FAIRBANKS -- Federal managers have limited subsistence fishing on the Yukon River because this summer's king salmon run is weaker than average.

The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported that sonar counts at Pilot Station on the lower Yukon have counted the run at 103,000 fish as of Thursday. The average is 155,000 for the same date.

The limits on fishing will come in staggered closures of three sections of the river leading to the Canadian border.

The staggered closures will affect a handful of villages along the river. During salmon closures, fishermen cannot use fishwheels or gillnets with mesh greater than four inches or a length greater than 60 feet.