouth of the Nome River, July 21, 2026. Margaret Sutherland/KNOM
Fish counting towers in Norton Bay, Shaktoolik, and Unalakleet have started seeing silvers, according to Clark, but not the Nome River as of Wednesday afternoon.
“So far we haven't seen any coho past the Nome weir at this point,” Clark said. “But at the same time you know it's a little early to make any kind of decision there.”
Clark said the coho run, which typically arrives later in the season, could still turn up. The department will continue to update subsistence fishers on its website as well as the fish report, which airs daily on KNOM.
Did you enjoy this News story?
Consider supporting our work by becoming a one-time or recurring donor.
