Commercial harvests of Alaska’s wild salmon have expanded
statewide, with total deliveries nearing 5 million fish, including nearly 3
million sockeyes.
Preliminary harvest figures compiled by the Alaska
Department of Fish and Game show that in the westward region, processors in the
Alaska Peninsula have received 950,000 humpies, 883,000 sockeyes, 134,000 chums
and fewer than 1,000 cohos.
At Chignik, the catch reached 334,000 reds, 16,000 chums,
7,000 pinks and 1,000 kings, and at Kodiak 176,000 sockeyes, 63,000 chums,
8,000 pinks and 1,000 kings.
In Prince William Sound, including the Copper River
district, the harvest has reached 1,062,000 chums, 632,000 reds and 11,000
kings, while in Cook Inlet, 53,000 reds and 3,000 kings have been delivered.
Harvests are picking up in Bristol Bay, where processors
have received 100,000 reds in the Egegik district, 73,000 reds in the Nushagak
district, 21,000 reds in the Ugashik district, 10,000 reds in the
Naknek-Kvichak district and under 1,000 reds in the Togiak district.
Chum harvests on the Lower Yukon River have jumped, with
deliveries of some 89,000 fish, and in Southeast Alaska deliveries include some
88,000 kings, 22,000 chums, 13,000 reds, 1,000 cohos and fewer than 1,000
humpies.
ADF&G updates preliminary commercial salmon harvests
online daily.
As more areas of the state deliver more salmon, prices at
retail counters are dropping. Fred Meyer stores in the Anchorage area this week
are offering fresh wild Alaska sockeye salmon fillets for $9.99 a pound.
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