As the commercial salmon season ebbs for red salmon, the overall commercial catch, powered by chum, coho and pink salmon harvests, has reached an estimated 8.4 million fish in Prince William Sound and 59.7 million salmon statewide.
The in-season salmon harvest estimate compiled by the Cordova office of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) showed that as of Tuesday, July 30, the Prince William Sound catch includes 2.8 million sockeye, 4.5 million pink, 1.1 million chum, 9,315 Chinook, and 2,350 coho salmon.
The latest statewide preliminary commercial salmon harvest blue sheet compiled by ADF&G had the statewide catch of 59.7 million fish, including 39.4 million sockeye, 9.9 million chum, nearly 10 million pink, 216,000 coho, and 206,000 Chinook salmon.
The in-season weekly report produced by Simon Marks of McKinley Research Group on behalf of the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute noted that through the approximate midpoint of the Alaska commercial salmon season for all species that about 42% of the preseason projected harvest of 136 million salmon have been harvested. That included 99% of the forecasted sockeye salmon harvest.
The Bristol Bay sockeye harvest of over 30.9 million fish has exceeded the preseason projection, but is still down 23% from a year ago, Marks said. Bristol Bay sockeye have averaged 4.21 pounds, according to ADF&G, surpassing 2021 as the smallest on record.
Pink salmon harvests continue to lag harvests from 2022, the previous even-numbered year, especially in Prince William Sound, a key pink salmon region where the harvest is down by 73%, Marks said.
Keta harvests are also down year-to-date across Alaska fishing regions, although after a recent ADF&G revision to previous-week data, 2024 keta harvest is now 7% higher than the five-year average keta harvest, he said.
The central region continued to lead in overall catch, including the PWS catch, plus over 31 million salmon delivered to processors in Bristol Bay and over 2 million salmon in Cook Inlet.
In Southeast Alaska, harvesters have brought in in excess of 10 million salmon, including 7.1 million chum, 2.6 million pink, 315,000 sockeye, 187,000 king, and 109,000 coho salmon.
In the Westward region, 5.4 million salmon have reached processors, from the Alaska Peninsula, Kodiak and Chignik. Harvesters delivered 3.6 million salmon caught in waters of the Alaska Peninsula, including 2.3 million sockeyes. Kodiak harvesters had a catch of 1.4 million fish, including 662,000 reds, and at Chignik the catch of 326,000 fish included 179,000 sockeyes.
