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Chum salmon has the widest geographic range of all Pacific salmon, with runs in Japan, Russia, and along the Pacific coast of North America from Washington state to Kotzebue, Alaska (north of the Arctic Circle). Japan is home to the world’s largest chum salmon fishery; annual catches can vary by 25 percent, but in a good year, Japan catches 136,000 - 227,000 MT (300–500 million pounds), all of which originate in hatcheries. The second-largest chum fishery—the Alaskan fishery—produces about 85 percent of the U.S. chum catch (the rest is caught in Washington State). In the U.S. chum is the third largest salmon fishery, with landings over 49,000 MT (110 million pounds) in 2004. The northern Japanese hatchery-based fishery is run by a cooperative that uses fish traps, which minimize handling and produce a very high-quality product. Chum, also referred to as “dog” or “keta” salmon, averages about eight pounds and is caught mostly by gill nets or purse seines.
