Alaska’s commercial salmon harvest has set an all-time record due primarily to large returns of pink salmon.
The latest statewide total from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) puts this year’s salmon harvest at more than 269 million fish — shattering the previous record of 222 million fish landed in 2055.
Of that, pink salmon made up the majority of the landings with 216 million fish. More than 84 million pinks were taken in the seine fisheries in Prince William Sound and another 47 million were taken in the southern Southeast seine fisheries with another 38 million taken in the northern Southeast seine fishery. The pink harvest in the Kodiak area was well over 28-million fish.
This year’s statewide sockeye harvest totaled more than 29.5 million fish with more than 15.7 million sockeye taken in the Bristol Bay fishery.
The statewide coho harvest was recorded at more than 5.1 million fish and the statewide chum harvest was just over 18 million. The statewide king salmon harvest was about 307,000 fish.
The total harvest is valued at USD 691 million (EUR 511 million), according to figures from ADF&G. Of that, pinks salmon accounted for USD 277 million (EUR 205 million), topped only by sockeye salmon at USD 285 million (EUR 211 million). Chinook salmon is valued at USD 19 million (EUR 14 million), coho at USD 36 million (EUR 26.6 million) and chum at USD 74 million (EUR 55 million).
