Eat Chum Salmon

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These feisty, 10-to-15 pound salmon have the largest range of any Pacific salmon, returning to rivers throughout Alaska from July into the fall months. Along the Gulf of Alaska coast, chums (or dog salmon) often spawn in the intertidal reaches of streams, usually intermixed with returning pinks. But some chum populations swim more than 2,000 miles up Interior and Western Alaska rivers, where they've long been prized as a traditional dried winter subsistence food for people and dogs. Many Alaskans don’t eat them. The pinkish-white flesh is generally not oily and lacks the irresistible flavor you’ll find in king, sockeye, and coho fillets. However, some chums that make long-distance migrations have evolved exceptionally high fat content, probably to sustain them on their 1,000-mile-plus spawning migrations. When caught commercially, these are marketed as “Keta” salmonand can rival sockeyes and cohos for their flavor.

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