The present study estimated the variation of early survival of chum salmon families with respect to temperature and size after transfer to seawater. Heritability for seawater tolerance of half-sib families was also estimated at 45 days after hatching. Gametes were collected from 6 male and 18 female chum salmon to make 18 paternal half-sib families. Seawater tests were carried out at 3, 7 and $12^{circ}C$ of $32\%$ seawater and compared with freshwater. Survival was significantly affected by seawater temperature. The highest seawater tolerance was obtained in 45-day old chum salmon at $7^{circ}C$ seawater and the lowest seawater tolerance was obtained at $3^{circ}C$. Overall survivals in seawater tolerance at $32\%$ varied among families. There were significant variance in fry survival among females (P=0.0001), and among males (P=0.0001). The heritabilities of survival in seawater in chum salmon were estimated to be 0.32-0.34 for the sire components at 45 days after hatching in 1998.