Alaska’s 2019 salmon season is winding down and the commercial catch has totaled some 200 million fish through the end of last week.
The beginning of October marks the end of the Alaska season and an additional 800,000 fish are expected to be harvested during the three weeks between now and then. In 2019, most species saw a drop in catch compared to previous years, excepting sockeye.
The sockeye harvest this year was just over 55 million fish, with few additional fish expected to be caught. Some 50,000 sockeye were harvested over the course of last week mostly from the Kodiak region. The sockeye season this year has seen a 9 percent year-over-year gain from 2018.
Although the keta harvest peaked in late August, the count remains some 2.5 million, or 13 percent lower than it was last year. Current harvest numbers stand at only 58 percent of what the Alaska Department of Fish and Game projected for this year. Almost 300,000 keta were harvested last week with the majority coming from Southeast.
Pinks, which are typically harvested in odd years, are lagging behind the last harvest in 2017 by about 7 percent with about 124 million fish caught this year. Looking farther back, this year’s pink harvest was 45 percent lower than in 2013 and 34 percent lower than in 2015. Last week, about 400,000 pink salmon were harvested in Kodiak.
While the chinook harvest is expected to meet or barely exceed last year’s numbers, coho salmon is also lagging behind the pace set last year by about 8 percent.
Coho is predominantly a late season fish and additional coho harvest will make up at least half of the remaining salmon harvest this season. The lion’s share of the catch is expected to come from the southeast.
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