Commercial fisheries harvests are increasing from Bristol Bay to the westward region fisheries of the Alaska Peninsula and the Kodiak area, with over five million salmon already delivered to processors.
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game put the preliminary harvest totals through Monday, June 26 at 2.8 million sockeye, more than two million chum, 182,000 pink and 29,000 Chinook salmon.
The total preliminary catch for the central region, including Bristol Bay, Cook Inlet and Prince William Sound, stood at nearly 3.6 million fish.
Prince William Sound had 2.7 million fish, including 1.8 million chum, 833,000 sockeye, 19,000 pink and 7,000 Chinook, mostly from the Copper River drift district. Bristol Bay, where commercial fishing officially opened on June 1, had some 819,000 sockeye and 1,000 chum salmon, and Cook Inlet had 111,000 sockeyes.
Costco stores in Anchorage had fresh wild Alaska salmon fillets for $11.99 a pound, as well as stuffed formerly frozen sockeye fillets for $12.99 a pound.
At the Pike Place Fish Market in Seattle, fishmongers were still hawking fresh Copper River salmon, with a warning that “this may be your last chance to get your hands on fresh Copper River salmon until next year.”
Pike Place prices for those tasty fish were holding strong at $99.99 for a four-pound whole sockeye, $29.99 a pound for Copper River sockeye fillets, $79.98 for fillets of Chinook and $549.99 for whole Copper River kings.
Whole king salmon from the Pacific Northwest, by comparison were $349.99 for the 10-pound king, $49.99 a pound for king fillets and $29.99 a pound for sockeye fillets.