The sockeye salmon season in Alaska this year is booming, though pink and keta salmon are falling behind last year’s numbers, according to the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute’s weekly harvest update.
According to the Alaska Department of Fish & Game, over 100 million Alaskan salmon total have been harvested this season as of 3 August.
Nearly 53 million sockeye salmon have been harvested statewide, at this point 10 percent more than last year. Less than a million more fish are expected to be harvested between now and the end of the season. The state sockeye harvest has surpassed its forecast for this year of around 41.7 million harvested fish by a large margin. The success of the sockeye is due in large part to the banner Bristol Bay season, which accounts for 43.1 million sockeye thus far, as opposed to 41.7 million last year.
Pink salmon, typically harvested in odd years, are behind pace compared to 2017, with numbers for this year being about a third lower than last harvest. Year-to-date this year, 39.7 million have been caught as opposed to 58.4 million at the same point last year. 137.8 million pink salmon were forecast to be harvested this year. Only the Kodiak region is expected to match 2017’s production numbers of pink salmon, with Prince William Sound and Southeast coming in significantly behind 2017.
The state’s keta season has also been far from the expected harvest. Although there are still about six weeks left in the keta season, current year-to-date numbers lag behind last year’s by about 20 percent. Chinook also is trailing behind last year’s numbers, coming in 11 percent behind last year’s numbers at this point. Coho salmon, which has another two months left in the season, has only realized 17 percent of the expected harvest of 4.6 million salmon.
Image courtesy of Max Lindenthaler/Shutterstock
