Commercial salmon harvests in Prince William Sound now top 10 million fish, in a week that saw the statewide catch leap to nearly double its size, with a significant boost in the catch of sockeye and pink salmon.
Deliveries to Prince William Sound processors through July 9 totaled 10.3 million fish, including 1.2 million fish from the Copper River drift fleet, according to preliminary catch data compiled by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.
Statewide deliveries to processors stood at 49.5 million fish, with 28.3 million sockeyes, 15.7 million humpies, 5.1 million chums, 138,000 Chinooks and 63,000 cohos.
Harvests of Copper River sockeyes, now reaching 1,086,000 fish, are ahead of forecast, said Jeremy Botz, with ADF&G’s Cordova office. The Chinook harvest for the Copper River, which stood at 18,000 fish, is still below forecast, but one of the largest recent harvests, he said.
Sockeyes were averaging 5.5 pounds and kings 18.6 pounds overall for the Copper River.
In the Prince William Sound general seine district, the harvest rose to 3.4 million humpies, 491,000 chums and 34,000 sockeyes. Returns to the Prince William Sound hatchery stood at 2.4 million fish, including 1.3 million pink and 1.1 million chum salmon.
In the Coghill district processors have received some 650,000 chums, 202,000 sockeye and 66,000 pink salmon, while the Eschamy district drift and set netters have caught 607,000 salmon, including 423,000 reds, 137,000 chums and 47,000 pinks.
Statewide year-to-date landings are currently 53 percent higher than in 2018 and early equal to 2017, notes Garrett Evridge, an economist with the McDowell Group, who produces Alaska salmon harvest updates during the season on behalf of the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute.
Year-to-date sockeye landings are 17 percent above those of 2018 and the five-year average, with Bristol Bay leading with production of over 24 million fish. This week is typically the harvest peak for Bristol Bay. Kodiak and Southeast Alaska meanwhile are trending above 2018, although harvests in both regions is below the five-year average, Evridge said.
Deliveries in Kodiak reached 1.9 million fish, dominated by the catch of 1.4 million humpies, plus 360,000 reds, 76,000 chums, 6,000 silver and 3,000 king salmon.
In Southeast Alaska processors have taken delivery of some 150,000 chums, 120,000 pink, 73,000 Chinooks, 49,000 reds and 28,000 silvers, for a total of 420,000 fish.
The Chignik area remains closed and Cook Inlet is roughly one third below its 2018 year-to-date harvest, Evridge said. As of July 9, the Cook Inlet harvest had reached 448,000 fish, including 396,000 sockeyes, and 44,000 pink salmon.
So far this season the pink salmon fishery is more than three times 2017’s year-to-date volume, Evridge noted. Most of the state’s harvest will come from Prince William Sound fisheries, which will start producing in coming weeks, but early indictors for the area are favorable, he said. While pink harvests in Kodiak, the Arctic-Yukon-Kuskokwim and Alaska Peninsula and Aleutian Islands have exceeded expectations so far, Cook Inlet and Southeast Alaska have been slower than 2017’s pace, he said.
Keta volume of nearly five million fish to date is a quarter lower than 2018 and 9 percent below the five-year average. Prince William Sound is the only area exceeding 2018’s year-to-date harvest. Production in Southeast Alaska has been particularly slow, he said.
The coho harvest pace is also slower than a year ago and the five-year average, although it’s still early for that species, according to Evridge’s report. Year-to-date Chinook landings are about one third lower than last year, with strength in Prince William Sound offset by weakness in Southeast and Bristol Bay, he said.
The state’s westward region overall has caught over 13 million salmon, including upwards of 10.5 million humpies, 1.9 million sockeyes, 670,000 chums, 32,000 cohos and 19,000 kings.
The good news for retail buyers in the Anchorage was early July supermarket and box store prices of $11.99 a pound for fresh caught sockeyes, one with the caveat that availability was subject to fishing and weather conditions. The best deal of the week was Costco’s fresh wild Copper River sockeye fillets for $10.99 a pound.
The famed Pike Place Fish Market in Seattle was still offering fresh wild Copper River king fillets at $41.99 a pound or $29.99 a pound for the whole fish, and 10th & M Seafoods in Anchorage had a special on fresh wild Alaska king salmon fillets at $14.95 a pound.
Check for daily preliminary updates on the harvest at adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=commercialbyfisherysalmon.bluesheet.
