Colorful displays of fresh Copper River sockeye salmon fillets were front and center at seafood counters in Fred Meyer supermarkets in Anchorage, priced at $38.99 a pound at the end of May and fishmongers there said they were getting snapped up.
They were also popular at 10th & M Seafoods in Anchorage, which posted $35.95 a pound for Copper River sockeye fillets sockeye fillets, while Pike Place Fish Market in Seattle offered those first of the season reds for $39/50 a pound, plus fresh whole Copper River sockeyes at $32.50 a pound and fresh whole Copper River kings at $54.50 a pound.
Two of the first five anticipated 12-hour openers on the Copper River were cancelled by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in what has so far been a late spring, with ice on the Copper River finally melting. Then on Wednesday, June 1, ADF&G announced a 12-hour opener for the Copper River District would begin at 7 a.m. on Thursday, June 2. Waters within the expanded Chinook salmon inside closure area will be closed for this period.
Preliminary figures showed a total of 1,282 deliveries of 103,043 fish, including 93,773 sockeyes, 7,476 kings, 1,792 chum and two humpies.
ADF&G Biologist Jeremy Botz in Cordova said Chinook salmon so far have come in above anticipated numbers and there is now room for optimism to keep on a regular commercial fishing schedule.
The cumulative sonar count through May 27 was 6,808 fish, compared to the 81,500 fish projected by that date. ADF&G officials said that both the north and south bank sonar counters are now up and running. They noted that the preliminary harvest estimate from the last 12-hour opener on May 26 was 1,980 kings and 69,300 sockeyes, compared to the projected harvest of 51,100 sockeyes for that period.
The Bering River District remained closed for commercial fishing, but the Coghill and Eshamy districts opened for 36 hours on Monday, May 30, for a commercial drift gillnet harvest.
The Southwestern District was slated to open for the 2022 season for 48 hours on June 2, as was the Montague District was to open on June 2, with an additional 48-hour period beginning on June 4.
