Harvest statewide grows to 77 M +

Base price for Bristol Bay is $1, up from 75 cents last year

Processors in Prince William Sound received nearly 18 million salmon through July 19, as the statewide commercial harvest soared upwards of 77 million fish.

In Bristol Bay, where the catch exceeded 36.6 million salmon, the base price announced by Trident Seafoods was $1 a pound, plus up to an addition 25 cent for proper chilling and bleeding.  Other major processors were following suit on the base price.

Preliminary harvest figures compiled by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game put the Prince William Sound catch at 12.4 million humpies, 4.3 million chum, 1.1 million sockeye, 13,000 kings and about 1,000 silver salmon.

The largest harvest, in the Prince William Sound general seine fishery, was 12.7 million salmon, including more than 11 million humpies, 1.6 million chum, 44,000 red and 1,000 cohos.  In the Coghill district, harvesters brought in 2.3 million salmon, including 2,011,000 chum, 186,00 pink and 87,000 reds. The Prince William Sound hatchery section had 1.6 million fish, including over 1 million pink and 558,000 chum, the Eshamy District catch of 636,000 fish  included 463,000 red, 100,000 chum and 73,000 humpies, and in the Copper River District the 520,000 sockeye, 13,000 king, 11,000 chm and 9,000 pink salmon added up to 553,000 fish.

Statewide the preliminary numbers added up to nearly 45 million red, 19.3 million pink, 12.5 million chum, 520,000 coho and 222,000 Chinook salmon.

In Bristol Bay, harvesters in the Nushagak have delivered in excess of 12.6 million fish, including 11.4 million sockeye, 1.1 million chum, 31,000 king and 2,000 pinks.

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The run for the Nushagak was forecast at about 8 million salmon, but through July 19 the count was 18 million.  The harvest in the Nushagak district likewise exceeded the forecast, so far coming in at over 11 million salmon, compared to the 6 million that were forecast.

The Egegik District was close behind the Nushagak, with 10.9 million sockeyes and growing, followed by the Naknek-Kvichak with 7.7 million, the Ugashik, with 4.9 million, and Togiak with 482,000 fish.

Cook Inlet commercial harvesters have caught 1.7 million salmon, including 1.4 million reds, with most of the harvest – 1.4 million fish – in the central district of Upper Cook Inlet.

On the Yukon River, small boat harvesters have brought in 441,000 keta salmon on the Lower end of the river, plus another 127,000 on the upper end, for a total of 728,000 fish.

Southeast Alaska’s catch stands at 7.7 million salmon, including 3.9 million chum, 2.9 million pink, 421,000 silver, 181,000 sockeye and 153,000 Chinooks.

Westward region processors have received more than 13 million salmon. That catch includes nearly 7 million sockeye, 3.9 million pink,  more than 2 million chum, 86,000 coho and 14,000 king salmon.

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