Harvests of Copper River District salmon edged up slightly to 1.4 million fish as of Tuesday, July 23, while for Prince William Sound overall the catch delivered to processors came to over 7 million fish, as the fishery slowed.
Alaska Department of Fish and Game biologist Jeremy Botz in Cordova noted that fishing for coho salmon will pick up in mid-August. Meanwhile, Botz said, the sockeye harvest came in above forecast while the chum and likely Chinook catch would be below forecast.
Consumers still hoping to purchase those prized Copper River reds likely won’t find them at their local seafood shops, but via the internet in a wide range of prices, some of which have not declined since the summer salmon season began.
The latest tally of the Copper River drift gillnet catch, which stood at 1,397,838 fish as of Tuesday, includes 1,383,034 red, 31,533 chum, 8,850 Chinook, 3,315 pink, and 1,106 coho salmon.
For Prince William Sound, ADF&G said deliveries to processors included 3,183,189 pink, 2,762,903 sockeye, 1,122,177 chum, 9,279 Chinook, and 1,717 coho salmon.
The statewide harvest total compiled from ADF&G of over 51 million Pacific salmon included 37.5 million sockeye, 7.7 million chum, 5.8 million pink, 167,000 Chinook, and 99,000 coho salmon.
Simon Marks, who produces weekly in-season commercial fishing reports via McKinley Research Group on behalf of the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, notes that two weeks of declining week-over-week harvests signals that the 2024 sockeye harvest season peak is now behind us.
Statewide the total salmon harvest has reached 36% of the projected harvest, he said.
Though Bristol Bay surpassed the predicted harvest of 26 million fish, year-over-year harvest is down 25% he said. Preliminary fish weight data also suggests lower average sizes compared to the last several seasons, which may compound the year-over-year harvest decline.
Prince William Sound has been the second highest producer of sockeyes in 2024, but has shown significant decline in its year-to-date pink salmon harvest, Marks said. Low early season harvests of pink salmon statewide indicate a later pink salmon run that may increase on approach to the historic peak in statistical week 34, he said.
Despite high initial keta forecasts for this season, statewide keta harvests are consistently down, with Chignik showing the only growth currently.
The Nushagak District in Bristol Bay had the most robust catch to date with a total of nearly 12 million fish, predominantly sockeyes, followed by the Naknek-Kvichak District with 8.8 million sockeyes,
the Egegik District with 5 million sockeyes, and Ugashik District with 4.2 million sockeyes.
The Westward Region to date has brought in 4.4 million salmon, mostly from the Alaska Peninsula, where the catch of over 3 million salmon included 2.2 million sockeyes. Kodiak area fishermen delivered 2.9 million sockeyes and Chignik had 122,000 reds.
In the Arctic-Yukon-Kuskokwim, Norton Sound fishermen had a total of some 3,000 chum and 2,000 pink salmon.
Southeast Alaska processors have received 6.2 million fish from harvesters to date, including over 5 million chum, 821,00 pink, 192,000 sockeye, 151,000 Chinook, and 49,000 coho salmon.
