At the peak of the Alaska commercial sockeye salmon fishing season – with upwards of 40 million reds delivered to processors – prices for these nutritious, oil-rich reds are holding in the retail marketplace at $14.99 a pound and up.
Copper River reds are still for sale at the online seafood shop FishEx in Anchorage for $56.95 a pound, but gone from the Pike Place Fish Market where a week ago they could still be purchased for $39.95 a pound.
Cordova processors 60° North Seafoods and Drifters Fish are still a good bet for delivery as well for Copper River reds.
Among the other online purveyors of Copper River reds was Northwest Wild Foods in Burlington, Washington, offering two fillets of reds, averaging 1.75 pounds each, for $99.99.
Preliminary harvest results through July 15 said 648,000 reds were harvested in the Copper River District and 884,000 overall for Prince William Sound, according to the Alaska Department of Fish & Game (ADF&G).
The total commercial salmon harvest for Prince William Sound stood at 13.3 million fish, including 9.4 million pinks, 2.9 million chums, 8,000 coho, and 5,000 Chinooks.
Statewide, the overall ADF&G estimated harvest stood at 58.7 million fish, including those 40.8 million sockeyes, 6.3 million chums, 11.3 million pins, 80,000 Chinook, and 78,000 cohos.
Simon Marks – a fisheries economist who writes the weekly in-season Alaska commercial salmon harvest updates at McKinley Research group on behalf of the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute – said that as of earlier this week the statewide salmon harvest has surpassed 24% of the annual projection, with sockeye and pin harvests being key drivers of the increased harvest as compared to a year ago.
“Bristol Bay sockeye harvest accounts for about two-thirds of total harvest thus far and has accounted for an increase in statewide salmon harvest as compared to 2024,” Marks said. “As in 2024, the Bristol Bay sockeye harvest peaked this year in statistical week 27. Harvest remained strong in week 28, with over 12.6 million sockeye harvested.”
While Prince William Sound represents 82% of total pin, salmon supply to date, the region harvests are 35% below 2023 levels, he said.
Chinook harvests plateaued largely due to closure of the Southeast troll fishery on July 4.
“Harvests of this species typically peaks in week 28, but will likely expand slowly throughout the remainder of the season given the closure,” Marks noted.
