Increasing harvests of chum, coho and pink salmon boosted that commercial catch of salmon in Prince William Sound to an estimated overall catch of 8.7 million fish through Aug. 6, while the statewide deliveries to seafood processors rose to 64.5 million salmon.
The latest Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) harvest data compiled by fisheries biologists in Cordova showed an increased harvest bringing the total number of chum caught to 1.149 million fish, plus 4.8 million pinks and 2,974 coho. The sockeye catch rose slightly to 2.8 million and Chinooks to 9,322 fish.
“Alaska salmon harvests continue to track well behind last year for all species, but especially pinks, compared to 2022, coho and keta,” said Sam Friedman of the McKinley Research Group, which produces in-season updates of Alaska’s commercial salmon fishery on behalf of the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI).
Salmon fishing has also been slow across the Bering Sea in Russia, according to trade publications. This represents a large drop from 2023, which was the second largest Russian salmon harvest on record.
“Alaska’s pink salmon harvest is down 63% from 2022, including a 73% drop from Prince William Sound, a key region for harvesting humpies,” Friedman said.
ADF&G has attributed the low pink harvest in Prince William Sound to both smaller salmon runs and fewer boats participating in that fishery.
As the sockeye salmon season wraps up statewide, harvest is down year over year for all regions except Prince William Sound, which was up 59%, and Cook Inlet, up 6%. This year’s Cook Inlet harvest of 1.96 million sockeyes is the highest for the region sine 2019, Friedman noted.
Statewide, the overall preliminary catch stood at 64.5 million fish, with an increased in deliveries of pink, coho and chum salmon to processors anticipated. The ADF&G Blue Sheet, which is updated weekly, showed that catch to include 39.9 million sockeye, more than 11 million chum, 312,000 coho, more than 13 million pink, and 207,000 Chinooks.
The 2024 commercial salmon harvest forecast was for 69 million pink salmon, 39.5 million sockeye salmon, 24.3 million chum salmon, and 2.6 million coho salmon. If realized, that would be an overall commercial harvest of about 135.7 million fish.
The state’s central district, which takes in Cook Inlet, Bristol Bay and Prince William Sound, had an overall harvest to date of 44.7 million fish — including 36.2 million sockeye, 6.7 million pink, 1.7 million chum, 25,000 coho and 8,000 kings.
Southeast Alaska’s catch has reached more than 13 million fish, including 8.1 million chum, 4.4 million pink, 421,000 red, 188,000 king and 174,000 coho salmon, and the Westward Region has delivered 6.3 million fish to processors. That total includes 3.2 million sockeye, 1.9 million pink, 1 million chum, 102,000 coho and 11,000 kings.
In the Arctic, Yukon, Kuskokwim Region, the harvest reached 7,000 salmon in Norton Sound, including 4,000 chum and 3,000 pink. In the Kotzebue area, fishermen brought in 4,000 chum. The total regional harvest stood at 11,000 fish.
Fillets of wild Alaska sockeye salmon were selling for $19.98 a pound at Pike Place Fish Market in Seattle, $14.95 a pound at Fred Meyer, $12.95 a pound at 10th & M Seafoods in Anchorage, $11.99 a pound at Carrs-Safeway, $10.99 a pound at Costco. The online seafood retailer FishEx in Anchorage was still offering premium portions of Copper River sockeye for $37.95 a pound.
