Chum returns are the lowest on record, leaving communities with empty freezers and uncertainty about getting through the winter.

Tim Sands, an Alaska Department of Fish and Game area management biologist, said he is hopeful the strong run throughout Bristol Bay will continue next year.

As temperatures near and surpass triple digits, many reservoirs in California's Central Valley have diverted more water to cities and farmers during the drought, making rivers shallower and too hot for the fish to develop from eggs, a process which can take at least 60 days to complete. To combat the poor river conditions in the Central Valley, some fish preservation organizations have tried to save the salmon population by launching large scale trucking operations to transport millions of salmon to the San Pablo Bay, San Francisco Bay and other fish farms where they are more likely to survive.

A new report from the Governor's Salmon Recovery Office shows salmon and steelhead populations in Washington state teetering on the brink of extinction. Five or the populations of salmon and steelhead listed a threatened or endangered, are in crisis.