Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Salmon Harvest for Alaska Tops 146 Million Fish

Commercial wild salmon harvests in Alaska have reached 146,204,000 fish, with harvesters having delivered to processors 89,583,000 humpies, 42,915,000 sockeyes, 9,267,000 chums, 3,963,000 cohos, and 477,000 Chinooks.

That was the latest preliminary salmon harvest estimate provided today by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.  Daily preliminary harvest updates are posted online during the salmon harvesting season.

Data compiled by ADF&G biologists showed an overall final harvest for 2013 of 272,630,000 salmon, including a record 219,160,000 pink, 29,257,000 sockeye, 18,578,000 chum, 5,353,000 silver, and 281,000 kings.

For Prince William Sound alone, processors have received 47,615,000 salmon, a catch including 42,878,000 pink, 3,310,000 reds, 1,162,000 chum, 255,000 cohos and 10,000 Chinooks.

In Bristol Bay the harvest stood at 30,856,000 fish, including 28,810,000 sockeyes, plus 1,303,000 pink, 447,000 chum, 284,000 silver and 13,000 kings.

In Southeast Alaska harvesters have caught 41,931,000 fish, delivering to processors 32,845,000 humpies, 5,061,000 chum, 2,097,000 coho, 1,505,000 sockeye and some 423,000 Chinooks.

Along the Alaska Peninsula, the catch to date was reported at nearly 5 million salmon, including 3,285,000 red, 737,000 humpies, 619,000 chum, 349,000 coho and 8,000 kings. Kodiak, the state’s second largest fishing port by volume, reported 13,697,000 salmon netted, including 10,237,000 pink, 2,797,000 sockeye, 331,000 chum, 307,000 silver and 8,000 kings.

In Western Alaska’s Arctic-Yukon-Kuskokwim region, harvesters from Kotzebue,  the Kuskokwim, Norton Sound and the Yukon River have to date achieved a catch of 2,140,000 fish, mostly chum, but also pink, red, silver and king salmon.


In Cook Inlet fisheries, harvesters have netted 3,692,000 salmon, mostly sockeyes and humpies. In the Aleutian Islands permit holders brought in 1,135,000 pink salmon, and at Chignik, 1,158,000 salmon, including 617,000 sockeye, 345,000 pink, 132,000 coho, 56,000 chum and 8,000 kings.