Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Commercial Salmon Harvest in Alaska Climbs to 11.5 Million Fish


Overall commercial harvests of wild Alaskan salmon more than doubled over the past week, boosting the catch to 11.5 million salmon of all species, up from 5 million fish harvested through June 18.

The preliminary commercial harvest report issued June 25 by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game included 8.6 million sockeye, 2.5 million chum, 333,000 pink, 107,000 Chinook and 16,000 silver salmon.

The biggest jump came in the central region, including Bristol Bay, Cook Inlet, and Prince William Sound, where the catch rose from 2,465,000 salmon of all species to 7,151,000 fish.

The Egegik harvest alone in Bristol Bay reached 1,679,000 sockeyes.

Elsewhere in Bristol Bay, the harvest of red salmon included 953,000 fish from the Ugashik district, 906,000 fish from the Naknek-Kvichak, 500,000 fish from the Nushagak and 8,000 from Togiak.

Bristol Bay harvesters also brought in 54,000 chum and 8,000 king salmon.

The central district of Upper Cook Inlet brought in 20,000 reds and the southern district of Lower Cook Inlet had a catch of 11,000 reds.

In Prince William Sound, the Copper River drift district saw its harvest rise to over 1 million sockeye, 9,000 chum, 8,000 king and 4,000 pink salmon.  The Coghill district delivered 974,000 chum and 17,000 reds, and the Prince William Sound general seine district had a catch of 141,000 pink, 131,000 chum and 17,000 reds.

The Prince William Sound hatchery district fishermen delivered 240,000 chum, while the Montague drift district caught 177,000 chum and 1,000 each of sockeye and pink salmon.

In the Westward region, harvesters in the Alaska Peninsula caught 1.4 million reds, 303,000 chum, 158,000 pink and 2,000 king salmon.

Chignik harvesters delivered 959,000 reds, 39,000 chum, and 8,000 pink, while in Kodiak, processors received 850,000 reds, 78,000 chum, 16,000 pink and 10,000 king salmon.

The preliminary Alaska commercial salmon harvest totals are updated daily by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game at www.adfg.alaska.gov

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