As the Copper
River harvest begins to wind down, commercial harvesters from Cook Inlet to
Chignik, Kodiak and Bristol Bay are starting to deliver, with the catch as of
June 19 at 5,116,000 salmon of all species delivered.
For Prince
William Sound, the commercial fleet had brought in over 2 million fish,
including 1,138,000 chum and 882,000 sockeye salmon, plus 8,000 kings. Most of the reds - 838,000 fish – came from the Copper River
drift fleet, while most of the chum – 680,000 fish – came from the Coghill
district drift fleet.
Prices for
Copper River salmon remained robust, as well as promotions for famed fish, but
those prices were coming down as the market began offering more salmon from
Cook Inlet. Pike Place Fish Market in Seattle was offering fresh Copper River
sockeye fillets for $20.00 a pound and fresh Copper River king fillets at
$43.00, plus fresh whole Copper River reds for $64.95 each. Copper River
Seafoods meanwhile was offering options that included 5-pound packages of fresh
sockeye salmon fillets for about $164, with next day air shipment included.
The
commercial harvest in Bristol Bay reached 414,000 salmon, with the
majority -338,000 sockeye – from the
Egegik district, while the Naknek Kvichak had 48,000 reds and the Ugashik some
21,000 reds.
Cook Inlet’s
Central district has harvested 12,000 reds and in the Southern district of
Lower Cook Inlet, some 8,000 reds have been delivered.
In the
westward region, meanwhile, the Chignik fishery delivered 729,000 fish,
including 690,000 reds, 32,000 chum and 6,000 pink salmon. For Kodiak, the catch stood at 608,000 fish,
including 563,000 reds, 33,000 chum, 7,000 king and 5,000 pink salmon. In the South Alaska Peninsula, the harvest
was 1.1 million fish, including 903,000 reds, 195,000 chum, 39,000 pink and
2,000 kings.
All totals
are preliminary and are updated daily online by the Alaska Department of Fish
and Game at www.adfg.alaska.gov