Preliminary estimates of the Prince William Sound coho salmon harvest rose to 24,000 fish over the past week, but overall fishing was impacted by limited runs and fishing opportunity.
The weekly in-season salmon report – compiled by McKinley Group on behalf of the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute – noted as of Aug. 15 the Prince William Sound keta catch was still down 83%, the pink harvest was down 82% and the sockeye harvest was down 51%.
As of Aug. 18, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s (ADF&G) preliminary commercial statewide harvest report showed the coho harvest had jumped from about 5,000 to 24,000 fish.
For four other Pacific salmon fisheries there were only marginal increases in the catch.
The sockeye harvest edged up from 598,000 to 599,000 fish, and the chum harvest moved from 764,000 to 765,000 fish. Pink and Chinook harvests showed little additional harvest, according to ADF&G.
The statewide salmon harvest continued to trail year-to-date catch across all five species of Pacific salmon, especially keta and coho salmon, each down about 50% year-over-year from 2025.
Preliminary statewide catch totals rose from 61.5 million to 72 million, including the pink harvest rising from 16.6 million to 26 million humpies and coho deliveries rising from 462,000 to 590,000 fish. The preliminary chum harvest was up from 7.8 million to 8.7 million fish and the count of Chinooks rose from 119,000 to 131,000 fish.
The report noted almost half of the 13 million pinks caught last week were in Kodiak – where the cumulative harvest now stands at 63% from the 2024 benchmark and has already reached the ADF&G forecasted harvest range for the seasons.
Most of the remaining pink harvest took place in Southeast Alaska, where larger harvests over the past two weeks helped make up for a slow start to the season, the report said.
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