It’s salmon season in Alaska, with the preliminary harvest count now at 1.5 million fish, including upwards of 1.1 million sockeyes, 227,000 chum, 66,000 kings and 52,000 humpies.
The fanfare over those famed Copper River sockeyes and Chinooks has quieted down as other salmon fisheries open up. In Prince William Sound alone, upwards of 477,000 salmon have been delivered to processors, including 343,000 reds, 122,000 chums and some 12,000 kings.
Bristol Bay opened for harvest on June 1, with only 14,000 sockeyes delivered to date, predominantly from the Egegik district. Kodiak processors have received 237,000 salmon, including 226,000 reds, 10,000 chum and 1,000 kings, and Chignik harvesters have caught 132,000 fish, including 122,000 sockeye and 9,000 chum. For the Alaska Peninsula, the catch totals more than half a million fish with 363,000 reds, 86,000 chum, 51,000 humpies and 1,000 kings.
In Cook Inlet’s southern district, fishermen have delivered more than 3,000 sockeyes.
Retail prices are dropping as more fisheries open. At 10th and M Seafoods in Anchorage, Alaska, sockeye salmon fillets are now $17.95 a pound and king fillets are $29.95 a pound. With fish coming from Prince William Sound, Cook Inlet and Resurrection Bay on the Kenai Peninsula, whole red salmon are $12.95 a pound.
Costco wholesale stores in Anchorage have been selling their whole red salmon at $9.99 a pound.
Pike Place Fish Market in Seattle, Wash., is still offering whole Copper River kings and sockeyes, plus fillets of both, although prices went down considerably from the first run fish.Online prices for Pike’s Copper River king fillets are now $42.99 a pound, and whole kings are $37.99 a pound. Copper River reds are 29.99 and whole reds are $79.86 per fish.
