Wednesday, May 20, 2015

NPAFC Reports Dramatic Rise in Sockeye Salmon Harvest in 2014

The North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission says that preliminary statistics on North Pacific wide total salmon catches for 2014 reported by its member countries - Canada, Japan, Korea, Russia and the United States - totaled some 394 million fish, or 0.86 million metric tons.

Sixty-four percent of the total 2014 sockeye salmon catch, of 177,000 metric tons came from Alaska and another 21 percent of that total from Russia, NPAFC said in an update issued this past week. The total sockeye catch showed an increase of roughly 33 percent over last year’s catch.

Chum salmon constituted the majority of the total commercial catch, at 38 percent by weight, followed by humpies, 36 percent by weight, and sockeyes, 21 percent by weight. Coho salmon comprised 5 percent of the catch and kings, 1 percent.

The United States harvested 345.7 thousand tons, or 40 percent of the harvest, with 328.8 thousand tons of that coming from Alaska, NPAFC said. Other member nation portions of the harvest included 39 percent, or 339.1 thousand tons for Russia; 17 percent, or 144.3 thousand tons for Japan; 4 percent, or 37.7 thousand tons for Canada, and less than 1 percent, or 437 tons for Korea.

Hatchery release of salmon and steelhead from NPAFC member countries totaled some 5.2 billion fish in 2014. Hatcheries released 2,064 million fish in the United States; 1,903 million fish in Japan, 969 million fish in Russia, 240 million fish in Canada and 28 million fish in Korea.

The report was issued in the wake of the 23rd annual NPAFC meeting in Kobe, Japan. The NPAFC is an international organization that promotes the conservation of Pacific salmon and steelhead in the North Pacific and its adjacent seas.

More information about NPAFC is online at www.npafc.org.