The draft of a preliminary report from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) has projected 125.5 million salmon to be commercially harvested in the state this year, which would be significantly lower than last year’s 194.8 million salmon harvested should it come to fruition.
Per Alaskafish.news, comparisons per area and species are listed in the report, with data sets projected for sockeye, coho, pink, and chum salmon.
Projected sockeye salmon harvest numbers statewide for 2026 are nearly 49.7 million, which would be just short of last year’s 52.6 million.
Coho salmon harvests are projected to reach 2.4 million fish statewide this year, which would be close to last year, when 2.5 million were harvested.
Pink salmon harvest numbers for 2026 are estimated to reach 55.9 million statewide, which would be less than half of last year’s 119 million.
Several data points for Chinook salmon are still missing, but the statewide estimates are around 197,000 fish for this year. In 2025, that number stood at 181,892.
ADF&G said that final projections for the 2026 season will be released at the end of April, as part of its ”Run Forecasts and Harvest Projections for 2026” report.
This draft comes after ADF&G forecast an “excellent” 2026 run for sockeye salmon in the Upper Cook Inlet with an expected run of 7.6 million fish and available harvest of 5.6 million fish. Additionally, ADF&G predicted “strong” pink and chum salmon runs in the Prince William Sound, with an estimated 3.9 million pink salmon and 413,000 chum salmon.
Elsewhere, on 31 March, the ADF&G announced that the preseason all-gear catch limit set by the Pacific Salmon Treaty between the U.S. and Canada was adjusted after “several stocks have shown signs of improvement in 2024 and 2025.” The commercial purse seine fleet, which accounts for 4.3 percent of all-gear vessels, is targeting 8,800 Chinook salmon, the commercial drift gillnet fleet is targeting 5,900, the commercial set gillnet is targeting 1,000, the commercial troll is targeting 146,000, and recreational fishers are targeting 43,600 Chinook.
Though stocks have shown improvement, ADF&G said recent production “has been poor in the region,” causing some stocks to be recently removed or placed on a management concern list, which will face provisions set by the Alaska Board of Fisheries’ action plans.
